[Travel] Bari Italy

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Dear illustrious and very knowledgeable people of our beloved board...a question

I am in the middle of self organising a train trip through Southern Italy for next April for Mrs Fridge and myself.
Taking in
Naples
Salerno
Cosenza
Reggio Calabria
Crotone
Taranto
Bari (then bus to)
Naples
Formia
Anzio
and lastly
Rome

Question is this, is Bari worth staying in or is it just a dive , a bit like Portsmouth if you see what I mean?

Any guidance/help on this or any other of the aforementioned stops on our way would be most welcome.

regards to all

TNBA

TTF

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

I have been to many parts of Italy but the area's you mention I have not toured, they never really grabbed me compared to Tuscany, venice, lakes and mountains.
I have seen programmes about Naples but did not like what I saw, decent food though, but then so is the whole of Italy.
I have been to Sorrento and around that area which was beautiful but extremely expensive.
But I have been to Rome and loved everything about it, for me the best capital city in Europe by quite some way and April is a good time to go as not too hot, so much to see, do and eat, a wonderful place.
Try a roof top restaurant that looks out over the city.

 

[LlcoolJ]

About 13 years ago me and my girlfriend (now wife) did a weekend jaunt to Bari because of some ridiculously cheap Ryan Air deal. We smoked at the time so it was a glorified fag run, plus we'd not been together long so we spent most of the time in the hotel (really nice little boutique place which also cost buttons).

However, from what we saw it was just a standard Italian town. Nice bars and shops, good coffee, excellent seafood and wine, great ice cream. We had a walk around the front and the town but there wasn't much to see.

Although it would be disgraceful to compare it to a dump like Portsmouth, I wouldn't recommend it as a tourist destination.

 

[PoG]

Dear illustrious and very knowledgeable people of our beloved board...a question

I am in the middle of self organising a train trip through Southern Italy for next April for Mrs Fridge and myself.
Taking in
Naples
Salerno
Cosenza
Reggio Calabria
Crotone
Taranto
Bari (then bus to)
Naples
Formia
Anzio
and lastly
Rome

Question is this, is Bari worth staying in or is it just a dive , a bit like Portsmouth if you see what I mean?

Any guidance/help on this or any other of the aforementioned stops on our way would be most welcome.

regards to all

TNBA

TTF

No Positano?

 

[Raleigh Chopper]

About 13 years ago me and my girlfriend (now wife) did a weekend jaunt to Bari because of some ridiculously cheap Ryan Air deal. We smoked at the time so it was a glorified fag run, plus we'd not been together long so we spent most of the time in the hotel (really nice little boutique place which also cost buttons).

However, from what we saw it was just a standard Italian town. Nice bars and shops, good coffee, excellent seafood and wine, great ice cream. We had a walk around the front and the town but there wasn't much to see.

Although it would be disgraceful to compare it to a dump like Portsmouth, I wouldn't recommend it as a tourist destination.

I did not want to say that as I have never been there but I have been told many times that it is not much of a place.
Same as Pisa, except for the leaning tower it was a really disappointing place.

 

[shingle]

Bari's quite nice. One overwhelming reason to visit is that it's an easy half hour train ride to Alberobello and The Trulli Houses. Used to be out that area all the time when I was the photographer for a well known tour operator.

Cannot believe that Matera isn't on the itinerary

 

[shingle]

No Positano?

I'd be very surprised if Salerno isn't the springboard for the Amalfi Coast

 

[Goldstone1976]

I'd be very surprised if Salerno isn't the springboard for the Amalfi Coast

You gotta think so. That bit of coast is simply stunning.

Bari - meh.

 

[BensGrandad]

We went through there about 10 years ago and stopped at a restaurant for a meal and the owner sent his young son outside to watch our car, being an English registration he said it would get broken into if he didnt.

 

[astralavi]

It very nice, atleast where I went, around the historic harbour, get a good sense of traditional Italian life. It is not hectic or dirty like Naples. ( Salerno is nothing special) whereas Bari has genuine charm

Trullie maybe worth a visit, also Paestum which is near Naples and salerno. Each worth a day if you have time

 

[Worried Man Blues]

Went from Carmarthen to Bari by train in 2016. Bari was very pleasant, some lovely buildings, didn't stay as passing through, took the ferry to Patras which wasn't the best 18 hours of my life but Peloponnese was worth it. Got return tickets, definitely not cheap day!

 

[Tony Towner's Fridge]

Bari's quite nice. One overwhelming reason to visit is that it's an easy half hour train ride to Alberobello and The Trulli Houses. Used to be out that area all the time when I was the photographer for a well known tour operator.

Cannot believe that Matera isn't on the itinerary

Thanks Shingle and everyone else for the contributions...

I looked at Matera but coudn't squeeze it into the itinerary. Any reason you reckon I really should go?

cheers

TNBA

TTF

 

[middletoenail]

If you're around Rome, take a detour to a little village called 'Fumone'. Just returned from a wedding there.

It's a 1 hour drive from FCO airport, but a medieval place with fantastic views and cheap food and Peroni. You can't go wrong.

 

[Djmiles]

Naples? Horrid, vile city. Avoid.

 

[Blue3]

Bari is a really interesting place to me it's the most Italian of Italian not overrun with tourists even around the Cathedral area not much English spoken, the back streets are full of older ladies making pasta bows which are left to dry on wooden racks, it's also a good base to explore the south of Italy which is very different and much poorer than the north and quite distinctly different even down to the fact that the population is a mixture of Catholic and Orthodox

 

[knocky1]

Was there during the '85 Liverpool Juventus deaths. Despite repeatedly saying we were Australian we got chased out of town (not prepared to stay indoors for days on end) and got the ferry to Greece within hours. English Murderers was daubed on walls in red paint. Staying with a scouser who was teaching there. Everton fan.

OK to visit friends or catch a ferry but nothing special like the Calabrian Western Coast.

 

[AmexRuislip]

Naples? Horrid, vile city. Avoid.

This, if Italian did chav or even shav!

 

[LamieRobertson]

Dear illustrious and very knowledgeable people of our beloved board...a question

I am in the middle of self organising a train trip through Southern Italy for next April for Mrs Fridge and myself.
Taking in
Naples
Salerno
Cosenza
Reggio Calabria
Crotone
Taranto
Bari (then bus to)
Naples
Formia
Anzio
and lastly
Rome

Question is this, is Bari worth staying in or is it just a dive , a bit like Portsmouth if you see what I mean?

Any guidance/help on this or any other of the aforementioned stops on our way would be most welcome.

regards to all

TNBA

TTF

Nice..are you gong for the whole month?

 

[AmexRuislip]

I have been to many parts of Italy[/B] but the area's you mention I have not toured, they never really grabbed me compared to Tuscany, venice, lakes and mountains.
I have seen programmes about Naples but did not like what I saw, decent food though, but then so is the whole of Italy.
I have been to Sorrento and around that area which was beautiful but extremely expensive.
But I have been to Rome and loved everything about it, for me the best capital city in Europe by quite some way and April is a good time to go as not too hot, so much to see, do and eat, a wonderful place.
Try a roof top restaurant that looks out over the city.

As above with us, I would recommend Ischia and Capri, well worth a stay

 

[Guinness Boy]

As above with us, I would recommend Ischia and Capri, well worth a stay

Reminds me of my favourite Man City song

They say that Old Traffords a wonderful place
But the team that plays there's a ****ing disgrace
With half backs and full backs and forwards too
With their hands down their shorts cos they've **** all to do
The Stretford End sing and the Stretford End shout
But the songs that they sing they know **** all about
We all agree where United should be
Shovelling shit on the Isle of Capri!

(no I haven't heard them sing it, Paris Angel on twitter normally posts it before a derby)