Puglia, Italy in Pictures, Day 5
On our fifth and final day of riding, we started with an epic descent on our way to Matera, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
So much down.
More down, but the views kept coming.
I can’t prove it, but I think there was a castle on that mountain top far off in the distance.
When the hill bottomed out, there was clearly an archeological dig going on, and a castle like structure was being revealed.
Matera is a site to behold. Wiki will give the history, but in person it is more than I could make sense of. It looked like a city made of stone had been built on top of a stone village, which had been built on top of old stone homes and habitations, which were built on top of stone caves, which were built into the stone mountain below.
We walked down until we were near the cave dwellings, which were now touristy restaurants, and indulged.
Pasta, cured meats, cheeses, focaccia, and of course, Prosecco all in the modern day comforts of a cave.
After lunch we headed home, into the heat and the head wind.
Grueling ride, but amazing farmland, the afternoon felt more like Indiana than Italy.
When the afternoon bonk reared its head, we were thrilled to find the ripest cherry tree of the trip. We gorged, and fueled up for the final push.
Tired but finished. We reached the end of the trip, and know now that one week isn’t enough time to tour through Italy. Next time we’ll plan for a year.