Spend a Day (or Two) in Bari

Why I wouldn’t write off Puglia’s biggest city as just a place to catch a flight.

Bari was the final stop on my nine-day trip through Puglia, and admittedly, it was the city I had planned the least around.

Compared with Monopoli, Ostuni and Lecce, I hadn’t heard nearly as much about it while planning the trip, so I treated it mostly as a convenient final stop before an early flight home.

I was wrong.

With only an afternoon and evening to explore, we dropped our bags and headed straight for Bari Vecchia. We spent hours wandering the old town without much of a plan, stopping along the way for focaccia from Panificio Santa Rita and a coconut granita from Gelateria Gentile.

That was the beauty of Bari. We didn’t need a packed itinerary. We walked, ate, wandered some more, went home long enough to change and headed right back out because we weren’t ready to give up our last night in Italy.

We eventually ended up at Wine Bar Tranquillo, where the kind owners helped us choose a wine and we stayed until late, drinking and reminiscing about the trip. It was exactly how I wanted to spend the final few hours of nine days in Puglia.

I wouldn’t take time away from Monopoli, Ostuni or Lecce to build an entire trip around Bari. But if you’re already flying in or out of the city, I wouldn’t rush straight through it either.

Wander Bari Vecchia, eat the focaccia, stop for something cold and stay for a glass of wine.

It’s a pretty great way to begin, or end, a trip through Puglia.