Matera

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Matera was the next destination and i'm so glad we made it there! After the heat of the last week, the four of us decided to get a cave hotel with air conditioning for the night in Matera and really live it up in the lap of luxury!! Matera is the location of the Passion of the Christ movie directed by Mel Gibson and it really does look magical. We stayed in one of the Sassi areas where everything is built of limestone and all the houses are carved out of the mountain. It was a really special sight to see, especially at night. But best of all, the air conditioning was amazing! We were so appreciative we stayed in for the rest of the afternoon and watched crappy Italian variety TV! We did venture out when the sun went down and had some crappy dinner before heading to a bar and filling up on their 2 euro buffet that was ten times better than the restaurant we just went too. We drank mojitos that were way too strong and then went and enjoyed our luxurious beds in our luxurious cave. The next day we drove out to the location where Mel Gibson filmed the crucifixion scene from Passion of the Christ for some brilliant views of the two different sassi areas. That's really all there is to say about Matera but i'm posting lots of pics because it was so gorgeous and i would definitely recommend a night there even if it is a bit out of the way in southern Italy. Just don't plan on doing any walking during the middle of the day in August - bad idea.



So onwards to the next destination which was Alberobello near Bari on the east coast. Alberobello is famous for its very unique buildings called trulli's (that's probably not how you spell it but my memory is shot from too much drinking last night). They're round with a conical shaped roof and can be found on farms in the area and in high concentrations in the regions historic districts. Definitely worth a day trip but maybe not an overnight although we had plans to see the Castellanato caves in the morning so we found a site a few km's out of town. We visited the caves the next morning but didn't want to wait 2 hours for an English tour so just joined an Italian one and made up all our own commentary! The caves are beautiful inside although you're not allowed to take photos (which is why most of mine are fuzzy - I had to take them with no flash and in a hurry!). The caves are one of the longest cave systems in Italy and stretch over 30km. After the caves we decided to head north to a beach one of the national parks near Foggia as we had a spare night before Kirra and Lauren had to catch a train to Ancona for the ferry to Croatia and Bretto and I would be meeting up with my extended family in San Marco in Lamas. We ended up in Vieste on the east coast. It was ok but i think i was pretty over the beaches and the Italian school holidays be then. The highlight of the day (actually probably the week) was the big juicy steaks and potatoes and vegetables Bretto cooked for all of us. I can't even remember the last day where i didn't eat any pizza or pasta and i don't think we've eaten a single piece of steak or lamb since we started this trip! Oh and vegetables - the beautiful vegetables!!! We all licked our plates clean and then licked the pots clean and then licked the frying pan clean! Delicious!

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