Relais La Casa Di Lucio Matera

... in the movie, &#8220;The Passion of the Christ.&#8221; A couple of the old cave houses have been outfitted and furnished to look as they did in the 1950s and are open to visitors. <br><br>There are several hotels that have opened in the Sassi and they have made a novelty of the cave houses by turning them into hotel rooms. We stayed in room #3 for two nights at one such hotel called Locanda di San Martino. Our room was truly a comfortable cave that had been decked ...

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 ...

... 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.

About 2 weeks ago I went away with Gianluca and Manuela to their hometown - Matera which is in the South of Italy. It took us 5 hours by train to get to Bari (an Italian Port), and then we met Phillipo one of Gianluca and Manuela's friends, who drove us the rest of the way to Matera. We arrived that night at about 11pm, then dropped our bags of at Manuela's mother's house and went out for for drinks. Over the course of the weekend I reckon I ...

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.

... the old building. Matera has be inhabited longer than anywhere in the world for the longest period of time. There is sone age painting in caves through this region. When we post the pics, you will be surprised about the living conditions that once were. Though some people still are living in the abondon homes. Later, J&amp;K