Taranto, Puglia and Matera

 

An 8am arrival into the port of Taranto after a very smooth night. Another beautiful sunny day. Karen, Aaron and I have booked a shore excursion to the town of Matera. It's a little over an hour drive through rolling hills. This is an agricultural area, with olives, both wine and table grapes, oranges and wheat. Also dairy from cows and donkeys. 

The town of Matera is famous for its houses built into the rock. People first started living in caves, then built larger houses, churches etc. This was a very poor area, and the houses had no windows, no toilets, and no running water. Although the limestone kept the temperature at about 18C summer and winter, it could get very humid, so respiratory diseases and cholera were common. In the early 50s, people were removed from their cave and stone houses and moved into apartments provided by the state. Not a popular thing for the most part. Now as Matera is a UNESCO site, the state owns all the buildings, and you have to apply to rent one. 

It's really a fascinating and beautiful town. Lots of steps of course, and smooth stone walkways and cobblestones. I'm very glad we weren't here in the rain as I'm sure it would be slippery. There is a ravine that cuts through the town with a stream running through. You can go over a suspension bridge and climb a path over to the other side. We had a very good walking tour, taking us through many of the small streets and seeing different sorts of buildings. There is a home showing what it would have been like living there many years ago, and also a church. Now many of the buildings have been taken over for hotels, restaurants and shops. As this is the Saturday before Easter there are lots of people visiting, both foreign and Italian. The main square was very busy, but as there are so many little streets it's certainly not crowded everywhere. Today was about 21C and sunny, a perfect day to be climbing up and down all the stairs. I can't imagine in July and August in 40+C with the heat reflecting off the stone!

After our walking tour we had some free time. We had an "artisanal" gelato. Excellent, and unusual flavours. Mine was Chocolate/Almond/Cinnamon. There was a little market going near the main square and we browsed through that as well.

Then back to the bus for the drive back to the ship, and time for a beer! After a bit of a rest Karen and I walked into the old town of Taranto. In this port there is a shuttle to take us through the industrial part. From there it's about a 5 minute walk to the swing-bridge that goes over to the Island of the Old town. There are lots of mussel farms in the bay. Many families walking the promenade. Lovely old buildings, sort of decayed elegance. We tried to take a short cut through the middle of town. The streets are really a maze, we soon started going through incredibly twisting and narrow streets, some less that an arm-width apart! Really interesting and fun. We were getting tired by this point, so back to the boat. 

A beautiful sail-away through this large bay, on a very calm evening. We decided to eat out on deck at The Patio as it's such a nice evening. Later we went to the show, a boogie-woogie piano player who was very good.

































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