Aug 11

Aug 11 Bari, Italy

Ship: Silversea Cruises’ Silver Ray
Itinerary: 11-Night Venice to Athens

This morning, Silver Ray is docked in Bari, Italy. This is another city we have yet to visit, so we chose to take a ship excursion: “Scenic Drive & Old Town Walking Tour.”

We met our local guide, Eugene, shoreside, where he collected our tickets and guided us onto one of the coaches for the tour.

The scenic driving part of the tour was really a drive around the newer parts of Bari and, honestly, was not that interesting. The coach drops the guests right next to a 12th century castle, within walking distance to the Old Town.

Once inside the city walls of the Old Town, this excursion quickly turned into what we like to refer to as an “ABC tour” (another beautiful church). We walked from one church to another as Eugene informed us of the history of each one.

There were some interesting architectural elements in the Old Town, but we lost interest in the tour and decided to depart from the group for a few reasons. The first reason was the audio VOX units were basically nothing but static, making it impossible to hear the guide. Everyone in our group Awas complaining about the static.

The second reason was that we had to wait an incredibly long time for some people who needed to use the public restroom. There were long lines at the restrooms. The third reason was, it was incredibly hot and humid.

About half of the tour group decided to end the tour early and either walk around town on their own, or head back to the ship. We chose the latter. The guide did give us directions on how to go through the arch and follow the waterfront back to the ship.

It took us about 15 minutes to walk back to Silver Ray.

Since this is Sunday, it is my “cheat” day and I get to eat anything I want. So, we decided to head back to The Marquee on Deck 10 for pizza. But, before pizza, I had to have another order of the delicious fried Calamari.