Our Final Hoorah

For Drake's final 2 days off, we of course were looking forward to one final outing. We decided to go to Matera and check out the heel of Italy. It was a packed two days, we saw some unforgetable things and made some awesome memories. As you can see we got a little lost on the way to Matera and ended up in some back country roads and in the middle of a herd of sheep.

Matera is one of the oldest cities in Italy. It is most known for the caves were people actually lived until 1952. Also interesting fact, they taped the Passion of the Christ here. I was very excited about our hotel room which was actually in a cave.

How cool is that?

A cave with internet.

Here I am on the balcony overlooking Matera. We got there in the evening, not the best weather it was raining, but we were able to walk around the city at night. Beautiful lights!

The next morning we woke up to a beautiful day.

Behind me is the sassi of Matera, which translates to the Stones of Matera.

Something I love looking at here, are the flowers hanging outside windows. Very common and so pretty. I am going to attempt this look for our house this summer.

Ran across someone's bedroom, or at least napping area.

Matera is built right next to a ravine, which is right behind us.

Right behind Drake you can see all the entrances of the caves.

We toured an actual cave dressed as a replica of what an actual live-in cave would have looked like. It was one of the craziest scenarios we have ever imagined. The average family had 6 children (the infant mortality rate was 50%). The house had one bed for the parents and youngest child, the toilet was a pot which you can see right next to the bed.

About 8 feet from the bed you can see they had a horse living in the cave with the family. They elevated the bed so that the chickens and hens had a place to stay as well. They turned the chests and tables into beds for the kids. It was crazy. Like I said the people of Matera lived this way until 1952 when the government finally stepped in and relocated people because the living conditions were so horrible.

This little kitty broke my heart. Looked so hungry and lonely. Wouldn't move for anyone or anything. Didn't want to touch it though because it looked pretty germy and we were concerned about the swine flu.

Where's Drake?

So after we spent a few hours in Matera, we headed off for the Grotte di Castellano. This was an awesome sight as well, huge caves underground. We weren't able to take many pictures because of the Italian copyright laws, but I was able to take a picture of this ladies getup.

Next we were off to Ostuni- which is known as the Citta Bianca or "White City". I think this was my favorite of the day. It was so easy to get lost in all of the little avenues and walkways.

You can see Ostuni is close to the Adriatic Sea.

Us and Dinner

Driving away from Ostuni we got a great shot of the city at night.

Drake had been wanting to check out Alberobello before the end of the day and Ostuni was very close. However they don't have the best signage around here, so what should have been a 20 minute drive turned into an hour and a half. Again we were on back country roads and I have to admit I was a bit freaked out because we were in the middle of nowhere and basically guessing which way to go. We ended up finding it and spent a couple hours walking around in the dark. Therefore not the best pictures. Alberobello is most known for being a city of houses which are called trulli. I thought the trulli looked like little elf homes.

So that wraps up our final outing. The season officially ends a week from today (Sunday) so we are very excited about seeing everyone soon. I will blog once more before I come home so be looking! Arriverderci a tutti