Day 1: Bari to Bitetto ~ 20 km

Yesterday after returning to my hostel I met Pavlina, an Australian solo traveller. We instantly clicked and pretty much didn't stop talking for 5 hours. It was such a great moment, because when you go traveling you meet a lot of people and you get on with most of them, but only with a few you connect with on a deep level. We ended up going out for dinner together and we shared our life stories over a few glasses of wine. She told me that Australia is so overpopulated with kangoroos that if you live in the countryside you should never drive after dark as it's very likely you'll hit a kangoroo. Very interesting fact. It was a very memorable evening and the perfect way to start my pilgrimage in Italy.

 

                              

                                 Pavlina & I

In the morning I said goodbye to Pavlina with a heavy heart, but with hope that we'll get to see each other at some point in the future. I left to start my Cammino at 10am. The starting point was from Basilica of San Nicola di Bari, a symbolic place of pilgrimage. The Basilica was built in 1048, and now is one of the most important places of Christianity. 

          The first time in my life wearing a hat

The start point for the Camino, Basilica of San Nicola di Bari

The first 1 hour of the walk was uneventful, walking in the industrial area of Bari. I have to say I bought way too much food just to be safe (it takes up 80% of my bag), and I think my backpack today was definitely over 10 kilogram, which made walking more difficult. However, I instantly noticed how smiley and friendly everyone is, which really put me at ease, knowing even if I get lost, people will help me. The challenge of the day came when the trail met with the motorway. I had to cross a bridge while walking on the motorway with cars which seemed super dangerous and scary.

For my luck, like help sent from heaven, this was exactly when I ran into 3 other pilgrims, Jack and the two Katarinas. Three Italian doctors who travel together (how cool is that, I don't know anyone else who gets on so well with their colleagues that they go traveling together). So, we all crossed the bridge together and made it out alive. The whole day I didn't meet any other pilgrims so honestly meeting them exactly at the right moment was so lucky. 

After this we went together to a very old church, Santuario Madonna della Grotta. There was an anniversary happening inside the church, which was very sweet. The inside of the church was absolutely beautiful, so old, yet it only had locals around, no tourists. It even had some catacombs from where you could stalk the priest. Interesting. 

                          The priest peephole

I had lunch with the three Italians, but then decided to keep going by myself. I have been REALLY enjoying having time to myself and just rely on myself with navigation. It really makes me happy and gives me space to think. 

On this note, I have to mention the app AllTrails which has made today extremely seamless. For anyone planning to do this Camino (or any other), the whole walk is on the app. I signed up to the 7 day free trial (which is just perfect for me), which allows me to download the whole 7 day trail, so I can access the map even when I'm offline. This is sooo good because it saves so much for my battery. The GPS is also so accurate, I would even say it's better than Google Maps. And the app also calculates your pace and let's you know how far you are from the finish. It's amazing! 

Anyway, back to the events of the day. Three minutes into seperating from the Italians I almost stepped on a 1.5 metre long snake. Yes. You read it right. There are snakes in Italy. 1.5 metre long and thick snakes! My heart almost stopped as I watched it slide away. Since I was in shock I couldn't take a picture sadly 😔. But don't worry because 2 hours later I saw another black snake, that I also couldn't take a picture of 😂 This one was much smaller, around 50 cm long. I'll need to be more cautious from now on. This experience made me realise how little research I did into the wildlife of Puglia prior to this trip. 

I found online the snake I almost stepped on today. This baby. 

The rest of the day was spent in a very calm and self-reflecting way, walking across olive trees. The hardest part of the walk was the last 3 kilometres because by that time my feet were really hurting. 

                             The path to Bitetto

But after 20 kilometres I arrived in Bitetto at around 4.30pm. A really cute and small Italian village. I'm staying in a B&B called Vitetum which is owned by this lovely Italian lady. She gave me a massive double room for a very generous price and even helped me find an adapter when I had a panic attack that my European charger doesn't work in Italy. I basically have the whole building to myself as there's no one here. 

                                    My room

After settling in I collected my certification, which is basically a booklet in which I'll be collecting stamps at stops as proof of completion of the Camino. 

                               My certificate 

The lady giving out the certificate is a volunteer for the Cammino and does so much for all the pilgrims, it's incredible. People who volunteer their time to paint the signs of the trail and talk to us are very generous and kind people. I met two other Italian guys doing the Cammino too and we ended up getting knowing each other a bit. Ester, who's the volunteer for the Cammino read us a poem about the purpose of pilgrimage and gave us a paper and a letter to write to our future selves, 6 months in the future and she's going to send us the letter through post in 6 month's time. I thought this was such a nice gesture and a great idea. I'm not sure I'll have time to do it by tomorrow but a great idea in general. 

Then, all the six of us (the five Italians and I) went out for dinner. 

Tomorrow, a big day with 25 kilometres ahead.