Gravina to Matera

November 18, 2023

Tailwind!

Today started out cool and very windy, and it stayed that way. It was only 12 C when I left town at 8:30, and I don’t think it ever got above 15.

I chose a route to Matera that was a bit longer than the most direct way, but I hoped would be scenic and have less traffic. That turned out to be true. Gravina a bigger city than you might expect from hanging around the old town but I had an easy downhill exit. I very soon turned onto a provincial road that climbed up through farmland and into the woods. It was a nice climb and I had a tailwind. Yahoo! Once I reached the top I was in a conservation area, Bosco Difesa Grande, (‘great defence forest’?) with marked trails. I saw multiple people out running, hiking, and maybe there were mountain bikers too, judging by the racks on a couple of cars.

I turned left into a very quiet road that was signed for ‘no through traffic’ except ‘frontisti’ which Google Translate says are ‘frontists’. Huh? Sounds military. But apparently it means landowners.The pavement was bad, but my bike and I didn’t mind, and I’m always happy to go downhill with a tailwind.

On my way down, I saw a fox, but not for long. It was faster than me, so there’s no photo.

I had a beautiful climb to start the day.

Italians put bullet holes in road signs too.

I had the road to myself on the trip through the conservation area.

Check out the wind. I’m happy to report that I was about to turn right.

After I rejoined the main highway to Matera, I had a SPECTACULAR tailwind. For Albertans, think chinook. I just had to hold on with both hands and coast. I figure it was payback for our nasty headwind day in Sardinia.

My suggested route took me through the community of La Martella where I was hoping to see a cafe, but it was an uninspiring suburb of Matera that I later learned was a housing project related to expulsion of people from cave houses. It looked like a prison camp to me. And there seemed to be no shops in town.

La Martella is a community for the former cave dwellers. Not very inspiring.

Then I had a significant climb up to Matera. This was the first time all day I had to contend with traffic. I was happy when it became stop and go in the city. At least then the people weren’t speeding by. Like Gravina, my entrance route to town didn’t show off the best side of the city, unless you like furniture stores and car dealerships. I climbed through the commercial district and past apartment blocks. In coming to Matera, I’ve left Puglia and entered the Basilicata region, briefly. I’ll be back in Puglia tomorrow.

With my climb mostly complete, I stopped for a cappuccino because I was 90 minutes early for my 1:30 check-in. I’ve noticed they give you a water shot with your coffee here. That wasn’t a thing in Sardinia. I thought it was a chaser, but apparently it’s a palate cleanser. It was still early, and mighty hungry, so I popped into another cafe in the historic centre of town and had an excellent panino with meat, cheese, veg, and caramelized onions.

Check-in to my accommodation was easy, and my bike got rolled right into the B&B’s empty ground floor apartment. I inadvertently booked a place with no internet - I need Sue here to double check my selections! Uploading to cycleblaze will have to wait a day because I need to make my data last until next week when I renew my eSIM. Saving gigabytes for communication seems more vital than blogging.

Then it was time for a tour of Matera, which took me all afternoon. It was cold and windy - the people in full winter coats were the smart ones today. What a fascinating place. Google it, because my description and photos won’t do it justice. My accommodation isn’t in the ‘Sassi’ (cave dwelling) area, but it’s right on the edge. It’s a deserved world heritage site. It has been occupied for at least 8,000 years, since the Neolithic. Possibly longer. And that makes it one of the oldest communities anywhere on the planet except Aleppo and Jericho.

There have been over 3,500 caves identified. The newest cave houses are 500 years old. There were historically over 160 churches in Matera, mostly in the caves, but there are multiple big churches above ground, including a cathedral. I toured a re-done cave home that was a bit hokey compared to the tour in Gravina, but still worth the 2 euro entry. And I watched a very good documentary about Matera in another former cave home. By the early 1950s, there were still 16,000 poverty-stricken people living in the Sassi with no running water, sewer, or electricity. The government was shamed into ordering an expulsion. Nobody lived in the neighbourhood again until 1986. Now it looks pretty fancy, with homes occupied by residents and loads of rental accommodation and restaurants. But if you stay there, you’d better like stairs. It’s not easy to access many of the properties.

The Sassi. Lots of stairs! Also featured in the latest James Bond movie.

The interior of a cave house. That’s a donkey in the back. The livestock lived indoors because: (a) they were valuable and (b) they provided heat.

There were lots of mouths to feed. And probably only one real bed. The rest of the sleeping spots were makeshift.

In the old days, accessing water wasn’t easy for the residents because of the nature of the limestone bedrock. Rather than going all the way down to the river to fetch water, they built a giant community cistern where they captured rainwater in the rocks. It was used until 1930. I think it’s accessible for a tour, but I ran out of time and energy.

I popped back into the Sassi for dinner, enjoying pasta with fennel-spiced sausage and crispy dried red peppers (not the spicy kind) for dinner at a cool little restaurant that was open early. It was simple and delicious. My meal was accompanied by the famous Matera bread, which was better than most Italian bread. Best of all, I was back at my accommodation by 8 pm. The winds are forecast to die down by tomorrow, and it’ll warm up a bit.

Fun fact for the day. In the Sassi, bread dough was made at home and then baked in a communal oven. Each family had a unique bread stamp to mark their loaves.

Today's ride: 44 km (27 miles)
Total: 753 km (468 miles)

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