We made our first foray into southern Italy for 10 days in early March. Because we like to really see a place we stayed in a very small geographic area, preferring to get to know it well, rather than doing a sweep of a larger area. We stayed in just two places: Martina Franca and Matera.
These are two very different places. Martina Franca is a beautiful, beautiful city. Matera is a compellingly human place. While in Martina Franca we visited two cities within about 10 miles – Alberobello and Locorotondo. I will post about each of these places. Matera will command several posts, for it is a truly incredible place. Martina Franca is a place you would want to live, for it is very real. Matera, for us, attracts too many tourists, though there were few there during our off season visit.
We have never had worse weather in Italy! Yet, it didn’t matter because we so enjoyed where we were. In Martina Franca/Alberobello/Locorotondo we had mostly leaden skies, but just a little rain and cool temperatures. In Matera we had some sun, cold weather, and a howling wind. On our last day we saw rain, snow, sleet, hail, and then brilliant sun with very cold winds.
We are reminded once again what a pleasure it is to travel by bus and train as we did. They are comfortable, afford you wonderful views of the country, and are affordable. The port city of Bari was our interchange point – where we moved from the national trains to regional ones. Trains provide transportation for high school students. Several of our trips had trains full of students getting off at various points along the way.
We traveled through mountains and onto the flat plain around Bari along the coast. There were areas where I thought I was in the UK – beautifully green fields, neatly manicured with the occasional stone structure and stone walls.
Simply gorgeous. Then there were the miles of olive orchards – 80% of Italy’s olive oil comes from here and neighboring Calabria. The right of ways on the
small, regional trains are barely wider than the track themselves. The result is an intimate connection to the surrounding terrain. Wonderful.
Next post: the beautiful city of Martina Franca
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