B&B Casastella Matera

We were finally able to rent a car in Salerno and head out into the Basilicata region of Italy. The Basilicata is the least touristed and least populated region of Italy. It is a beautiful area with rugged mountains and several national parks.<br><br>We had heard about an interesting town there called Matera. Everything we read about it kept calling it &#8220;mysterious&#8221; and &#8220;haunting&#8221;. Apparently, it is one of the oldest towns in the world with continuous ...

Where to start! Martera and the Sassi are absolutley beautiful - definitley a must see when visiting Basilicata.<br><br>Matera,the second largest town in Basilicata is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, thanks to its extraordinary labyrinth of caves, used as dwellings as recently as the 1950s, and which are literally part of the town &#8211; under your feet, beside you, and around the next corner. Many ...

This is where Pietro, an old Italian guy, jumped into Bruce and navigated us to the trulli. He saved us from a traffic jam in the narrow streets of Puglia.<br><br>Pete was also called Pietro while in Italy. :-)<br><br>Trullo comes from the Greek word, "tholos" &#8211; meaning &#8220;dome&#8221;. See the pictures of the wee houses.<br><br>We found the Belvedere pub here too - also the name of our local in Aus &#8211; meaning &#8220;beautiful view&#8221;. It was beautiful.

... to go and are doing u-turns randomly before having to wait, not knowing what for. The pedestrians are told to wait and then pointed in a direction that doesn't appear safe for pedestrians and lastly for the cyclists, chrissy and I, none of the employees actually know whether we are supposed to wait in a really long vehicle line, or follow the pedestrians into that building. However, they all confidently tell us contradicting things ...

... much so that heaps of films have been made there, King David with Richard Gere and Mel Gibson´s The Passion of the Christ amongst them. <br><br>We arrived late afternoon and looked down on the valley of houses from the main square, and in the distance saw a campervan on the edge of a cliff the other side of the valley, a km or so away. Now wouldn´t that be a cool spot to spend the night, wake up with a cup of ...

... see the sights of Matera. Matera is built on the edge of a deep ravine, and the old part of the town is built into the rock and people used to live in man-built caves up until the 1950s! One of the days I went to some of the churches built in about the 13th century. They are amazing, built into the rock with some of the old alfresco work on the walls. I even managed to talk with one of the attendants at the church "Santa Maria di Idris" whi ...

I decided to remain in Matera for an extra day. The old city, boasting a heritage of nearly 10,000 years is clearly majestic in its effect on the first time visitor. Not too touristy (yet), the city gives out the real feeling of what living in a small, secluded, cliff hanging cave town would be like. One can easily imagine this by looking up towards the still vacant stone houses and caves or looking down at the creak and the rocky hills surrounding it ...

Ah, I will miss Cericarica... As I entered the village I knew I wanted to stay. The village it self is situated on the cliff of a mountain densely populated with old stone houses. The town itself is small and tranquil. The people I met were kind, welcoming and keen on helping. When I went to look for a degreasing material for my bike, the bike store honor offered to wash my bike (together with him). And so he did. We took his ...

Short ride yet breathtaking. Via Appia is magnificent! An ancient roman road which is situated comfortably on the mountains above the highway is also amerced in natural forest and meadows, dotted here and there by small town houses, grazing sheep, pigs or hens. There is barely any traffic on the road - definite a bikers heaven. The mountain peaks reach a hight of more than 1000 m.

... off a cobblestone street with a natural spring fountain just outside and views from the street over the Sassi (literally 'rocks' but in Matera it signifies the rocky, hilly 'suburbs'). Matera felt very gothic to us, particularly when the weather was miserable and stormy. It is definitely one of the most amazing towns we have ever seen. The town is built up, literally, on a side of a ...