Matera

Oh, and getting to Matera from any of the hubs (Bari is the closest airport) can best be accomplished with your rental car. Unlike the rest of Italy, the train and bus system is not "regular" to the small towns, and once you leave the main towns can be kind of "spotty". There are great high speed trains from Rome to Bari, but from there to Matera can be 'fun". The LP again lists the local train and bus company from Bari to Matera as the "FAL" line. The LP guidebook says that there is a bus that runs from Rome directly to Matera (Marozzi, www.marozzi.it)

If you want more info on the local transportation, look up "Vicki2005" on the tripadvisor.com website, at the Puglia forums. Since she does not drive, she used all of the local transportation when she was a student in Lecce. She is very familiar with all of the routes.

Again, don't limit yourself to just Matera........make sure you see more of Puglia. It is s wonderful place without a lot of us...... "tourists"!

oh, I forgot........paste this link into your browser. Make sure that you listen to video/audio commentary also.

http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/05/06/travel/06Puglia.html

Puglia is awesome! Great people......great and cheap food.......and great towns and vistas to explore.

But don't tell anyone......we want them to stay North, where the prices are higher, and the tourists clog the sights.

Not sure of the name nut the caves are referred to as the "Sassi". Try a search using that term-- as in Hotels in Sassi in Matera or Sassi accomodations

I was on a Rick Steves tour that visited Matera in 2005. We stayed at Hotel Sassi or Sassi Hotel. Google to see which. It's a pretty amazing town and hotel. Some rooms had roof terraces. All were modernized with nice bathrooms, etc. Of course the windows are usually only on one side, since the hotel rooms are built into the caves. The area is very hilly, so be prepared for some serious walking. There are restaurants at the lower level of the Sassi. I think a trip to the TI should provide the details. We took a walking tour with an American woman (married to an Italian) and visited a preserved Sassi home and church. This was probably the most interesting and unusual place I've ever visited. There are more hotels in Matera listed in www.venere.com. Last year I found a dozen hotels in Matera on Venere.

Elina, we just got back from 8 days in Puglia. On one of those days we visited Matera. Pick up a copy of the Lonely Planet guidebook, and all of your questions will be answered. We explored the streets by ourselves, stoping in two of the church's and one of the restored Sassi houses.

We flew into Rome, picked up a rental car, and in a beautiful 4 1/2 hour trip were were at our first base near the seaside town of Trani. A fantastic place. We took day trips from there to many of the attactions listed in LP. Our other base was in Lecce, a wonderful town that reminds me of Siena.

We did day trips from there to the wild Eastern shore, all the way to the tip of the heel, and to the western side of the heel also.

Matera is but one place to see in Puglia........I would NOT limit myself to just Matera. Do some reading in the guidebooks and put together a wonderful trip!

Hi Elina. I agree with the other posters when they talk about how great Puglia is. I lived in and around Brindisi for 5 years in the early 70's. Be sure to check out places like Ostuni and Alberobella.

Hi, Paul, Sara, Swan, Steve and Bob. Thank you for your comments about Puglia. It is my first trip to Italy and I am scared.I ran into Matera by accident while watching a library tape about Basilicata. I was striken by its beauty and naturaly wanted to see it. I found Sassi hotel on the Internet. Rick Steve has a knack for finding good hotels, doesn't he? I found long distance bus routes frome Rome and Napoli to Matera. I do not know how to reserve tickets for it. So I'll better check "Vicki2005" on tripadvisor.com and ran to get the LP book from the library. I read the link in nytimes on Puglia. Thank you for all of your suggestions, Steve Gaston. If you bother to read my comments may be you could suggest how to rent a car with automatic transmission. Thank you.

I read a couple of books relating to the area: "Seasons in Basilicata" I think was the name of the book about a couple who went to live for a year in a small town in southern Italy, and "Christ Stopped in Eboli," about a man who was exiled there in the '20s or '30s for being a dissident. It helps to give a feel for the area. People lived in the Sassi until the 1950s, when they were all evicted because the living conditions were so dangerous--no water or plumbing among other problems. Now the Sassi is being gentrified without changing its essential appearance. From the Sassi Hotel you can look across the canyon to a major part of the Sassi.

Elina, since this will be your 1st trip to Italy, spending time in the library, and reading the guidebooks is a great way to get an overview, and to plan your trip.

I believe that is imperative that you read Rick's "Europe thru the back Door", and his Italy guidebook. (Each time when we leave for Europe, I always take copies of guidebooks with me. They are invaluable.)

Another neat thing that you can do is pop over to Edmunds and talk to some of the Rick Steves travel advisors. Once you have done some reading, they could help you to plan a trip.

You may want to consider signing up for one of Rick's escorted tour's. I'm sure that Swan could tell you how relaxed you would feel if you went on an escorted tour your 1st time. On our 1st trip to Italy, we were escorted by friends that had gone to school there, so it was easy. Now we just go by ourselves, and we do not speak any Italian!

OH, getting an auto trans........just go to the autoeurope.com web site and follow the links