We decided on Bari as our destination, a port city on the Adriatic Sea about 90 minutes from Grottaglie. With some help from an outdated Fodor's Italy guide book, we wandered the old part of the city on foot (and stroller) on yet another scorching hot Italian summer day.
It being Sunday, most places of business were closed and since we arrived during the reposo (or Italian siesta time) the streets were nearly deserted which made walking all the more leisurely - it's always nice when you don't have to dodge speeding minis and vespas.
The architecture in Bari was exactly what I pictured Italy would look like. Romeo & Juliet style balconies, painted buildings, stone streets, and medieval cathedrals as well as a castle. 
We paused to cool off and fill our water bottles at one of the city fountains and Jackson took the opportunity to unsuccessfully chase some pigeons and wave at strangers.
We always get lost on walking tours and we stayed true to our tradition, but did finally find the Basilica of Saint Nicholas...that's right...Santa Claus! The 11th century church was beautiful and in its basement we saw the crypt where Ol' Saint Nick's bones are housed. They were reportedly stolen from Turkey by some Bari sailors back in the day. Today lots of people - many with scarves tied around their heads - come to pray to the saint and the crypt smells strongly of incense, which is I suppose a good smell for a crypt. Unfortunately by the time we found the basilica, I was so delirious from the heat that I forgot to take a decent picture of it and only ended up with this overblown, crooked one. Ho ho ho?
We hit up a local gelateria for an icy cool treat before loading into the car for our windy drive home. Dan tried Mars bar flavored gelato and some other candy bar I can't remember the name of. This time I tried pistachio and Nutella flavored gelato and it was de-lish! Jackson enjoyed his samples of each of ours.
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