A City of Caves
When we were planning our trip, our travel agent suggested that while we were in Italy, we should go to a city called Matera. It was her favourite city in the country and assured us that it was “not to be missed”. We looked at photos of this city that was lost in time and decided that we had to go visit the town that was unlike anything we had ever seen.
The only problem with visiting Matera is that it’s not accessible by train which meant that we were forced to brave the Italian roadways and rent a car.
Driving
Sean and I are almost convinced that Italians are given a free drivers license with the purchase of a car as no one seems to know the first thing about driving in this country!
We have seen two lane highways turn into an unofficial four-lane highway as cars make their own lane while passing. It’s also quite common to see cars passing other cars on the bend of a mountain road. I can’t even count the number of times I was convinced that someone was about to die only to have an oncoming car casually move out of the way of a car not in his lane.
Merging onto a highway also appears to be quite a challenge for many drivers here. The generally accepted method to accomplish this task is to stop completely in the merge lane and wait until you are ready to enter the highway. We slow clap all the cars that are able to merge onto the highway in one go.
Speed limits and road signs are treated as suggestions. If a posted speed limit is 50km/hr, people will drive anything from 20km/hr to 150km/hr. It’s no surprise that people disregard the speed limit signs as they seem to be forever changing and are therefore hard to keep track of. In a 100 meter stretch of road you might see a sign for 90km/hr followed by 60km/hr followed by a 30km/hr followed by 60km/hr. So nonsensical.
Despite the craziness, we managed to traverse the Italian roadways and make our way to…
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Matera
Known as the “city of stone”, Matera is one of the oldest cities in the world to be inhabited, with settlements dating back to about 10,000 years ago. These settlements were carved out of the mountain in the form of caves and over time the caves became known as the sassi of Matera. The Sassi alone make the city worth checking out as they are so unique and unforgetable.
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Most of the Sassis today are owned by the government after the townspeople were relocated to newer, more habitable locations. Over time, renovations to the Sassi have allowed to people to move back into the old city but a lot of the city is still in a state of repair. Our B&B, for instance, is actually a modernised cave that is a world heritage site owing to the fact that it was one used to store ice. The underground ice cave is still present in the building, accessible through the bathroom.
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As part of our tour of the old town we looked at a heritage Sassi cave house which portrayed what it would have looked like up until the time of the relocation in 1956. A family of up to about 6 children, a donkey, chickens, and other livestock would all live in the cave that was about 600 square feet.
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Both Sean and I found that this representation almost romanticized Sassi living after going to Casa Noha which was a museum dedicated to the history of the Sassi. We absolutely loved the tragic but important history that the videos showed of the history of Matera.
The last really awesome thing we did while in Matera was go to a cave spa known as Spa Gattini. Here, we enjoyed a 2.5 hour couples retreat with a Turkish bath, hydrotherapy shower, spa swimming pool, body scrub and massage. It was INCREDIBLE. After climbing steps and mountains day after day, my calves were aching for a good rubbing. It was a perfect way to end a perfect stay in Matera.
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UPDATED TRAVEL STATS
Churches: 26
Espressos: 58
Cities: 18
Gelatos: 15
