This question keeps coming up on the forum. We are presently travelling in Italy. There are travel days and there are travel days.
Arrival in Europe day. Wiped out. Check-in, wander a little. Maybe a bite to eat and crash. Doesn’t really count.
Fly (or long train ride) from city to city. Lose 4 to 6 or more hours. Similar to arrival day.
Guided tour travel day. 2 or 3 hours on the bus with talks. A couple of interesting or even fascinating sights along the way and orientation to the destination. A nice day with pluses and perhaps minuses. The pluses outweigh minuses, if any. By and large, we had no minuses other than some shared sniffles.
Bike tour travel day. Travel is one of the points of the day. Enjoy a castle, the coastline, a gelateria or a panino - or all of the above - along the way. Share a moment with a stranger. Definitely a “being here” day and not a travel day. (Unless you’re biking on a cold rainy day or you take a fall. Then it’s a little of ?!#?!€~! )
Then there was yesterday, which was a car travel day. We had a bit of a rough start, but then all was magical. After we left the hotel, we had a 15 minute walk through the old medieval quarter of Lecce, taking in just a couple of more churches - smaller ones but more sublime than those we had visited before. Once we were outside the city gates, we had another five minute walk to pick up the car. Got lost at least twice as we drove out of town but we finally found a road to Matera - a boring 2 hour drive. Then the magic started
We had a lovely lunch with a view of the old city on the opposite hill. We then spent an hour and a half to get a taste of the city, including stassi and a tour of one of the old Rupestrian churches and monasteries that had been carved into the cliff, perhaps 1,000 years ago.
We then drove through Basilicata, across the southern Apennine mountains to the southern part of Campania and our enchanting hotel on the Cilento coast. The drive was simply gorgeous the entire way.
We arrived at the Marulivo Hotel in Pisciotta in time for Massimo to show us our room just as sunset was starting. Of course, our room overlooks the hills as they tumble down to the Mediterranean below.
Massimo recommended a lovely restaurant nearby where we enjoyed pasta and lovely fresh seafood.
Bellissimo.