Palace Hotel Matera

... with floor, hotel furnishings, and modern amenities. The bathtub was a Jacuzzi cut right into the cave wall. It was quite bizarre but a fun experience staying in a cave. <br><br>We spent our time wandering the maze of old streets and alleys of the Sassi area. Indeed, the words mysterious and haunting are perfect. We can&#8217;t imagine any other place being like this and John was fascinated by it. It truly looks like a town lost in time and a place where you might expect ...

... well preserved, and the Sassi ('stones') districts are now undergoing stylish renovations and are now host to bars, restaurants, and chic boutique hotels. <br><br>Our hotel, the 5* Palazzo Gattini, was stunning, and combined old world luxury with every modern comfort. The view from the terrace and the balconies to the ancient caves was magical and entrancing. Wandering through the Sassi ...

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.

... sleeping bags out on the deck outside. The weather was amazing and we slept in peace and privacy.<br><br>The disorganization continued of course. <br>After realizing that we were dropped into the armpit of Italy and then attempting to cross a desert followed by mountains we decided to look into taking a train as we know we probably wouldn't make it to Rome in time with out train help anyway.<br><br>If we were in france we'd show up to ...

... us, but the director, saw the most photogenic spot. <br><br>We spent the full next day exploring the old abandoned cave/ houses, where they used to keep livestock in the spare room (as you do). Some of them had been recreated into exactly what they would have looked like back then, and you could visit the old churches with their centuries old frescoes painted onto the rock. Sooooo many photos taken. Just stunning.

... nearly 50 people most of whom I don't remember because it was only a fleeting hello. Gianluca and Manuela know pretty much everyone in Matera!! But fortunately I did get to meet some of their very close friends and every single night we went out for dinner and drinks with them. There was not a single night (of the four I was there) that we got home before 2pm! However besides meeting the locals and practising my Italian I also took some time ...

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 ...

... where the two pharmacists, once again, proved to be extremely kind and helpful. Armed with a dictionary and query Italian, I tried to remember the words for "rash" and "crouch". In the end I settled for a few jesters and finger pointings. "where? where? - oh, down there.. OK..", the pharmacist finally said, heading towards the baby ointments section. The whole process took 5 long minutes; the line behind me grew, yet the ...

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.

Sleeping in a cave makes you cold We arrived early in Matera, city of the Sassi; cave dwellings inhabited from the early neolithic period up to today. This was our first shot at showing up and finding somewhere to sleep...in this case a cave. It proved to be a bit difficult, but after some help from the tourist office, we booked what was said to be the last room in town. The owner of the B&B Del Casel, Roberto, picked us up from the tourist office and gave us the ...