La città sotterranea (The Underground City)

June 8

We skipped breakfast this morning to catch an early ferry. This one was more direct, only 20 minutes across the strait so we were back on the mainland and on our way to Matera by 7:45.

It was a beautiful car ride, following the sea to the west then to the east. Of course, to get from one side to the other we had to go through some mountains. Unfortunately, when we got to that part it was Peter’s turn to drive. He hadn’t driven in 10 days, but he did a great job through the steep road full of twists and turns. I took over again to get us into the city and amazingly enough we found parking right around the corner from our flat.

Since we had skipped breakfast, we were starving so the first thing we did when we arrived was eat lunch. There was a nice restaurant about 10 feet from where we parked. Even though it’s blazing hot today (into the 90s) we ate outside in the shade. There was no air conditioning inside the restaurant, so it was even hotter than outside. We both had delicious pasta. I took a picture of the menu so I can remember the names and, hopefully, find a recipe that I can make when we get home. These were just as good as the Pasta alla Norma we had in Sicily. One of the things we love about our travel adventures is trying new foods and luckily, we get more hits than misses.

We couldn’t check in until 4pm and it was not even 2:00 when we finished lunch, so we decided to explore the city. The area of Matera has been inhabited continuously since the 10th millennium BC (Paleolithic Period or Old Stone Age). Those residents lived in underground caves, some of which still exist and are available to tour. More on that later.

The old city is beautiful, filled with ancient buildings and narrow alleyways. The cobblestones are rough on the ankles, though, so we both had to be super careful.

The Matera Cathedral (Duomo) is dedicated to the Virgin Mary and Saint Eustice. It was built in the Romanesque style in the 13th century.

Another beautiful church was the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. This is even older than the Duomo as it was built in the 11th century. One cool feature of this church is that it was built over the Church of Saints Peter and Paul. There is a trap door in one of the side chapels that accesses that ancient church.

My favorite, though, was Chiesa San Giovanni Battista. It was much more simple but very beautiful. The construction on this one started in 1230.

We headed back for home about 3:30 as we needed to cool off a bit. The flat is very nice and most importantly, the fridge had a bottle of cold water. I actually used the glass bottle as an ice pack for my ankle which had swollen a little due to the heat. The house is built almost in a cave style with the high rounded ceiling; it’s quite lovely.

After hanging around the house for a couple of hours, we headed back out to check out one of the cave houses. It was quite a walk downhill. While downhill is good, it just means that eventually we’ll have to walk back uphill to get home.

There are several homes to visit. We choose the Case Grotto for no reason other than it was the closest to the house. It was very well done with life size figures. Here are a couple of pictures and I also uploaded a video.

Here’s the video: https://youtu.be/hEc-9VXLXI4

Across the street from the house was a shop displaying the work of a local artist who created an entire village from the stone. It was incredible.

On our way home with our freshly made panini sandwiches, we saw some street entertainers in the main square. It was a lot of fun. https://youtu.be/mtJcgowOe-A

Well, that’s it for tonight. Tomorrow we’re off to Lecce. See you there.