Santa Claus IS real; I saw his church

I got into Bari yesterday afternoon, and set out exploring this morning.  The town itself is beautiful; it reminds me of a little chunk of Venice.  The shore is never very far away (although there are no canals), and most of the buildings are made of stone rather than the brick of Rome.  I'm only here for a day, but there aren't too many sites for me to see.  I could definitely see coming here to just relax for a vacation, though.  The proximity to the sea keeps the temperatures much more manageable; wandering around was actually quite pleasant.  Beautiful, too:

View of the Adriatic Sea

Seminary

Column commemorating Bari as the final Byzantine city in Italy

One of the main piazze

Old column and lion (with no label, so I'm not sure of the significance.  They look medieval, though)

The old city is right up against the water, but Bari has grown far, far out of the medieval quarter.  The old streets are actually designed to be confusing, in order to thwart potential attackers, making for a rather confusing experience.  The first place I went was the Basilica di San Nicola.  In the 11th century, sailors from Bari raided the resting place of Saint Nicholas (aka Santa Claus) in Turkey.  When the got back to Bari, this church was built to house the remains.

Notice how the arches aren't perpendicular to the nave

The church as built after the expulsion of the Byzantines, and is an example of the Romanesque style of architecture.  I was unable to get up into the apse, because--take a wild guess--there was about to be a wedding.  I did get a picture of it, as well as a 14th century fresco and a 15th century triptych:

Sorry for the blurriness

The crypt is particularly excellent, though.  This is the oldest section of the church, and is believed to have originally been a part of a Byzantine palace.  It currently houses a number of relics of St. Nicolas, including the remains brought back by the sailors.

The columns are Byzantine and Romanesque

The icon of St. Nicolas.  Prayers are written on money, napkins, bus tickets, etc.

Column believed to be part of the original palace, and the original mosaic floor of the crypt

Altar and remains of the saint

While I wish I could have seen the apse better, this was still pretty cool.  I also sat in on the end of a Mass in the crypt, which was nice as well.

Next I tried to go to the Swabian Castle, built in the 13th century over earlier Norman and Byzantine foundations.  It currently houses art expeditions.

Unfortunately, the castle was closed on Wednesdays, so I wasn't able to go inside.  Not a huge loss, but it would have been a nice thing to do for the afternoon.

I next went to the Cathedral of Bari, dedicated to Saint Sabinus.  The church is older than the Basilica di San Nicola, though usually overshadowed by it.  The current structure is from the 12th-13th century, but there was a church on the site as far back as the early Christian period.

Check out the elephants at the base of the columns

Much like some of the churches I saw in Rome, I was able to go down into the archaeological area and see the ruins of the former church in this spot.

Medieval frescoes

Fantastic mosaic floor from the old church, from the 6th century.

Roman road adjacent to the old church

Ruins of a second church, from the 9th-11th century, that was built next to the original Roman structure.

The archaeological area was fantastic; I wish that the old structure was still standing, but I guess this is the next best thing.

I tried to go to the Diocesan Museum, but it was under renovation.  There were also a number of small churches in the city that were rather old, but none of them were open (or even had hours posted).  This was the only day I'm spending in Bari; tomorrow I'm off to Brindisi.  Apparently Bari is a popular spot to catch a ferry to Greece.  If you should happen to be planning this, I'd suggest booking a day in Bari itself and enjoying the city.  Next post tomorrow evening, from Brindisi!