20240913 – Matera, Castlemanzano: A few things before getting into the day. First, they call this area a canyon much more than a ravine. Second, the old city dwellings started at the top. They dug out the stone and used it to build facades. Then they worked downward to build more rooms. Third, to get to my room at the hotel it’s 75 steps up (and 75 down). Fourth, iPhone shows I climbed the equivalent of 51 flights of stairs and walked over 6 miles. Fifth, the morning was great; afternoon not so much.
Got up at 7:00. Breakfast at 7:30. Down on the street at 8:45 for a walk through the old part of the city with Lucia, our guide. Interesting to see how the dwellings and other inhabited areas were developed and used. As expected from the above, lots of stone stairs up and down. There are caper plants growing out of the rock walls. Lots of other flowers as well. Had great views of the canyon. Could even see a trail that foolhardy souls were using to get to the bottom. Passed some crews shooting an action movie, bad guys with guns. Also, a whole parade of fancy sport cars. Spent time on the main street and square with its shops and places to eat. Yes. Got gelato. Best we’ve had so far.
Finished walking about 12:30. Went to room and got tripod. Down to small van to be taken out of the area to a place where our regular van waited. Then a 1.5-hour drive to Casgelmezzano, a set of small towns in the mountains. Spent about an hour there. Again, long walks down to the town and very steep up. Pretty, but not worth the 3 hours to get there and back. Was about 5:00 when we started back.
Headed back to Matera for sunset shoot. Guides got where all messed up. So, the guide of the day took us well over a mile up a road to a place he said was good. We were supposed to be at a site in town, but that got lost in translation. Where we stopped was not as far the guide had wanted us to go, but that would have been way down a trail for another half mile. And there were big clouds. So no good shooting of a sunset. Thus, all the effort to get there and disappointment.
Got off our van in town. Transferred to smaller cab/van. I had the driver drop off Steve and me at the restaurant (same one as last night). Others went back to the hotel, climbed the steps, put their photo gear down, walked down and to the restaurant. I just stayed at the restaurant and put my gear in a corner by the table and had a very good pizza.
Walked back to hotel. Did my nightly Facetime with Marian. Downloaded images. Wrote this. We leave here tomorrow at 8:30 for Lecce.
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