Magical Matera

At long last here it is, my blog on the few days I spent in the wonderful city of Matera, in Basilicata.

After an anticipated wait around, my friend Helena and I boarded the plane at Stansted and headed to Naples, I was quite excited at the fact that when we arrived there was a sign with the words PARSONS written on it, I had never had a private transfer before! Although this did come at a price... 40 euros each later, we were feeling suddenly a lot lighter.

The view from our room.

We drove for roughly an hour before we were dropped in the heart of The Sassi, where we were greeted by smiling receptionists who guided us up winding steps so we didn't get lost trying to find the hotel; Hotel Sassi, and I am so glad they did! The hotel reception was tucked into the rock with an elevator to get there, and our room in a totally different area, a little room completely set into the Sassi, and the view was amazing.

As I had stated in my previous blogs, the reason we were here on this date is because of the spectacular Madonna Della Bruna Festival, and we had landed the night before, so despite being completely knackered, we wanted to explore, and was completely blown away by how active this untouched city really was. With arches wound with blue lights lining the roads, street sellers out in full glory and the bustling crowds created an amazing atmosphere, and it wasn't even the festival yet! After a good look around all of the different stalls, we decided that we most definitely had a crazy day ahead tomorrow and so headed back to the room for a good nights sleep.

Our room was incredibly unique, with high ceilings and everything made from rock, Hotel Sassi gives you an authentic cave stay experience, the room was comfortable and spacious, however there is a disadvantage in staying in a cave when its 35 degrees outside. It can get quite damp. Although at times in the night it could get quite chilly, being able to have a cool retreat during the hottest period of the day was a God send.

In the morning, we got up and ready and was greeted by the most glorious sunshine, we headed up to the hotel reception, also home to our breakfast bar, where fresh fruit, pastries, juices and what we could only explain as a sort of pizza and potatoey garlic bread was laid. We enjoyed our delicious traditional Italian breakfast with this stunning view...

Then it was time to get into the festival spirit, we walked under archways and cobbled steps into the main street / square where hundreds of people gathered in celebration, bands played and people dressed as knights rode gallant horses through the streets. We stopped at a quaint shop that sold pastries, drinks and gelato, for a traditional Italian ice-cream, very refreshing in the hot July sun! We then headed to a beautiful church, where the sacred statue of the Madonna stood. Here we watched a ceremony be performed, unfortunately but obviously all in
Italian, so we had no idea what was said! Although it was rather moving.

After this, the statue was taken via a magnificent horse drawn carriage up the long street to another church. In front of the carriage, lead the horses we had seen before in the square, and the band. The atmosphere was fantastic.

Once the statue had been placed there was a cool down period, in Matera they don't call their middle of the day break a siesta, but it is pretty much the same thing, shops started to shut for the hottest part of the day and people retreated back to their hotels and homes to relax, we did head back to our hotel, but not before grabbing a few pictures at an amazing picture hot spot. It looks like something from a film!

After some down time, we headed back to the main square where we grabbed a baguette and waited for all of the excitement to start again. In this time the Madonna statue had been placed on a magnificent float hand made by a local artist, made from papier-mâché and was being paraded down the street, it was approximately a 20 minute walk from the main square to the church the statue was in, however by float it took 3 hours for it to arrive because of the amount of people that blocked the roads in celebration, but it was worth the wait. The float was pulled by horses and stopped in the main square where Italian music played. it was then pulled to the first original church, where it circled three times before the statue was returned. It is then that the float is pushed down the hill to the main square where people shred the float apart as it is said that a piece will gain them good luck for the rest of the year. It was too dangerous to get close to the crowd however I plucked the picture above from Twitter a few hours later.

The festival ended with a huge firework display over the ravine at midnight. 

The day after the festival was our last full day in Matera and we decided that in the never ending Italian heat to walk the entire city- not the smartest thing to do in the height of summer, however it was totally worth it. This city has so much diversity; walk along the ravine and you get views that will blow your mind, sneak through the cobbled alleyways and discover cute churches and hidden homes. See the tucked away houses of the locals that used to live here and then head into the more tourist area where you could get your lunch time treats, and a piña colada.

The Sassi Ravine

Tomato pasta with crushed Senise peppers

After seeing nearly every site there was to see in Matera, we returned to our hotel where we freshened up, got dressed up and found a cute bar to sit outside, drink cocktails, eat Italian nibbles and chat. We then found a tucked away restaurant that was actually a converted cave, and ate delicious traditional rustic food. It was our last night in this beautiful city, and it definitely didn't disappoint.

We had a late flight home the next day, so we decided to spend the first half of the morning trying to find the train station... We were not prepared to pay another 45 euros to get back to the airport, so after a lot of pointing and hand communications we not only found the hotel but also managed to get us a train each to the airport for just 10 euros! So feeling pleased with ourselves, we headed out to a lovely restaurant and treated ourselves to a pizza each for lunch, and oh boy... Was it good! We also paid to go into an underground reservoir, which was located in the middle of the main square. What seemed like a pretty average thing to do, and mainly used as a time killer turned out to be really interesting, where we learnt more about the history of this magnificent city. So after stuffing ourselves with pizza and facts, we headed back to our hotel where we picked up our luggage, and sat out on the balcony for a few hours, sipping on fizzy orange juice and enjoying a good book before we had to get our train. I have to say it was probably one of the hardest places I had to tear myself away from...

Once on the train, we relaxed into our chairs and watched olive groves and rolling hills pass in the window. We talked over the amazing few days we had had and enjoyed the ride home. That was soon interrupted. This is me, I can't ever go away without at least one problem! Not understanding how strict the Italians were with their trains, we had stuck our bags on the seats as there wasn't much leg room, but what we gathered was the ticket officer came round, he asked for my ID and then when the next stop occurred gestured us off the train! We followed him, absolutely terrified on what was going to happen, he made us get on the front carriage, where he started talking to us in Italian - of course we didn't understand a word, and he didn't speak a word of English. Thank goodness there was a lady who realised what was happening, and clearly saw how terrified we were, she explained we would have to pay a fine as we had put our bags on the seat, but we would be allowed to still stay on the train... We paid the fine, and now absolutely broke, we sat squashed in our seats, bags at our feet, and almost silent like naughty school children!

Finally we got to the airport, I had never felt more relieved to get off a train in my life! We had a good look around duty free, grabbed a sandwich for dinner, and then boarded the plane as the sun set. It really was sad saying goodbye to Italy. Matera and its magical festival had satisfied a gap I had, having studied and learnt about this amazing city for nearly a year, it was amazing to finally be able to see it in the flesh. Somewhere I will be returning to, and somewhere I recommend you all to go!

See you on my next adventure,
Jadeene. x