Park Hotel Matera

... for over 7,000 years! So we drove 3 hours to get there and stopped to briefly explore the beautiful but boring town of Tricarico on the way. The drive was quite beautiful along very nice country lanes that reminded us of the Tuscany region.

Matera is located on the edge of a deep river ravine and has a rambling ancient neighborhood area called the “Sassi” district. The Sassi is a large area of ancient dwellings and businesses that are actual ...

... well preserved, and the Sassi ('stones') districts are now undergoing stylish renovations and are now host to bars, restaurants, and chic boutique hotels.

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.

Pete was also called Pietro while in Italy. :-)

Trullo comes from the Greek word, "tholos" – meaning “dome”. See the pictures of the wee houses.

We found the Belvedere pub here too - also the name of our local in Aus – meaning “beautiful view”. It was beautiful.

This place is crazy. Totally a fitting welcome to this fun country. We show up in the morning from our overnight ferry. There's total confusion as to whether the pedestrians are to get out with the cars or somewhere else. Bikes, we assume go with the cars. Of course that is until someone decided to tell us differently. Everyone waits in the boat for 15 minutes having no idea what's going on. When the doors finally open, the cars don't know ...

(Note : All entries from now until Perth in November are way
shorter than they should be, as all out text got stolen, together with
our laptop, all our valuables, and almost our whole campervan, when it
was broken into and trashed in Rome at the end of October. Have a look
at that entry if you want to have a look at the damage the *******s
did. The next month or so´s text is written 6 months later, so ...

... 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 ...

... were very paciante and understanding. The hotel I stayed in was a one star hotel. For 15 E I got a small, fifties style room with a little closet and a table. The hotel and Bar, below it, were run by a family - brother, sister and two parents (and one bossy mother!). The next day I continued towards Matera. I arrived in Matera at about 13:30, after having my tuna sandwich in the outskirts, surrounded by meadows, sheep and cows.

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.

Ciao, The ferry service from Sicily to the mainland runs frequently. After a quick ride (about 15 minutes) we were on terra firma again and on our way to our next stop, Matera. We broke the long drive with a lunch stop at a beachside town lined with palm trees. We made good time and arrived at our lovely apartment in the old (by Australian and not Matera standards!) part of town. It was ...