14 June
Today we started in
Trasvetere wandering through the narrow streets and visiting St Maria
di Trasvetere which is reputed to be the first church dedicated to
the Virgin Mary. The portico is covered with engraved stones,
probably supplications, but we didn't find a reason for them. The
interior is magificent with marble columns and a gilded ceiling.
After looking at the many artworks around the altar and in the
adjacent lady chapel we were thrown out as it was closing for the
day. We wandered back to the main road via lots of very pretty alley
ways and shops and locals going about heir lives – stopping to find
some delicious sandwiches for lunch, served at a table on the tree
lined footpath with iced tea!! Great to soak up the ambiance .
The afternoon was spent
exploring the Forum and the Palatine Hill. We began by walking again
beside the Capitoline Hill – wonderful and beautiful but also a
place of pain and torture historically. Thence we began our climb of
the Palatine Hill -such an historic site, to revisit places that had
initially wowed us so much on our lst exploration of Rome. As we
looked over the Roman Forum grey clouds gathered above menacingly –
they bought their good friends with them – thunder claps and lightning – forked some times and sheet mostly. Well, what to do
and we had just arrived and Kiwis aren't daunted by a drop of rain
when they have just paid their entry fee!!! So we started to plod up
the slope then down came the rain in huge drops ( can't call them
droplets – Italy doesn't do droplets!! ) so we dived into what
looked like an arch way which turned out to be an opening with a
barred gate – amazingly an Italian woman appeared rattling the
chain and lock to open the door and beckoned us inside –not just us
but a huge party of tourists who resembled the tower of Babel!!!
And where were we hiding out? In a public toilette - poor wwoman had to wait until everyone left before she could complete her cleaning.When the rain ceased to a dribble we ventured out and carried on up
to the top – revisiting sites and finding now barriers blocking
access to sites we had previously seen – no worries it is an
amazing place to wander through – with the ancient history still
running through our / my head. ( Thanks to NPGHS and 5 wonderful
years of Latin with Miss Geddes!)
We came down the hill –
to wander through the Roman Forum again noting places we had seen
last time and wondering about the construction / life style / politics
etc of the times and reflecting on Romes devastation when not just the
Barbarian hordes descended on them but the impact to the invaders
bringing their entire populations with them – more than the Roman
Army was fiut to cope with...
The afternoon clouds
that had rolled in and sent us some rain then returned with vengeance
on their mind - more rain. Of course we had not thought to take wet weather
gear with us. We avoided the showers until we were heading through
the Piazza Venezia when the heavens opened and gave us their
full measure – so we bought an umbrella and poncho from a street
hawker – proved to be a valuable purchase as the rain came tumbling
down.
We had seen a nice
looking restaurant in an alley on the way to the Pantheon, so went
back for dinner. Back to the tram and home.
15 June
Spent the day
travelling down to Matera. Started out on the Autostrada which gave
us much better views of the countryside than we expected. Went quite
close to Monte Cassino and saw how difficult a task the NZers had to
force their way up during the war – the sides of the hill to the
south and west are sheer and exposed.
We left the fast route
north of Naples to follow some of the “scenic routes”. This
means experiencing the effect of years of neglect on well built
roads. Mind you, even the Autostrada has a shocking surface at times
and a lot of the motorways have the speed limit reduced to 90km/hr
because of the lack of maintenance. However the engineering that goes into the construction of the roads is staggering by our standards - one country road we were on had over a kilometre of bridges over farmland just to avoid sharp corners and one area over motorway ran for 10 kilometres elevated over a river in a gorge.
A brief detour into
Melfi was eye-opening. This was a huge and influential walled city
in medieval times – apparently the first crusade was started here.(Urban I)
We drove in a circle inside the city walls and realised how big the
area was. On checking we found that the walls were probably from the
Normans in the 11th Century. At one side of the town at
the top of the hill is a large castle with immensely high ramparts
that lowers over the approaches to the town. ( Built by Frederick II) Many streets are
pedestrian only and it is hairy trying to drive a large (for Italy)
car around the blind hairpin corners on narrow streets with no
footpaths.
Arriving at Matera we
found our GPS could get us close, but not in sight of the hotel, so a
quick phone call to the hotel gave us a lead on where to go. What
did we do before GPS and cell phones? We are finding however that
the GPS is struggling in this district and seems to be offset by 50m
from our real location leading to some interesting route selections.However we had a lovely surprise to find ourselves in a luxurious hotel ( balcony, sound proof and lovely bath!) with great restaurant and breakfast facilities
In the evening, as it wasa Sunday and Hotel restaurant catering for a private function) we went
to a restaurant partly built into caves (Sassi) and overlooking a section of
the ravine and cave dwellings that have made this town well known /
notorious. Until the 1950s Matera was known for incredible poverty
with many living in substandard caves with their livestock. Now it
is a UNESCO heritage site with trendy tours through the “sassi”
housing.
As it was Sunday
evening the central piazza was buzzing with music one (popular) belting out
Western Ballads and a God-squad group (small but determined) competing
with evangelical songs. Crowds of families packed the area with
everyone dressed in their best.You could feel the pulse of the people and it was really infectious.
All the staff at the
hotel and the restaurant are dressed formally and have impeccable
demeanor. It is so old fashioned and courteous – we love it.
16 June
After a brief look over
the ravines around Matera ( they are spectacular) we headed south to the coast. At Marina di
Ginosa we stopped and put our feet in the Mediterranean- 22 degrees. We are obviously too early for the season as there was no-one on the beach and
only 1 family in the water. To be fair it was warmer water than we
get at Onemana, but air temperatures not enough to tempt us to go swimming. The main
difference for us was the minimal strips of beach available for the
public. For as far as we could see in each direction areas of the
beach were fenced off with rows of deck chairs and umbrellas,mostly all
unoccupied.
A short trip to
Metaponte ( L; Metapontium) to look at the ruins of a Greek amphitheatre and 4 temples
(mostly remembered is that of Hera) that were completely deserted apart from us and 1 caretaker, where we
had lunch looking over the site.He wandered by nonchalantly and into the site - returned and came and told us in Italian we could visit the site but due to recent rains there was lots of 'aqua'. Stephen said thanks but no thanks and offered him one of our strawberries - at that point he beat a hasty retreat.!
We then told the GPS to
take us to Alberobella by the “ecological” route. This lead us
down incredibly narrow roads between high stone walls with road
surfaces that would make many NZ farm tracks proud. However this
area looks a lot more prosperous than further north, with well tended
fields and lots of hay cut. As we neared Alberobella we started to
see the pointed rooved buildings typical of the region. When we
arrived at the town itself if looked like a typical Italian town with
apartment blocks, but when we parked in the main square and started
walking we saw the area that is entirely made up of the “Noddy
houses” made with steep conical rooves.These are known as 'pepper pots'. Each roof can cover a small floor area so larger houses have more than one of these PP and they are plastered together. They are made of grey stone - as are the walls. The top of each PP is white washed and then topped with decorative stones in various shapes.
Thereafter it was back to Matera via other villages and fields.
Thereafter it was back to Matera via other villages and fields.
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