So we’re still at the Palace Hotel in Bari and today we have to take a drive into the countryside to see various wineries and the historical Castel Del Monte - Castle on the Mount.
Our departure time is 9.00am and we are to assemble at the front of the hotel and wait for the bus. I walk down, it’s about 8.45 am and I am soon joined by two others from the group. The bus comes and we get on board. I put my camera bag, which contains all my money and passport on a seat. I see a news-stand across the road and say to the guys on the bus “I’m just going to pop over and get a magazine, I’ll be right back.” I took some money out of my wallet and got off the bus.
I walk over the the news-stand and buy my magazine and walk back. The bus has gone, it’s nowhere to be found. I am alone in Bari with a magazine and no money.
For the first time on this trip the whole group was ready on time and even stranger, the bus driver decided to leave early as everyone was on board - except me! While I had walked across the road and purchased my magazine everybody had come downstairs and in the space of a couple of minutes had got on the bus, including a gentleman from some tourist board who was to give us a talk on Castel del Monte on the way. He gave them each a map and told them to open it which they did and so nobody noticed I wasn’t there, the loudest person on the trip, the only female and they didn’t notice.
I looked for the bus thinking that they had moved it just to trick me and I had wandered up several lane ways and streets to no avail, the bus was not there. I was left wondering what to do: (a) I could spend the entire day wandering about Bari but I didn’t have my camera or any money or (b) I could go back to my room and read my magazine and catch up on some rest. I decided to go back to my room and read my magazine and decide later whether I wanted to have a look around or sleep.
So I walked back into the hotel just as the receptionist came looking for me. Apparently they had got out of the city and realised I wasn’t on the bus, my camera bag was there but I was not. Where had I disappeared to?
Everybody on the bus had opened their maps as the man from the tourist board requested. They were big maps and had to be held with both arms outstretched. When he asked them to put their maps down they realised I was not there.
Frank, my Dutch friend who is totally oblivious to anything except food and wine said he had seen me back at the hotel and then Bill, the New Yorker, said I had got off to buy a magazine. Livia, our guide, then phoned the hotel just as I was walking back in and asked if I was there. The receptionist had seen me come back inside and gave me the phone. Livia asked me if I could catch a taxi and they would wait. I said I couldn’t catch a taxi and they would have to come back and pick me up or leave me at the hotel, I didn’t mind but as I had no money on me and wherever they were was a 20 minute ride away and I could get lost I wasn’t prepared to take the chance or I could stay at the hotel and they could see me when I got back. Fortunately the guys voted to come back and pick me up.
The man from the tourist board had been boring them to death about the ‘golden number’. I never really found out what this was but apparently it was the measurement by which everything in the world can be measured. It is the same distance between your hand and elbow and it is the perfect number. As everybody’s hand to elbow measurement is different I was never able to work it out.
When they arrived back at the hotel I was very angry and asked how could they go off without me. Each one had a different excuse and they were all very solicitous for the rest of the day. But, the guy from the tourist board who had been talking since they left was still going so I had to listen to the end of his speech which made absolutely no sense to me.
Our first stop was the wonderful Castel Del Monte, high on a hill its octagonal walls of blond stone give off the colour of the sun. As sunset draws in the castle turns pink, reflecting the colours of the dying sun. It is a huge edifice, dwarfing everything around it and it has an extremely long path to get up to the small front door, at least it looks small from a distance, as you get up closer it towers above your head.
The castle proved to be very interesting. They didn’t sell any literature at the castle which I felt was a lost opportunity but nevertheless, it was a marvellous experience.
It was originally built in the 13th century and for many years it was thought it had been used as a hunting lodge because it doesn’t have a moat or drawbridge but that is not the case now. There is no proof that Emperor Frederick ever visited the castle let along used it for hunting. It was used at one stage as a prison and after that as a place of refuge during the plague. 
It was once highly decorated but over the centuries everything has been removed either by design or theft. It is now bare but this offers a stunning view of the building. Some of the marble was taken to Caserta to be used in the royal palace there and the rest by brigands (as it was explained to us). There are still some traces of the rare red marble on some of the columns and you can still see the outlines of architraves which sit above some of the doors. Legend has it that once in the castle you could only walk in a clockwise direction and that is why the doors are only decorated on one side.
The inner courtyard of this unique castle has long windows which look out on a central courtyard. Having conversations must have been fun because you voice carries as you lean out the windows and speak.
The views are spectacular as you are above everything, this part of Puglia is very flat and the fact that this was built on the only hill in the area makes it even more imposing.
Finally we have had our fill of the castle and we head off to visit the wineries we had on our agenda.
Next: We get on a revolving wheel (metaphorically speaking)
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