Getting to Matera -where everything can be found "a la sinistra"

Tuesday afternoon we arrived in Bari. The plane we took there was our smallest one during the trip: it only had four seats across it. We took a city bus from the airport to the train station. It was hot and crowded because of the time (lunchtime) and a woman was yelling at her daughters. At the train station, we had just missed the train to Matera, so we had to wait an hour for the next one. Our train passed through Altamura. From it, I could see some church steeples and the newer part of the city. We passed through olive trees and fields along the way. The ground had low hills and was fairly dry because of the summer heat. In Matera we asked people how to get towards the center. Another traveler helped us. She was an Italian woman who spoke perfect English. She had been everywhere in the world: she lived in Japan for a while and her daughter (age 26) had been born there. She had spent time in South America, the USA, and South-East Asia. She had also just returned from a trip to the Middle East and was taking a short trip through Southern Italy.

Our hostel in Matera was actually a converted monastery. It had a chapel and still held cultural events like concerts. It was also a hotel that happened to have two dorm rooms in its basement. These rooms were naturally cooler and the beds were divided into smaller sub-rooms which meant Jess and I had our own little nook.

That evening we walked around Matera to get some food and see the town. The tourist office was not open – it’s unclear as to if one actually exists or not. We kept asking directions and people kept sending us to the left. Matera is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places on Earth. There were prehistoric caves across the river and more recent ones in the same part as where we were staying. The “more recent” ones were without running water until about 40-50 years ago. They are called sassi and the town has been used to film commercials and movies like Passion of the Christ. They are divided in two parts: the Barisano and the Caveoso. Our hostel was in between the two, on a cliff and just off the Piazza di Duomo.

That evening we went to a hardware store so Jess could buy a flashlight to use as a reading light. It was somewhat difficult communicating that we wanted the light, but not batteries. Afterwards, we went and ate dinner. I had chicken with balsamic sauce and a veggie frittata. The food was simple, but really tasty. After dinner we had gelato – I had dark chocolate and coffee. Then we walked back to our hostel stopping to look down at the sassi at night.