TRANI AND CASTEL DEL MONTE

REGION OF PUGLIA

We were driven from the Amalfi Coast to Bari in the region of Puglia on Saturday and met our friends from Australia, so there are now four of us staying in a four bedrooms, three bathrooms two-level apartment in Bari.  We're occupying three bedrooms as our friends are a husband and wife.  The apartment is very nice and has just about everything but it is near to one of the busiest intersections,  so the traffic goes non-stop all day and night, accompanied by the incessant horn-honking.

We took a tour to the city of Trani on Monday, followed by a visit to the Castel del Monte.  Trani is a coastal city about 40 kms outside of Bari and while it is a city of about 60,000, we only visited the old town of Trani so there are only a few pictures.

TRANI

This is the Trani Cathedral in the square across from the Court of Appeal and the court (of justice).

A small chapel one level down from the main worship area.

There was a wedding in progress in the cathedral.

One of the most noticeable things about the old town of Trani was how clean and well kept the streets were.  Many of the buildings have greenery as well which adds to the feeling of cleanliness.

A view of the old town from across the water.

This view shows more of the restaurant area which faces out on to the water.

CASTEL DEL MONTE

The Castel del Monte (Castle of the Mountain) was built by Frederick II in the 13th century on the top of mountain on land inherited from his mother.  The castle is octagonal and has a tower at each corner.  There are two floors in the castle and all the rooms are empty.  The furniture was removed in the 18th century making this more of an architectural exhibit than an historical one.  Since architecture is not one of my interests, there is not much I can tell you about the castle as the audio guide went into great detail about the architecture.

My three friends in front of the castle.

A closer look of the castle from outside.

This was not part of the original structure and there was no explanation of what it was.  It was in the courtyard as you enter the castle.

A miniature exhibit of the castle.

This is typical of the rooms in the castle.  The 'crater' on the left appears to have held a fireplace and each room had one.

That's it for our official Monday tour.  Our driver, Roberto, took us to a fairly large supermarket to do some shopping which included some wine.  It was good to have him with us so we didn't have to worry about translation.  The next tour is on Wednesday.