November 29, 2021: Matera, Italy

It seems we are doing okay weather wise on this journey, during our travel days is when we get the rain and today was no different. We headed out of Villapiano this morning after our 11:00 am check out time and headed the 2 hours to Matera. Our accommodation last night was good, not great but good, it was quite and comfortable, the breakfast was okay, come on we had to make our own coffees with a few croissants and some other packaged treats. I could see that in season this place would be happening but like many of our other accommodations we were the only guests. This goes for the same here in Matera, we are the only guests in this Sassi,  Le Dimore Dell’ Idris, which is fine with us, it just makes it so quiet and inactive.

Matera itself dates back 9,000 years, yes the core of the beginning of Italy back in 7,000 BC. It is noted to be the third oldest continuously populated city in the world, after Aleppo and Jericho. The people here used to live out of the cave dwellings, called Sassi. Being here is like stepping back, way back in time. Mel Gibson filmed, The Passion of Christ, here and for good reason, just look out our window and we think we have gone back 2,000 years. For the James Bond fans, No Time To Die, was also filmed here as a part of that movie. Many of these Sassi are now stores, restaurants, BnB’s and hotels. We took the opportunity to stay in one and it is truly amazing. Very old meets modern. We are in like a cave with a loft and arched ceiling and very uneven brick floors, I will include some pics on this of course. Out our window you would think you are in Bethlehem, fantastic… 

We had a very nice late lunch, walk about, rest and then a lite dinner, well with dessert of course. Everyone we meet here is so very friendly and helpful, they go out of their way to make sure we are getting everything we need. We had another walk around after dinner before settling back into our cave, lol. Yes, we had dinner in a cave as well… A few pics of our day, hope you enjoy…

November 28, 2021: Villapiano, Italy

We had a nice relaxed check out this morning, basically whenever we wanted. We were out by noon. Stopped by a museum that, on line, indicated that they were open (until 7:30 pm) but all doors were locked, okay we continue our journey. Today, we travelled the coast line from say the ball of the foot to the arch, then cut across the top of the foot before heading north to a Villa in Villapiano. We did take a bit of a longer route because we wanted to travel a coast new to us. The google map said 3 plus hours, it was closer to 5 with a few stops along the way. 

Darkness was setting in when we, once again, tried to find our accommodation, 45 minutes later and we arrived, close to 6pm. The problem this time wasn’t the gps or google maps it’s just that in this part of Italy the smaller streets are just not named, so the address listed took us to the train station, Piazza Giuseppe Gentile and from here you are on your own. I stopped a person passing by and when I mentioned the place she rattled off a minutes worth of instructions (yes, with full arm and hand movements like she was conducting an orchestra), I nodded and smile, said, grazie and asked Jan if she got all that, with a glazed look said, no. Lol. I think she said, left, left, straight left and Porta a few times. We need to get to other side of the tracks, okay. So off we went… Completely lost now, Jan sees a sign for a different villa and says, hold on I think that’s on the “map” from the website. Okay, so if that is here, then we need to go back to there… And boom, there it was. The person in charge was waiting patiently for us, oh probably for a few hours, sorry about that but no directions? He didn’t understand a word, nor did we when he explained everything about the place, this is when hand jesters work the best… This is a nice place, looking forward to seeing in in the light of day. He did make a dinner reservation for us tonight, so that was also very good.

Dinner tonight was at a restaurant about 1 klm from our Villa accommodation,  Da Giuseppe. In a word, fantastic. This young man has been here for three years and we all know how the last couple years have been and thanks to a certain ignorant portion of the population, continues to be. I digress as any rant on this is wasted. We had a wonderful variety of dishes here tonight. A salad with smoked salmon, avocado and mango, what a great combination. We then sampled the Swordfish, finished in a fresh tomato sauce with capers. We then sampled linguine with delicious mussels. An absolutely delicious meal only to be finished by a chocolate cake dessert, yum… Only one item on the dessert menu, so this was a nice departure from the tiramisu tour that we seem to be on. I usually don’t give a shout out but Giuseppe runs a very nice establishment here and if you ever find yourself in Villapiano, please stop by and enjoy a meal here, you will be very happy. 

A quick short drive back to our accommodation, much easier to find this time. I did not park in the designated parking area that was assigned to me, it is not my idea of a good time to have to open a gate only to barely squeeze the car into the opening with maybe an inch to spare at my mirrors, I haven’t got this far into our trip to risk any damages to our ride. This post has been delayed because of wifi shortcomings at this villa. Oh, it shows as full bars but we got nothing, the lights are on but nobody is home in this wifi dead zone, hopefully tomorrow. Tomorrow will be a treat, we are in Matera, but more in that then. A few pics of today, not many due to rain, but a few, hope you enjoy…