Ruined for Ruins

Buon Giornio! As we left Matera (I think it was Sunday) we made a morning stop at Paestum, a Greco-Roman city in the Campania region. The high points are the standing remains of three major temples from about 500 BC. Boy, at this point I'm like, yea... been there, done that, got the t-shirt. Just kidding. These were pretty impressive and we did the quick walk through. To be honest, I was not exactly up to par after the Cave Party (big surprise, huh). BR and Lion, chillin' at the Paestum Ruins. Not a bad view for a morning walk to clear the head. Wandering the site with Susan, Tom, and Lion! Ok, short blog. More food, wine, etc. to come. Chow!

No Expectations

Welcome to Matera... Last Friday we headed off for Matera. At 3 weeks into this trip each day has become a surprise because I never had time to research where we were going at this stage. So I had absolutely no idea what we were going to find in Matera. Vieste had been so cool, how could we top that...

Back on the bus... we stopped mid morning in ancient Alberobello where we were introduced to cone-shaped trulli houses and partook of a local food and wine tasting from the Basilicata region. It was a family run store and they were very nice - the owner was trained as a Sommelier and spoke pretty good English. We picked up some great snacks like toasted cannelloni beans and pepperocini relish. Plus wine of course. Then we wandered the town and found an enoteca (wine bar) in a cave which we immediately liked.

Trulli in Alberobella...

I'm roughing it, aren't I?

Back on the bus for only a few hours this time and we arrived in Matera. For this town we had a true Rick Steves experience... we were dropped off with our luggage on the side of the road just as we got into town. Then we had to drag our suitcases over cobblestone streets to our hotel. Most of this vacation our luggage has either been taken by taxi to the hotel from the bus or we were dropped off right at the hotel. It didn't used to be this way for RS tours. I guess either Rick or his clientele are aging...

The group makes it to our hotel... aren't they a pretty sight?

I was blown away by my first glimpse of Matera. You can't imagine it. Caves (sassi) homes carved out of rock, built up and expanded. It looked like something out of a movie. Actually, this town had been the setting for several movies including Mel Gibson's recent bloody movie about Christ.

This is Matera, the view from our patio.

It's pretty cool.

Our sassi was posh with a living room, a lower level bedroom including a teeny tiny little bathroom... and a roof top terrace with a breath taking view. Can you tell what's coming next? Oh yes, party time again!!

Our terrace patio...

That night we had a group dinner and gorged ourselves on antipasti of sun dried tomatoes in olive oil, little balls of some veggie that I loved, and other delectables. Then there was a noodle soup with garbanzos and the secondi were these roasted meats that were fantastic... The 17th was both Susan's and Linda's birthday so there was much celebrating.

Antipasti...

Primi Piatti...

Secondi...does that not look really good?

Grillin'

Happy Birthday Susan!

The next day we got a tour of the city and we got ready for the big party. This is the one that seems to happen some time on each of our tours, when everyone gets supplies and we do it up big time. A thunderstorm rolled thru that evening so Donato was a great guide and got us a cave in the hotel to party in. I think you just need to see the pictures to know that it was a great time. We consumed about 17 bottles of wine between the pre-function in our room and the big party. I was hurting the next day...it's going down bad!

Cave party!

What a spread!

Ted, Cave Dancer... with glowing halo provided by Donato and Mauritzio!!

More later.

Chow!!

Vieste Vistas

Just when you thought all was perfect, that this was going to be the best vacation ever... a little turn of the screw with the longest busride ever. Hey, we just have to Buck Up...

On Wednesday, we got on the bus with this group for our first ride together. It is the same bus driver, Mauritzio, that we had in Sicily which is very cool because we are like old friends now (he has a Ted's Pagan Tiki Bar t-shirt and everything). It was a fairly short ride of less than 2 hours to our stop to see an ancient villa of a Roman Emperor. Picture vast ruins that went on and on and on. It was really hard to orient yourself on the site even with a map. But they were very impressive - we tried to picture what it would have been like when in use and it must have been just a incredible place.

Then it was back on the bus for a very, very long ride to Vieste. During the more than 7 hour ride there were several stops at Auto Grilles for "downloading" as Donato put it and "uploading" of drinks and snacks too. Then to pass the time, those of us in the back of the bus started drinking and that helped a lot.

Mauritzio, our driver, taking us for a ride...

Boneless Rabbit was freaking out and tried to get out the window...

and on it went...

the wine pourer... what else are you going to do for nearly 7 hours... catching up on some reading...

Vieste is a little town on a penninsula that jutts in to the sea. We gathered for a group dinner as soon as we arrived as it was already pretty late. Antipasti had some really good frittata and bruschetta...

We had a great fish course that was swimming inn a buttery broth. The dolci was an interesting twist on Tiramasu.

Later, some of us went up to Chuck and Nancy's room for a little party as they had the big suite with the awesome rooftop terrace that overlooked the water.

The next morning we all met early and went for a boat ride around the penninsula. At first, I was a bit dubious... you know a 3 hour cruise. But it turned out to be so very cool. The cliffs are made of limestone and have interesting layered texture. There are dark caves that they took the boat right in to. There were beautiful rock formations... the whole thing experience was so stunning that I was just in awe. We took so so many pictures...here are a few.

Octopus for dinner!! The they stopped the boat on a little beach and we got to jump into the Adriatic Sea which was a new experience - check another one off my list. It was cold at first but really nice.

When we got back from the boat ride we were treated to a pasta making demo from the hotel chef. He made the dough then formed orchetti and spaghetti (using a guitar-like instrument with wires to cut the dough). He also made the little tubular pasta that goes in soup. We had a wonderful lunch with all that pasta.

We had a wonderful lunch with all that pasta. The first was the spaghetti with tomatoes, then the orchetti with EVOO and a little spinach. The first was my favorite of the two. But then came a succulent soup made with cannelini beans and the little pasta tubes. It was heaven! We finished the meal with chilled sweet wine and biscotti.

The afternoon was lazy and the town was completely closed down. I was able to blog some and we were able to get some provisions including some dolci. That evening the group gathered for the continuing party. Everyone contributed food and wine. We started in the hotel parking lot that overlooked the sea. While there, there was a really funny incident with some little girls about 10 years old or around there who were harrasing some wild kitties. Ted went over to "discipline" them and one of them gave it right back to him. She had attitude to spare and harassed Ted mercilessly instead of the cats. Too funny. Later we all headed up to the penthouse patio just like the night before. We drank and ate and talked and had a really good time. Moon was full and it was beautiful.

I leave you for now with a few Viesta vistas...

Chow!