We arrived in the evening in Matera and we knew little of what to expect in this town that had been recommended to us. We imagined more trulli country however, we were absolutely blown away. The town is carved out of rock caves in the twin ravine that runs through the town. It is the most extensive and complete Troglodyte complex in the Mediterranean and on of the oldest human inhabited settlements in the world.
It was once a wealthy rural centre from the 1600-1800's. However, by 1950, it had deteriorated and became poor and diseased due largely to Malaria.
We had not booked accomodation but found a tourist centre which recommended a B and B which is small and smart, in a recently renovated, charming old building. The owner Manuella was very happy to see us. It was as if she had know us for years and she was very friendly. Thank goodness for JB's italian as Manuella spoke no english, but we got by very well.
Our room here was a ground floor stable where original animal feeding troughs have been renovated into cosy storage compartments within the pleasant room. Most of the houses in Matera were like this where animals were brought into the ground floor for warmth and protection while the people lived upstairs.
For the first time in months we had a change in the weather, we had a huge electrical storm and torrential rain.
We took a walking tour (supposedly english), 80% of the time in Italian difficult for MB, but most of the Italian people were helpful and interpreted for MB as they were mostly bilingual.
It was fascinating to learn that the original inhabitants had lived in the caves 13,000 years ago. Gradually people emigrated to the area and made more substantial homes by excavating into the limestone hills. We visited several cave churches, plus a house turned into a museum demonstrating how the people lived in the four levels descending from the street and all carved out of the rock. There has been many movies made in Matera due to its unusual environment, including Mel Gibson's 'The Passion of Christ'.
We had dinner at a fabulous restaurant 'Francesca's' one of our best meals in Italy. The next day we tried to find mass in one of the many churches with no luck. So, we headed off to the coast in 'Golfo di Taranto'. In the old town 'Metaponto', we thought we might stop to play golf, but at the last minuet we decide to keep going and play in Sicily.
Metaponto has a nice uncrowded beach and we heard later that the golf course is very good, as are some of the others in the area around Taranto, Lecce, etc. So, we will have to return one day.
We were getting tired of long days of driving, competing with crazy italian driving habits, long winding roads, and super fast freeways where 140kms seemed an average speed. As we had driven over 1000kms in four days we stopped for the night at the seaside town of 'Tropea', on the west coast of Calabria, 100kms short of Reggio Calabria where we will get the Ferry back to Sicily.
JB and Mick