Discovering a small city in Italy: Bari.

Not your generic traveling.

Plenty of people will be writing about the most frequented cities and capitals of countries around the world: Rome, Paris, Lisbon, Berlin, Tokyo, Miami. Sure, I might have been there too, and they're really beautiful and worth visiting. But my purpose here is to tell you about something different, to share uncommon cities and experiences with you. I realized that after sharing my post about Gouda and Wiesbaden, there are a plethora of other lesser-known destinations that I can write about which are no less interesting than the usual, popular cities.

Today I'll talk about three small cities and towns that I visited this year in Italy: Bari, Giovinazzo, and Matera. However, I'll be splitting these up in different articles. This article will focus on just Bari. I came to learn about these three cute cities and towns while I was visiting my Italian friend in Bari. I initially had met her in our Erasmus in Amiens; of course this is where the best connections are made.

I decided to travel to Italy this past early December because... well, why not? I was studying in Madrid at the time, I only had classes four days per week, and we had one or two additional days off that week for some holiday reason, so I went ahead and made "el puente" (the bridge) and took off the whole week (ten days in total). The first five days were spent in Rome, and the next five days were in Bari. The beautiful port city of Bari is on the south east coast of Italy, just opposite to the coastal side of Napoli.

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I had never heard of this city before meeting my Italian friend, but I was excited to finally be able to go there to explore it.

How to get to Bari?

From Rome Fiumicino airport, I flew to Bari Palese airport. The flight was just under an hour and it was really cheap, like €20 euros or something, because I went with Ryanair. There is also the option to take the train to Bari if you're not too far away.

Along the quaint coast

My Barese friend does not live in the city center, but rather in the district of Palese. Her mom picked me up from the airport and took me to their home. They live in a two-story house with the bedrooms, a small kitchen and bathroom on the groundfloor, and the upstairs area is where you will find the big, beautiful renovated kitchen and sitting room with a bathroom and an outdoor terrace/balcony.

I was confused to why they had two kitchens, and they explained that the upstairs kitchen is to enjoy the main, big meals, and the downstairs kitchen is more for breakfasts and quick snacks. It makes sense because in Italy, food is a big deal, and let me tell you, her mom cooks amazing meals. I understand now why the upstairs area is reserved only for eating and relaxing, because family time revolves around lunch and dinner.

My friend lives on a small, narrow street with kind but extremely nosy neighbors (and sometimes they are loud). They share the gossip of the whole town and are eager to know everyone's secrets. Every morning when we would wake up, one of the neighbors would already be awake and blasting the Sofia song by Alvaro Soler while she was cleaning or whatever she was doing. Now whenever I hear this song, I remember my vacation in Bari (and being woken up early in the morning by the neighbor).

While staying in my friend's home in Palese, we went to many nearby cities. Conveniently walking distance to her house is the train station which goes directly to the Bari city center, as well as to Giovinazzo. First, we went to Bari, which was about 20 minutes away by train. I was pleasantly surprised by the downtown and port area of Bari. I had somewhat expected it to be bare and boring, but I was totally wrong.

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Downtown Bari has a small university community, as well as nice areas for shopping. There is a particular street, comparable to a mini-Champs-Élysées, that is lined with designer stores and shops. Of course we can't afford buying any of that, but we still enjoyed our time chatting while window-shopping and wandering inside the stores. Also, since I was there in the beginning of December, the Christmas markets and decorations were already set up in the downtown of the city.

I have two favourite memories from Bari:

• Bari's Christmas market
• The Sgagliozze

The first one is the night when we were exploring the different shops around the Christmas market, and every single shop had its own artisinal crafts and gifts that they were selling. We checked out every single little shop. I regret not buying a really cool wallet or notebook cover made out of collaged comic book pages. Maybe I can find them online, but it's not the same as when you can really see them being made in front of you.

The best part about the Bari Christmas market was buying and eating the typical Barese street food specialties known as Sgagliozze that were being sold in various places.

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These savory, crunchy yet chewy in the middle snacks are deep-fried polenta squares. There were some stands selling them in the corners of streets, but we decided to buy ours directly out of the kitchen of some old Bari women.

With the windows of the ground floor kitchen flung all the way open, you can see the small assembly line of three women, one forming the polenta cubes, another tossing them into the frying pan, and the third one taking customers' orders and making the transactions. Then there was a fourth lady, the eldest of all, sitting on a chair and observing everything. She was probably the grandmother and order-giver.

Meanwhile, the line of customers waiting for their home-made Sgagliozze extended from the kitchen window to the other side of the tiny street, blocking the pedestrian pathway. It wasn't really a line actually, it was more of a blob of semi-aggressive people packed together, slightly shoving to be directly in front of the window to give their orders.

After 15 minutes of waiting in the cold, it was finally our turn to order. It's only a few euros (under €4, but I don't remember the exact price), and when the lady handed the bag of freshly fried Sgagliozze over to me, it was a relief to hold the warm bag in my cold hands and fingers. With our Sgagliozze in hand, we continued our walk in the city, entering and admiring the Basilica San Nicola, watching street performances, all the while munching happily on our polenta squares.

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This photo above is the Basilica San Nicola by night. This impressive basilica is actually an important pilgrimage destination for both Catholic and Orthodox Christians alike, as the upper level is Catholic and the lower level (downstairs) is Orthodox. If you visit, you should see both levels to truly appreciate the building. The most interesting and probably most important feature of this basilica is that it houses the Holy Relics of Saint Nicholas (the original Santa Claus).

Not your average Italian restaurant

My second favourite memory of my stay in Bari is going to the restaurant where my friend works. This family-run restaurant named Eden is nowhere near the city center; it is actually in the neighboring town of Giovinazzo and requires a car to get there, but luckily my Barese friend took me there in her car. Going to this best-kept secret amongst the locals was definitely worth it.

Not only is the food here 100% authentic and delicious, the environment is laid back and fun. On Friday and Saturday nights, as well as on special occasions (such as christenings, birthdays and holidays), there is a live DJ and dancing. My Italian friend, who is professionally trained as a ballroom dancer, works there as the choreographer who initiates and motivates the diners after they have enjoyed their meals to join her on the dancefloor. She usually will teach the dance steps of the most popular songs. Her strong enthusiasm and fun dance moves add to the liveliness and entertainment at the restaurant.

After the last customers had left at around 23h (11pm), it was time for the owners and staff of the restaurant to sit down and eat their dinner together like a big family. We all sat together, they were talking in their incomprehensible Barese dialect while two or three of the chefs were making the food for all of us.

Nobody there spoke good English, but it was funny and cute when they tried. Of course let's not talk about my disastrous Italian skills. Even with the language barrier, I still felt included and they did a good job of integrating me. I learned Barese curse words and they all got a kick out of it. I communicated with everyone through my Italian friend, who would translate things to me in French or English, which are our common languages.

The owner and his wife have a young son, who at times would be there at the restaurant to join us if he was not home with his grandmother (usually he would come on Friday or Saturday nights). They had a big old German Shephard, who would be lounging around either outside or in the back part of the restaurant, and they had a new little puppy German Shephard, which the little boy would take everywhere with him. The boy and his puppy would be chasing each other and playing around the restaurant together while his parents and the rest of the wait staff were talking, laughing and smoking cigarettes at the long table.

Once the food came, the whole world just paused. Everyone stopped their chatter, I stopped my train of thought (I had been wondering at that moment if smoking cigarettes inside was allowed or if they just didn't care) and suddenly all of our attention turned to the food. On this first night that I ate at the restaurant, the chefs made pizza and paccheri pasta with seafood especially for me because I was a special guest. I have never been more satisfied in my entire life. Actually, I was in Heaven at the moment when the food came out. I was fortunate to have eaten at this restaurant twice!

The next time you go to Italy, I recommend that you try going off the beaten path to the lesser-known cities such as Bari, Giovinazzo, or Matera. Here you will not be overwhelmed by other tourists (well, in Matera, yes, but not in the former two) and you will have the opportunity to discover a townie Italian feel with traditional customs, unique dialects and old-city views. On top of that, you'll find the best authentic food at good prices.