Disappointment (Matera)

To continue my theme of tourists who are unaware of anyone but themselves, we encountered two more, dear reader, not one minute from our front door. Matera, as you may have gleaned from the photos, is a series of walkways and stairs. You can't go very far without negotiating stairs. We closed our front gate and turned to walk up the stairs to the main thoroughfare to find the only passage partially blocked by a woman in the middle of the path and her large, geriatric husband, seated occupying the stairs. Neither made an attempt to move. Arrogance.

The photos in this post are ones I grabbed wandering the Sassi today. No churches were included. I think you've seen enough for a while. Until Monday's meanderings at least.

Our balcony from below.

After last night's dinner, we decided we would eat in tonight, provided we could source some fresh bread rolls, tomatoes and some cold meat. That shouldn't have been too difficult - it was Sunday and the produce markets were supposed to be happening.

Matera bread and cruschi peppers.

We had breakfast at Café Ghavè again, the only variation was the food. My croissant had poppy seeds through it. Weird. Jayne had some pistachio pastry creation. I wasn't keen to brave the main piazza because we could hear the noise from our balcony. Yesterday Silvio said that Sunday was the most crowded day in Matera. 

How right he was. The piazza was a heaving, seething mass of tour groups; flagsticks were being waved in all directions. The produce market I had hoped for was just an extension of the arts, crafts and curios market that was there yesterday morning.

They have their own bell tower.

The first bakery proved fruitless as it was selling pre-made rolls and focaccia Matera. Time to go to the mini-market if we could fight our way through the crowds arriving in the square. The mini-market also proved a waste of time. The fruit and veg section had been decimated. There was one lonely tomato on the shelf and it had been left behind for a reason. A local man looked at me and shrugged, waved his hand at the empty shelves and shuffled out the door. We followed.

Back to my notes to locate the other supermarket. It was outside of the Sassi, a five minute walk. Braving the traffic, mostly a line of cars with exception of a man riding his horse, and the constant surge of tour groups, we made it to the SpeSi only to find a similar scene. Very little fruit or veg and not a ripe tomato in sight.

The real bell tower is visible from just about everywhere.

We returned to the Sassi and discovered there was another SpeSi near the Franciscan church. It was deceptively large given the narrow entry. That was hopeful. The empty deli display fridges were not. Around the corner to the fruit and veg. Supermarket number 3 ... no deal. What gives? It is unItalian not to be able to buy ripe tomatoes.

Change of plans. We would have lunch out and snack on our cheese and other things tonight on the balcony. I needed to make certain that I knew the way back to the bus terminal in case we decided to walk there on Tuesday morning. My memory proved to be accurate and we were once again outside in the modern town of Matera, away from the hordes of tour groups.

As we walked down the street, a woman walked past in the other direction with groceries. Ok, one last shot. The next SpeSi was only five minutes away. Off we went. There was the usual queue inside with only one person on the checkout. No problem, I'd queue for fresh tomatoes and mortadella. Except there were no tomatoes. I was defeated.

And I mean everywhere.

The walk to the bus station is achievable. It is 2.2 km but mostly downhill, so we'll see how we feel on Tuesday. A taxi might still be an option, but our experience in Lecce still looms large in our memories.

After a brief interlude at home, we walked once again to the mini-mart to buy some wine. The crowds in the piazza had dissipated somewhat, one assumes they were exploring other parts of the Sassi. There was a pharmacy across the road and we stopped in, without expectation, to see if we could get a compression sleeve for my left arm. I injured it some time back and dragging bags and throwing them up into luggage racks on trains hasn't allowed time for it improve. Bonus. They had what I needed.

Then we returned to our little piazza where the locals hang out, and the tour groups don't, to enjoy a beer and lunch, before returning to the apartment.

Monday

I know you're probably reading about the riots in Paris, but there have also been riots in Milan and Bologna (and since I wrote this, Roma and Turin) that failed to tweak the interest of the Australian media. The root cause is different but the end result was the same. I sometimes wonder why in Australia we just accept the tyranny of government, with our ever decreasing civil rights. 

A church on the main piazza.

Anyway, today is our last full day in Matera. We can tell the crowds are down because we get a good sense of the numbers in the piazza from the noise on the viewing balcony. Our usual café was closed this morning so we ambled down the towards the piazza and stopped where we had lunch and birra the first day we were here. The coffee and croissants were as good.

The rock church on a rock.

Our major excursion today is to the Chiesa di Santa Maria d'Idris. A rupestrian church carved into a rock outcrop on the edge of the Sassi and therefore the edge of the gorge. Jayne was a bit circumspect about the number of the stairs to be negotiated. As our planned route passed the Palombaro Lungo, the massive underground cistern, we thought we'd stop there on the way. Except a tour group, numbering around 40 people, was queued up to enter. Perhaps on the way back.

We followed the path suggested by Google which stayed on the main thoroughfare for most of the walk, until it deviated onto side streets, read stairways, and wended its way down to the base of the climb to church. Which happened to be on the main road. Why the complex detour? Who knows. 

Chiesa di Santa Maria d'Idris is considered the Sistine Chapel of Rupestrian churches. I'm not sure if that label is tongue in cheek, but the Sistine Chapel it is not. Aside from the fact that there were very few people there, it is two rock churches joined together and has several frescoes and part frescoes on the walls and ceiling. Most are from the 17th century but some date back as far as the 8th century.

The view from the rock is quite impressive out across the gorge and back up the Sassi. There are many caves on the other side of the gorge, but I am uncertain how they managed to get the mined stone back across to this side.

On the way home, we stopped at the larger SpeSi supermarket to once again be disappointed. The fruit and veg shelves were yet to be restocked. We were served by a very hostile woman at the counter and once again headed for the Palombaro Lungo. This time there was a school group lining the stairs and the entrance, so that will now be an afternoon activity. I'm not sure how large the space inside may be, but I'm sure I don't wish to share it with 40 or so school students. Those days are over.

Those experiences, particularly the lack of tomatoes, again, inspired today's title song Disappointment by The Cranberries.

Alora, it is lunch again today and wine and cheese for dinner. Back to the main piazza to a bistro that had a wide menu, probably too wide. Do you trust a kitchen that boasts it can turn out 50 dishes? I don't. We looked at a couple of other options but not being European, we didn't push past people to snare a table. 

By this stage I wanted a seat in the sun, so it was back to our piazza to see if there tables available at Nocelleria. The sign says panini and birra, not a bad start but I didn't really want a sandwich for lunch. Their menu was more expansive. We scored a table in sun/part shade. We selected Cialledda, a Materan dish of tomatoes, cucumber, red onion and Matera bread liberally doused in olive oil and sprinkled with oregano. Followed by cannelloni alle carne.

A statue dedicated to man-spreading.

We asked to share and they served the Cialledda in two bowls for us and we cut the cannelloni ourselves. And a local craft beer, alla spina, of course. It was, without a doubt, the simplest meal we have had in Matera and also the best. Less than half the price we have paid for meals at two other restaurants. Italian food, done simply, wins every time. It was delightful sitting in the sun watching the passing parade and revelling in the quieter piazza.

Finally we visited the church that is the feature of our piazza. I didn't have my camera and although it is a lovely little church, there was nothing inside that would call me back for a photo opportunity. It is very dark, consistent with the Romanesque style, lots of columns with an arched interior. Originally built in the 1200s and then rebuilt in the 1600s after it fell into disuse.

After the Palombaro Lungo reopened, we thought we should pay it a visit. I mean the lines to get in must say something ... yeah, nah. What the lines say is that people have no discernment or are easily manipulated. I'm sure the 'cistern' an Italian term, is a magnificent feat of engineering, joining all those caves together to be a massive water storage tank.

It's big, no doubt about it.

You could film Lord of The Rings in here.

When all is said and done, it is a massive, man made hole in the ground that holds water and once had drop points where people could collect water. Today it is barely filled and there is a metal walkway across the water to an endpoint of the chamber where you can climb a staircase again to another chamber, this one empty. Then you take the stairs back from whence you came, marvel at the idiots who have thrown coins into the water and retrace your steps to the surface. Being careful not bump into people taking selfies. It's like Cronulla in a lot of ways, one road in and one road... no you can draw your own analogies.

There's a lot of coin in there.

My final outing for the day was to return to the main piazza for 'blue light' photos of the Sassi back towards the cathedral. I'm sure I mentioned it before but it is the 30 minutes after sunset. The earth's shadow rises with the night and the lights of the Sassi come on. All very pretty if you can tolerate the pushing and shoving for position on the balcony.

Just after sunset.

The light is going.

Going.

Not quite gone.

Lights are on, home time.

Rather than initiate hand to hand combat, I ventured down stairs to the rock church. The lack of height does make a difference, but it was much calmer down there. Later I braved the melee of selfie takers up stairs. The busker tonight was a clarinet player. Curiously it matters not who is playing, guitar, clarinet, whatever, the repertoire is the same. If I hear My Way again any time soon I could self-immolate.

From the balcony.

And good night.

And that is pretty much a wrap from Matera. Tomorrow we have a very long transit to Sorrento.

Alla prossima.