The Road to Matera
The morning of September 7 we walked to Termini train station and headed out to Naples. We opted for the Intercity train which takes about two hours. At Napoli Centrale we picked up our car (automatics were sold out at every Avis in Rome). We have a VW Cross. It handled the drive down well. A drive that should have been three hours turned into five when a lorry caught fire in the autostrada. Fortunately we had snacks and Colin streamed a Netflix movie while we waited. Everyone was out walking around on the road. It was certainly a memorable experience.
Our car for the next two weeks
Our route from Napoli to Matera
Insane backup on the autostrada when a truck caught on fire. Colin was pretty interested in the firefighting activities.
It was all worth it on arrival in Matera. After we parked and met our Airbnb host, we got our first view of the old city. It is stunning. The stone is unique and seems to almost emit light itself. We arrived around 5:30 so we explored until about 8:15 We were able to see a lot of the city, cave houses, and the Duomo and Church of San Francisco.
We were pretty hungry (having only had snacks for lunch due to the autostrada fire) and couldn't wait until 9pm to eat so we walked up in the more modern 18th cent part of town to a restaurant recommended by our hosts. We are early around 8:15, Italians started trickling in around 9pm. We are so glad we picked Dalla Padella alla Brace. The food was absolutely amazing. We split a local pasta dish called, Strascinati con rape e mollica di pane di Matera fritta (con acciughe) which is a fresh pasta of little treat shaped discs with turnip greens and Matera fried bread crumb (with anchovy). It was so simple but so amazing! It also contained some of the famous Materan/Lucanian peppers called pepperoncini cruschi. We then split a mixed grill with bits of sausage, lamb, and steak, as well as some offal. Finished off with grilled eggplant and zucchini and a half liter of house red wine.
After dinner we headed to a hip little bar called Area 8 for a nightcap. More exploring tomorrow!
Our lovely cave apartment in Matera (link to Airbnb below)
The Airbnb in Matera that we rented was really cool. It is located in the Sassi Caveosa area. Here is the link. Highly recommend both for the high quality of the apartment itself but also for the hosts who were very nice and helpful!
