Pondering important problems while sightseeing

Today we went to Polignano a Mare, mostly to see the gorgeous sea views on the southern Adriatic coast. All three pics above are from Polignano. While we were en route, we were stuck in traffic from a car accident…the kind of accident where the freeway becomes a parking lot, and people get out of their cars and amble around on the road like it’s a Venetian piazza.

The wait for our bus to move gave us Road Scholars a further chance to solve the various world issues that present themselves as we learn about southern Italian culture. The luxury of this additional conversation time reminded me that, while we discuss a great many things at the Road Scholar lunches and dinners, two issues are presented for debate with continuing regularity and I want to allow you to weigh in.

1) What is the solution to the size issue with our showers here in Puglia, Italy, and Europe in general? How do you feel about this shower and what cleansing advantage does the blue light offer? If you drop your soap, how do you propose to pick it up?

2) Where are all of the toilet seats in southern Italy? Is there a polite way to point out that this restaurant is actually in possession of a rare seat but is not utilizing it to its full potential since they are storing it on a shelf?

3) Bonus question: how much did this gelato store in Polignano a Mare pay an advertising agency for their logo?

We also stopped in Bari today, the largest city around here, with 400,000 people. It has a workaday feel to it, with worn buildings, and crowded sidewalks. Along the waterfront, an Italian movie was being filmed, and fishmongers sold seafood from plastic buckets, right in front of their boats.

I liked this picture below as it gave a sense of the driving/parking rules for Bari, which are (obviously) meant to encourage maximum commerce. It’s all good – angled, parallel, double parking – just leave your car where you see fit and go about your business.

I also loved Bari’s traffic lights but feel they might be put to better use in a city that might respect them more fully:

I should clarify that we came to Bari to see something in a Basilica – Basilica of Saint Nicholas – from 1197. It’s a pilgrimage site etc. etc. etc. with a cool BMW parked outside and a wedding going on inside, which was especially nice because that offset the FOUR funerals we have walked through in the past week. Here’s the Basilica and Ron, pondering it all.

Tonight we pack up our stuff again and leave Puglia for Basilicata. Puglia is one of 20 administrative regions of Italy – responsible for 40% of Italy’s olive oil production – population 4 million people and 60 million olive trees. Basilicata is smaller and less touristed, with a total population of 600,000, and we’re headed to another small town I’ve always wanted to see: Matera and its cave architecture.

I’ll leave you with Ron and St. Nicholas, from Bari, both pondering the same pilgrimage or, maybe, watching me try to pick up the soap in the shower.