and I woke up to this

the view from my window this morning

Breakfast in the posh dining room did not disappoint, we were a smidge late so we grabbed some pastries for ron and skedaddled. We were due to dock in Bari around 2pm so we had some more time to find all the things the boat ship has to offer before enjoying coffee and purloined cake in our suite.

For lunch we tried the riff raff room (non-posh eating area) - we won't be doing that again, once you've turned left (Tony's description of flying Business class) there's no going back. We docked in Bari around 2ish and eschewed the organised tours, opting instead to make our own way into the old town district which is quite close to the port.

Bari is a town of sandy coloured buildings and narrow winding streets. We didn't go by the most direct route we just followed our noses down these little lane ways. It was washing day, the streets were dappled with pools of water dripping from the laundry hung above on the tiny balconies and smelled appealingly of clean washed linen.

We visited St Nicholas cathedral, here he is keeping an eye on the naughty.nice ratio of tourists (yes it's that St Nic)

Here is Castello Normanno-Svevo, built around 1132 by Norman King Roger II. I love castles, as you know, but this one was not what we were expecting. You see that lovely tower? We saw the stairs to it. Those ancient, narrow windy stairs that help you to imagine what it would have been like to live in a medieval castle - but no access this time. In fact, if I had done my research more thoroughly I would have discovered that this castle is mainly used for exhibitions now. All the interesting bits are off limits, the interior walls are all rendered and white-washed, belying the promise of those formidable exterior walls.

Even though we got a late start on this visit, it's a fairly small old town area so we felt we'd covered enough to say we've seen Bari and were happy to make our way back along the sea shore at dusk.

and be safely on-board for our 5pm staff meeting (aka drinkypoos/beer o'clock).