Grand Tour of Italy: Bari

In case you were wondering, no, I am not necessarily posting any of these Italy stops in the order of when they happened on our tour.  Just in the order of my momentary whim, to be honest.

So, today it's Bari, which we visited on Day 12 (of 19), a Friday.

The previous 3 days we were on the west coast, in Montecassino, Pompeii, and the Amalfi Coast.

On Day 12 we drove across the ankle of Italy 177 miles, west to east, to Bari.

That's the Mediterranean Sea on the left and the Adriatic Sea on the right.

This was one of the first photos I took, from the bus, as we entered Bari along the coast.

Once off the bus,
how can you resist views like this on the Adriatic Sea!

However, we were there on a mission with our tour guide, not to see the Adriatic Sea,
but to see what the city is known for:  the St. Nicholas Church.

Of course, the journey along the way is as important as the destination, if not more so, right?!

Don't you love the impressions you get of a place just by looking!

What surprised me most was this little dab of Roman ruins as we passed through the old city.

It's the former site of a Byzantine church from the 9th-10th centuries

on the Square of Our Lady of Good Counsel.

Street people...

with an invitation to observe this lady, sitting there with her door wide open!

There were many indications of religious importance in this city.

Perhaps this is one of them, just before turning the corner to see what we had come for...

...the Basilica of St. Nicholas, from 1197.

Do you know why it's so important for the Dutch people to see this?

It's where St. Nicholas, the historical figure of the the Dutch legendary Sinterklaas, is buried.

Yes, you heard me.

Sinterklaas, who arrives in homes all over the Netherlands on 5 December, is buried in Bari.

WHO KNEW THAT?!?!
(Technically, of course, St. Nicholas is buried:  Sinterklaas is not!)

No question at all about who was of utmost importance here.

We were ready to enter the church....

The nave.

The altar.

The organ and pulpit.

And then the crypt.

One of the tombs.

And then where St. Nicholas himself is buried behind the fenced barrier.

This basilica "holds wide religious significance throughout Europe and the Christian world...

an important pilgrimage destination both for Roman Catholics 

and Orthodox Christians from Eastern Europe."

In the outer courtyard is the statue bearing witness to his fame.

St.Nicholas is the patron saint of sailors, merchants, archers, repentant thieves,
brewers, pawnbrokers, students and children across Europe.
Sinterklaas is the patron saint of children.
They really are connected at the hip.

So now you know why this city was on our Dutch tour of Italy!
We were there for only 1.5 hours. but we saw what was most important.

Sinterklaas in the Windmill

By now you may remember that yesterday, December 5, was Sinterklaas here in the Netherlands.  It's the traditional day of giving and receiving gifts...not on Christmas.

It also happens to be the day I celebrated my arrival here in this country, 9 years ago (2009), to start my new life with Astrid, who became my wife 2 months after arriving, on February 5!

But I digress.

What I rarely show, however, is the importance of Sinterklaas himself in this culture.  Yes, you can say he's similar to America's Santa Claus, but he's different in that he arrives in the Netherlands 3 weeks before December 5 to make sure all the kids know he's here.  That's NOVEMBER!

It's a fun story...about how he arrives on a boat from Spain with his horse, Amerigo, and his Zwarte Piet helpers (Black Peters, who are Moors).  You can read all about it here.  He actually does arrive here in Gorinchem on a special boat, with kids watching him arrive in our inner harbor from the Merwede river outside the locks.

And yes, he's a legendary figure based on Saint Nicholas, the patron saint of children.

This is the Nooit Volmaakt windmill just a block down the street from our back door.

It's a grain mill, originally built in 1718, from which we buy the flours for our homemade bread.

Nooit Volmaakt means "Never Forget."

When Astrid told me Sinterklaas was visiting this mill last Saturday at 2 p.m.,

I knew I would try to make it, if it wasn't too crowded.

Lucky for me, it was NOT too crowded, which actually surprised me!

The action was on the first floor up, where kids were invited to make speculaas cookies

while waiting for Sinterklaas to arrive.

I zeroed in on a couple of the kids who were fully involved.

Future chefs in the making, for sure!

Coloring was also an option....

which, of course, made me think of wee granddaughter Hailey.

Then we got the news that Sinterklaas had finally arrived down below!

He brought with him a Zwarte Piet (yes, they can also be women), as black as night.

A child standing nearby, as a Zwarte Piet wannabe, was allowed to hold the staff.

This is serious stuff.

Not anything like Santa Claus Ho-Ho-Ho-ing.

Some kids were afraid (sound familiar?), 

but parents played their part to calm the nerves.

This girl in particular was a total believer.

And then Sinterklaas climbed up to the cookie makers above.

No, I didn't follow him...

but I pictured in my mind's eye what it must have looked like.

It was raining when I left the mill but I didn't care.

I came.  I saw.  I dreamed about the years to come with Hailey!

And I repeated what I say every year at this time:
"Yes, Virginia, there IS a Santa Claus!" 

BELGIUM 2016: The Christmas Markets

As you may know, or not, Astrid and I have an on-going tradition now of taking a few days off following America's Thanksgiving weekend at the end of November.  It helps me get through that one holiday of the year that I miss the most.

This year we decided to make home base as close to Leuven in Belgium as possible, planning on making the Brussels Christmas market our highlight for one day, 30 km away.

So, off we drove to the Atomium outside of Brussels to park for the day,

a no-brainer at €6, plus purchasing an all-day Metro ticket.

But when we got to the Grand Place, or Grote Markt, we had a shock.

No Christmas market there because they were setting up for a concert that night.

The so-called Christmas market was in the side streets.

But first, we wanted to see if Manneken Pis was dressed up for the occasion.

He was, but not for Christmas!  Instead, he was wearing a Scottish outfit

 in honor of St. Andrew's Day, celebrated on November 30, that day.

We're huge fans of Scottish Andy Murray, #1 in men's tennis right now, so this was fun to see.

[Note to self:  one day go visit the City Museum to view Pis' hundreds of outfits.]

We then walked back to the Grand Place for lunch where Astrid got her mussels in Brussels.

She can have them, I always say, while I tried a wonderful chicken and mushroom stew.

While we were there, we spent a few minutes looking at the market square that we love.

Since we were last there, it all seemed spruced up with lots of extra gold touches.

This time I paid more attention to some of the architectural details.

Who thinks these up?!

And because that's what we were there for, we did start checking out the Christmas market,
up and down a few of the side streets.

Can you tell how disappointed we were????

It wasn't anything like what we're used to, by German standards.

So we ended up leaving, thankful for Manneken Pis and the mussels, and promising to check out

if by chance there was another Christmas market in the area for the next day.

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

YAY for Astrid's magic Googling fingers that evening because she did indeed find another Christmas market, only 56 km east of Leuven in Hasselt (still in Belgium).

THIS time we were thrilled beyond words, making up for everything we had "lost" the day before in Brussels.

We arrived late afternoon before the crowds descended, which we prefer.

It's nice to walk around without bumping into people, you know!

And true to high standards, this Christmas market had everything,

including an ice castle with sculptures and an indoor ice-skating rink.

To be honest, some attractions remind me of being at an American county fair!

And if you have a Christmas list, you surely have plenty of places to buy 

something special for that special someone.

Me?  I bought a Stuart minion ornament for Astrid.  :)

But to be honest, our eyes were on the Glühwein and....

the braadworsts.

OMG.  We both died and went to heaven!  

(As you know, it doesn't take much.)

By that time, the early evening magic starting lighting up the place.

Isn't it wonderful how Christmas is the Season of Light!

Well, and also of Santa...or Sinterklaas, for the Dutch.

There were enough Santas there to sink a ship.

But this one was set apart, a reminder of the Dutch Sinterklaasdag on 5 December.

That's the day 7 years ago when I arrived in the Netherlands from America

to begin my new life with Astrid.  We were married 2 months later.

You know I'm gonna say it again:

YES, Virginia.  There is a Santa Claus!