Two days in Bari and Sannicandro di Bari with my brother- and sister-in-law, Genti and Ida. And my word, was it hot!
I can’t complain too much about the heat when that’s part of the reason I’m here, but even the Italian news was warning about an ondata di caldo (heatwave), so this is not just me being Scottish.
Anyway, the ferry was absolutely fine, apart from the adverts and announcements that ended at 11pm and started again at 6.30am. At least I didn’t need an alarm. I’d learnt my lesson from last time, so I sat calmly finishing my breakfast once we arrived and before they gave the order to disembark, rather than queueing on the stairs with my heavy bag for half an hour.
Genti came and collected me from the ferry and took me to his village, Sannicandro. It’s got a few points of interest (see pics) but it’s just a quiet wee place. There’s a huge Albanian minority here, and almost all of them hail from Lushnjë! Not much need to speak Italian here.
I met up with my other relatives who live in Sannicandro, too, and stayed up late chatting to Ida because it’s been so long since we’ve seen each other. We’ve been friends for ages. I remember attending her 15th birthday party, and now she has a 15-year-old of her own!
Genti and Ida have a regular zoo in their house, with a rabbit, two tortoises and a terrapin! The terrapin gives you judgemental looks while you are on the toilet. To be fair, I wouldn’t want some giant defaecating in my room, either.
Metiu, aged 8, drew a picture of me during dinner. I think it’s quite good! Compare to the original:
The second day, Alessia took me into the city of Bari while Ida stayed home with Metiu. It was nice to spend some time with Alessia, and we did a little bit of English practice. She is top of her class for English! All the same, a 15-year-old isn’t necessarily the most seasoned tour guide. Twice we ended up going in completely the wrong direction from where we were aiming for.
It didn’t matter, because I have seen the old town before (which we tried and failed to find) and we did find the restaurant with traditional Bari specialties. I had spaghetti alla assassina and it was gorgeous! Then we made our way through the ridiculous heat to the bus, and hit the sack as soon as we got home.
Evening was again going out for drinks and street food, then staying up talking to Ida like kids at a sleepover until we both started yawning and had to go to sleep. I’ll miss you, Ida!
Tomorrow, my journey home continues, with (fingers crossed) a serendipitous meet-up in Como.
K C Murdarasi 
Leave a comment