Sunday 27th September 2024

In Matera

We woke to a pea soup fog surrounding us, with the sun trying its hardest to burst through on the first day of no Summer Time in Europe.

Brekky on the terrace,courtesy of the host, where we could again take in the magnificent panorama across the valley and Sassi.

The hill on far right is where they filmed crucifiction scene in Passion of Christ

Had a walking tour booked for 1030, to visit the rock churches and a recreated cave house, plus a general walk around the town. Ended up a bit of a Keystone Cops event with no sign of the guide between 1010 and 1030. We were advised to try the square up the hill. Another miss and finally a few frantic phone calls and we were eventually connected with guide and two others.

Enjoyed a very informative tour about the towns rich old and recent history. The fact that people were still living in cave houses with no services up until 1958 was astounding, especially when you saw the conditions they and their animals lived in.

It took an act of parliament to turn Matera from a place of shame (guides words) to now attain UNESCO status. Most of the cave houses have been totally converted into hotels. B and B’s , restaurants and cafes. Some of the hospitality places tumble down three and four layers.

There is still one batch of original cave houses that will never be lived in again but will be converted to an open museum.

The churches we visited still had very visible fresco’s. No photography was allowed , so memories are all we have. The cave house was fully preserved, stuffed donkey and all. The conditions were far from ideal with high levels of infant mortality and average adult lifespan under 50.

On the tour we established that our house is about 20 metres from path where the Passion of Christ cross bearing snippet was filmed.

Tour ended at Rock Church and we were left to our own devices, so we ended up with lunch at the Stone Age ristorante where the terrace looked down onto the Nepalese swing bridge at the bottom of the valley.

Swung our way up towards the castle but were temporarily waylaid by the laundromat so we could ensure enough socks and undies for the rest of the trip.

With hundred’s heading up the hill in tour groups we agreed we had seen enough castles and headed back into town to work our way through more fascinating nooks and crannies, many filled with construction equipment as the B and B conversion continued. With 500,000 visitors a year more accommodation couldn’t go astray.

Could not miss another memory of the Camino Santiago walk when we noticed a scallop shell embedded in a wall. It was the emblem of the walk.

On our usual Xmas decoration diversion we finally solved or added another level of intrigue to the fat lady doll story. Our opera singer version could not have been further from the truth. They were actually representative of feeding mothers and were in real life made of cheese and used as a dummy for babies. Not sure what they did for the lactose intolerant kids- probably just let them scream.

Made our obligatory visit to Tourist information to enquire about the walk into the valley and other tours which were available. Early walk tomorrow looked the go.

Wanted to visit the ancient cistern – old water source for town similar to the one one Istanbul- but like everything else 130 to 330 was siesta.

The crowds were much bigger today and tour groups had swelled from 10-15 to 30+. The biggest queue for any location was the WC, where you paid 50 cents or a cent for every person on the line to trundle down three floors at a very slow rate. Even though it was 10/1 women to men there was no filtering and they of the weak bladder brigade were notably fidgety.

With 150 churches in town it was hard to avoid visiting a few. The greater number were very ornate with multiple altars, ceiling fresco’s and silver and gold artefacts to symbolise the wealth of the church. Several had front door ushers to either collect an entry fee or only let you in if you were attending a service.

Interesting to note that one of the old palaces previously owned by Malvaise family had fallen into disrepair and was for sale, with sign dated 2021. Surprising with the accommodation / construction boom it hadn’t been snapped up.

The Sassi area has very stringent vehicle access rules and the most prevalent vehicles are pushbikes, motor bikes and 3 wheeled tuk tuks. Commercial vehicles are virtually banned between 10 and 4. 

If you enjoy step walking on shiny limestone this is the place for you. It would be a nightmare in the wet. It was interesting to see  a food delivery person and a courier on foot. It would certainly keep you fit if your knees were not shot from three walking tours- crabwise is our walking style of choice.

Fell in line with the locals about 445 and had a little kip before heading across town for dinner. It was the time of day I like best in Italy when all of the family enjoy passeggiata when they stroll the streets catching up with friends. The families outnumbered the tourists. 

It’s very interesting in the morning when it’s the wise old owls who sit outside solving the problems of the world for an hour or so over a single coffee.

Basically it was only bars open, until 730, except the one we had chosen- it only served lunch . Undeterred we wander up and down passing many cave restaurants burrowing into the hillside before selecting a street level one, filled mainly with locals.

Had a great meal and was served by a Freddy Mercury lookalike who got a great kick out of the inference. The crowds had thinned a little as we walked home again trying to snap some photos to reflect what an amazing city it is by night.