Trips

Wed., 10/6 - Monopoli Port and Matera

Today's excursion was to Matera, the third oldest city in the world behind Jericho in the Palestinian Territories and Aleppo in Syria. People have lived here continuously since the 10th millennium BCE.

Our walking tour began with a stop at the local farmers market with fish, meat, and lots of kinds of vegetables. Marco treated us to peperone, a dried and roasted red pepper (capsicums) snack and Taralli, little circles (or tori) of baked bread dough.

Street market	Salami and Cheese market
Caciocavallo cheese
Caciocavallo cheese and other goodies hanging on a pomegranate tree	Statue in the right foreground is by Salvator Dali. It was moved to, and dedicated to, Matera. The city was chosen as the Capital City of Culture in 2019. The statue had dancer’s legs, a piano, and is a ballerina of sorts. The church is the Church of Saint Francis of Assisi.
Purgatory Church with skulls carved into the massive door.	The top row has a king’s crown, a bishop’s cap, and two other grand persons' skulls - meaning all are going to purgatory!
At an overlook we could see the remains of the 10,000-year old caves across the canyon. These were the original abodes of the Christian hermits - the Eremites. When those caves deteriorated, they moved across the canyon. Later more people moved in, enlarged the caves by scraping out the limestone and even later built stone block facades in front of the cave.
Sasso Caveoso district	Challenging walkways
Cave dwellings of Matera	Cave dwellings of Matera
Cave dwellings of Matera	After WWII, pictures of people living in caves without electricity or running water were published. The scenes made Italians aware that Matera was the “Shame of Italy.” From 1952 to 1968 the Italian government debated what to do about the shameful living conditions. In 1968 they forcefully removed the remaining population and paid them to move into new housing in Matera. In 1993 UNESCO decided the history of the cave houses were worthy of Heritage status and funds became available to begin repair of some of the cave houses.
Novel downspout	Visit to one restored “house” furnished as it would have been 100 years ago. It was primitive but practical.
Interior of a cave house	Cave house kitchen
Pretty cactus	After viewing the caves and city from the overlook, we were shuttled back up to the new town and spent free time wandering and sitting on a bench under an old sycamore tree.
Statue of an elephant by Salvatore Dali	Market photos
Dried, roasted red capsicum peppers (above) and a package of peperone	Fish market
Lunch	Lunch was at an elegant restaurant on the main square and then we were driven back to our ship.

At the regular evening port talk we learned that the winds (the Bora) in the Adriatic Sea were too strong to anchor or go ashore at the Tremiti Islands, our next port of call, so we will have to stay in Monopoli for another day. Patience and Flexibility!

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