Just a couple of short train rides, first north to Brindisi for a quick connection and now I’m in Matera, one of the oldest inhabited places on earth. One source I read claims that it’s the third longest inhabited place on earth. How they know that is beyond me, but in any case, civilization has been in this spot for around 7000 to 8000 years. A long long time! It was afternoon when I arrived, so I only had time to visit a couple of quick sites by my hotel. First was Matera’s sad, neglected and closed Castello Tramontano. I guess with all the other awesomeness in Matera, they don’t have time for it, but there it is.

Next, in the main square in town is this interesting and ginormous cistern. I believe it was started in medieval times and was supplying water to the town long into the 20th century. It’s like a huge subterranean cathedral down there.

Matera is basically a living, breathing outdoor museum, but that didn’t stop me from going to the couple of traditional museums in town. With this area having been inhabited as long as it has, you can imagine the wealth of artifacts that have been found here. Most of it is scattered to other museums around the country, but there were some interesting finds in the local museums too.

I’m still waiting for approval from the city council, but I applied to have this next sculpture renamed Brutta Giornata (Bad Day).

Now for the really holy crap stuff. Matera is actually situated on the edge of a long ravine/river called the Gravina di Matera. 7000 to 8000 years ago, people started living in the natural caves in these limestone cliffs. Millennia of carving into the limestone and stacking the limestone have rendered this… amazing… city!

The whole place has basically just been carved out of the cliffs. Incredible! I’ve seen dwellings and churches carved out of cliffs and mountains, but never an entire city.

Up until the 1950’s into the late 1960’s, people were still living here in these caves. It apparently wasn’t so amazing then, though. The poverty in the area was overwhelming, to the point that Italians started calling the town “The Shame of Italy”. They started relocating and rehousing people, then slowly began to repair and clean up the place, with lots of help from Unesco, and now this incredible place is highly protected. A small museum I visited, Casa Grotta, let’s you see what an average family dwelling looked like then. It was pretty interesting. It doesn’t look that bad until you consider families of up to a dozen people including their livestock all lived in these places together. Note the model horse in the corner.

There are of course plenty of rock churches to see as well. They remind me a bit of all the rock churches in Tigray in Ethiopia. The ones in Ethiopia seem better preserved, probably because they are way more isolated and looked after by monks who live on site, but the Matera rock churches are definitely worth coming here for. San Pietro Caveoso, below, is the only church that was built rather than carved out of the rock around 1300.

All the other churches, with maybe the exception of the cathedral, were just carved right out of the limestone. I’m sure every inch of these places were once covered with frescoes, but unfortunately, most of the frescoes were removed over the years. The ones that remain are quite something to see though. Chiesa di Santa Lucia alle Malve dates back to the 8th century, though the frescoes are mostly 13th century.

Chiesa Rupestre di Santa Maria di Idris e Cripta di San Giovanni in Monterrone both occupy the same giant rock connected by a narrow passage. The frescoes span from the 12th to 17th centuries.

In between the incredible churches, I just wandered every street fearing I would miss some incredible vantage point. Every time I reached the top, or bottom, of a staircase or turned a corner I found a picture worthy view.

At the northern end of town, Chiesa di San Pietro Barisano is the largest of Matera’s rock churches, dating back to the 12th century.

Down in the crypt, they used to sit the bodies of the departed in carved out seats (see pics below), drain their fluids, and let them decompose until there was nothing left but bones. Then the bones would be given to the family so they could make room for the next body. That’s one way to do it I guess. There’s no bodies or bones down there anymore, but the seats are still down there.

Here are some more random wandering Matera pics. I went a little crazy with the camera here.

Interestingly, Matera’s main cathedral, Cattedrale di Maria Santissima della Bruna e Sant’Eustachio, was probably the least interesting church in town, but here it is anyway. The best part of the cathedral is the way it dominates the skyline from every view point in the city.

My original plan was to do my day trip to Metaponto on Sunday. Turns out on Sundays there is no way out of Matera, no trains, no buses, no nothing. So I did my day trip right in the middle of my stay on Saturday. It was one of the easiest day trips I’ve taken so far transportation wise, and the biggest dud. The archeological museum was closed for renovations. I knew this ahead of time, but went for the ruins of Metapontum anyway. Metapontum was a very important Greek city, but all that’s left is a few half columns, some knee high foundations and a theatre that’s about eighty percent aluminum and wood. I was monumentally disappointed (pun intended). Metapontum’s big claim to fame, however, is that Pythagorus started a school here late in his life and supposedly died here around 500 BC. So, basically, I rode almost an hour on a bus to see this one lonely Pythagorus monument.

Back in Matera on Sunday, I decided to get up early and hike the Gravina di Matera. There’s an excellent trail that goes down to the river and up the other side, an area known as Murgia Timone, to explore some more primitive caves, ancient cave churches, and astounding views. First a river crossing via the Tibetan Bridge. I’m not sure why they call it that though.

Hiking around at the bottom of the Gravina and seeing Matera from below is a very different experience than seeing it from up top. It’s really beautiful!

As for caves, there are plenty. They look sort of uninteresting until you see all the arches and little niches carved into the walls.

The views of Matera from the other side are just as spectacular as you’d imagine. I couldn’t help but stop to gaze over there at every turn. Here’s just a hint of it.

There’s probably dozens of hidden cave churches and undiscovered gems in this area, but there are also a few well known ones too. I had an absolute blast hiking all over the cliffs of Murgia Timone trying to find these places. There were, surprisingly, some really cool frescoes on this side of the Gravina as well.

Most of them were locked up, so I had to get creative to get pictures, squeezing my hand and my phone through the gates, but I think I did alright.

Along with the standard overall views of Matera I got to spy what looks like an older part of town. It’s a section that you’re not allowed to go to, so the only way to check it out was from here.

As with any hike, the destination is only the half way point. So, after thoroughly exploring Murgia Timone I headed back down the mountain and then back up to Matera, but not before taking a bunch more pictures of those tremendous views.

Tomorrow, I’ll leave beautiful Matera for my next stop way up north on the Adriatic coast. Luckily, there is a way out since it’s Monday. Stay tuned…