Bari, Italy (on the back side of the boot) July 7, 2015

Bari, Italy (on the back side of the boot) July 7, 2015

Hi all!

So, on the cruise ship MSC Opera, there are 4 stops at ports of call that they make on my cruise and Bari, Italy is the first one.

I heard there was only so many spaces on the cruise tours so I checked into tours myself online before I left and I am glad that I did. For Bari, Italy, I had about a 4 1/2 hour tours for this tour.

Antonella Mele, my tour guide, picked me up with her driver, Luigi, near the terminal and we took off up the coast. The town she was taking me to was Puglia.

Along the way we drove past some olive groves where some of the trees are 2500 years old! Antonella said that they have put tags on these trees and they are being monitored by satellite to make sure they are doing well. There are 200 varieties of olives in Italy and 20 varieties in Puglia.

When we got to Puglia, the first thing we did was to visit the Basilica di San Nicola, where the remains of St. Nicholas which were stolen from Turkey by the Baresi lie in state in a crypt.

 

Then we strolled down the streets of the trulli district with the homes that look like white stone beehives. There is a symbol on the top of some of those roofs.

In this area of Italy, they also make pottery.

In another part of the town, we were able to go into one of the trullis. It belonged to Grace.

Grace loves to have tourists come in and visit. She doesn't charge anything and actually doesn't live there anymore but has kept it decorated so people can see what it looks like for someone who lives there. Very interesting.

Then Antonella took me on a tour and demonstration of an olive oil producing factory and an olive oil tasting. It was very interesting.

In this particular factory, they do not pit the olives but grind them into the pulp to add flavor. There are several steps to this process.

We watched a video to explain the steps.

There are 2 giant vats of olive oil under the floor

where they store the olive oil

Then we had the tasting. You do not look at the color, but rather the smell. It smelled very fruity. Then the taste. It tasted strong. Good olive oil can be stored up to 1 1/2 years. That was very interesting.

Today was a short day on shore so I am on my way back to the boat. I will always remember my day in Pugli, Italy!