On the streets of Bari, grandmothers sit making orecchiette pasta fresh, by hand. This little pasta, special to Puglia, is Bari’s sweetest face, and it is worth setting aside two or three hours for the sight alone.
What is Bari?
Bari is the capital of Puglia, one of the sweetest regions to see in Italy. It is a port city, with very frequent ferries running from Greece. We had passed through Bari many times without exploring it, then decided to give it time when we planned our Puglia trip. It was a good decision.
Puglia sits at the heel of Italy’s boot and is known for olive groves, whitewashed towns and a long Adriatic coastline.
What is there to do in Bari’s old town?
Bari has a sweet old town. What impressed us most:
- Narrow streets
- Famous bakeries
- Restaurants confident with seafood
- Sweets
- The street where the women make orecchiette
Even if you do not stay the night, it deserves two to three hours.
Why does orecchiette matter?
It is a pasta unique to the region, and seeing it made fresh turns a meal into an experience. The name means “little ears” in Italian, and the shape explains why. It is one of the best-known pastas of Puglian cooking, and in Bari you can watch the tradition happen in the street.
Fitting Bari into a route
Bari is one of the first stops for anyone arriving by ferry from Greece. Further into Puglia, Lecce’s baroque architecture and the conical stone houses of Alberobello, a UNESCO site, are well-known stops. A short riding note for port cities: keep a generous braking distance on stone and wet painted lines.
For daily trips we carried Rider Healthcare’s three-sachet Daily Pack, with Galata Healthcare and Educated Moto Riders offering more options for the road.
Read the full story in Turkish with photos and videos: Puglia ve Bari Gezi Rehberi.