Second time to Bari

A week after going to Rome, we went to the city Bari with the AFS students from my area. Not all of them could make it because it was a little more short notice. This was such a good trip and I really enjoyed it.

Bari is to the East of Matera (my city) by about an hour or two depending on what transport you take. It's the capital of  Puglia and it's well known for shopping. The first time I went, we didn't go around the city at all and just went to a shopping center, so I was really happy that we would be able to see more of the city. 

At one point in the day we walked by the sea port and there were a hand full of fisherman with their freshly caught fish out for sale. It was really crazy for me because in Colorado, I live so far from the ocean, I had never experience something even close to this. All the fishermen were so nice to us (it was probably strange to see a bunch of kids from different nationalities just coming along to this tiny market) and they explained to us what they were doing. They even gave some of us some of this type of fish that you can eat raw. I didn't try if but the others that did said it was super salty. Then we went down the dock more and there were a bunch of fishermen playing some kind of card game and drinking. It really felt like I was watching the movie and not actually standing there.

We visited the Basilica di San Nicola which is an important church for many Roman Catholics and Orthodox Christians from all over the world. We went to the underground level of the church that Saint Nicholas is buried. Many people were there waiting for their turn to bow and pray close to the tomb. Our coordinator told us that many people from Russia come here to pray because it's a very important church for Orthodox Christians, and there are many in Russia.  

For lunch we went and ate at a Japanese restaurant where we ran into a group of other AFS kids. After eating, we had sometime to go out and go walk around by ourselves so people could go look at shops. I went with three girls from my region and two people we ran into before. At the end of the day, we took the train back to Matera. 

It was a really good trip in my opinion and I enjoyed myself a lot.
Imogen Wyatt