Today we did what we planned to do yesterday, we visited the town of Matera which is about 70 km southwest of Bari.
Matera is one of the oldest continually-inhabited cities in the world, dating back to the Paleolithic Era, which is a long time ago. The city was carved into an outcropping of limestone that rises above the surrounding farmland. The town looks solid but actually it is penetrated by chambers and tunnels. What look to be buildings are often just facades, the interiors of which are caves.
For a town that was said, not so long ago, to be the shame of the nation, it now looks very prosperous. It is a popular tourist attraction. Our train from Bari was packed with people coming to hike the stairs, shop the stores, eat at the restaurants, and take lots of photos.
The train between Bari and Matera is best experienced with a sense of humor. The Ferrovie Appulo Lucane station agent in Matera was wrong about the train route: she said, incorrectly, that we had to change trains in Altamura. The train route displayed in the rail car, an otherwise nice carriage except for the family seating layout which we strongly dislike, is an electronic display and it seemed to be incorrect most of the time. The station exit gates, which require a ticket to open, refused to open trapping all the passengers. And then when one did open there was a mad crush to get through before it closed. And then there were the passengers who speak in only one volume, extra loud. At least the tickets were cheap.
