10 - Bootylicious

You heard it here first, Matera is the culture capital of 2019. We happened to stumble upon it when we tried to find a lunch stop precisely 3 hours into our Sorrento to Otranto drive. This usually involves me zooming in on google maps to a town name that looks large enough to have some food options but not too large that parking will be troublesome, that’s far enough off the highway that it doesn’t feel like you’re pulling into a truck stop but not too far that it adds an extra hour to the journey. I then search google for images of the town to see if it looks alright. Whoever said this passenger lark was stress free is sorely mistaken. Matera passed all well devised tests so we plugged it into Waze.

It was a really nice city to explore and is home to Sassi, an area filled with prehistoric cave dwellings that had been carved into the mountainside. It was forcefully evacuated by the Italian government in the 50s following a period of chronic poverty and because living conditions weren’t up to scratch but the hipster movement is hitting this part of Italy with many of the cave dwellings now listed on air bnb or filled with bars. Sassi is now a UNESCO site and also the site where I learned that James doesn’t really like it if I’m texting my friend while he’s reading me interesting ‘facts’ from Wikipedia.

Soon after lunch we had to stop for some petrol to fill up Trevor. When we got back in, he wouldn’t turn on. It’s a moment we’ve been waiting for our entire trip and as a sign of protest he finally gave in, tired of all the bumpy, pothole ridden Italian roads. Fortunately, despite having never even changed a tyre, James has some common sense and managed to figure out that it was a loose connection to the battery, called over a man who happened to have a spanner and within no time Trevor was back on the road and James was very pleased with himself.

We arrived in Otranto, our destination for this leg which, if comparing Italy to a high heel boot (who would do that?), is approximately located where that little nick happens when your boot heel gets caught in a grate, thus ruining it. 

Otranto is beautiful. You enter the old town over a moat and wander through the winding streets down to the crystal clear ocean waters. It’s filled with lots of bars and restaurants and has a really nice buzz to it while not being swarmed with people. 

This leg of our trip can pretty much be summed up as eating and swimming. I’d been doing some research and had picked out a number of swimming holes along the coast of Puglia that I wanted to have a dip in and I’d recommend every single one to anyone who visits.  We also had two recommendations for food, one from our Airbnb host and one from Michael and I can’t remember her name from our hostel in Andorra.

The one from our Airbnb host had been described as a very authentic experience. We were only provided with a phone number which I texted during the day asking for a reservation. A quick look on TripAdviser and I realised we were going to be fed by a 90 year old grandmother, we wouldn’t be able to select what we eat and we would be eating at exactly the same time as every other guest. It sounded exciting.

We arrived at 7.55pm, 5 minutes early for our 8pm reservation because we’re punctual like that. We were very quickly told that we were too early and to please stay outside until 8pm which was curious given all the tables seemed to be ready. We had a wander around the garden before being seated and the large dining area quickly filled with other guests. 

Our first course arrived which consisted of 5 different plates, sliced aubergine, sliced courgette, sliced tomato, sliced beetroot and sliced cucumber. All were covered in salt. This tasted about as exciting as it sounds and James was getting suspicious that we may not be served meat.

James’ suspicions were accurate. The second course was a pasta with tomato sauce and the final course was a choice of aubergine filled with miscellaneous things and a plate of ricotta cheese. Just ricotta cheese. The waitress who was also the daughter of our chef kept looking at us expectantly to check that we were enjoying the food and so we ate every last raw vegetable in sight.

After dinner the chef came out to meet her guests. She didn’t speak any English but we were also the only two in the restaurant who didn’t speak any Italian. Fortunately someone translated for us and so we were able to join in the conversation and hear about her career as a farmer. While the food wouldn’t have been our first choice, we both had a fun night glimpsing into the life of this family.

We also decided to take the recommendation of our friends in Andorra and went to a winery called Menhir, a short drive from Otranto. This is where my lack of driving license really works in my favour. We had three courses, each being paired with a carefully selected wine plus a welcome wine thrown in. The food was perfect, setting perfect and company perfect especially given he couldn’t drink most of his share. 

We’ve both loved Puglia so far. The roads have felt quieter, the water clearer and the language less familiar. Our next stop is Vieste in the Gargano National Park at the north of Puglia. We keep being asked where we are going next and Vieste always gets a look of recognition with a nod, but never followed by a ‘lovely’...so we’ll see.

J & M

Sorrento to Otranto via Matera