For those of you who don’t know me well, I am a huge James Bond fan. I saw my first Bond films at the drive-in from the back seat of my parents car in my footie pajamas and was always captivated by the exotic locations. When the latest Bond film was finally released, Matera was a featured location and with  a quick search confirmed that this was only an hour and a half away from Trani.  I would finally get to fulfill my childhood dream of visiting an exotic location from a Bond film. We decided to splurge using our Visa travel rewards points and book a stay in a cave room at the Aquatio Hotel and Spa. 

Matera has been occupied since the 10th millennium BC and consists of a series of caves in two canyons carved by the Gravina River. It’s a UNESCO World Heritage Site which ticks the box as a must see for us whenever we travel. Today it’s divided between the new city and the old which is called “Sassi”. The Sassi is a complex of cave dwellings which were evacuated in 1952 because of poor sanitation, rampant disease and poverty. The Italian government relocated the population to modern housing and the site sat abandoned until the 1980’s.  Today it is a noted historic tourism destination with boutique hotels, restaurants and museums.

The Murguria National Park is accessed through an opening in the wall next to the San Pietro Caveoso church in Sassi and you can hike up to the more Neolithic caves across the river.  The park is a beautiful green oasis separated from the city but easily accessible by a suspension footbridge. We were fortunate to encounter a group of cows meandering along the river with the sound of cowbells echoing through the valley.  Matera has something for everyone with great restaurants, art exhibitions, museums and hiking or biking trails for the more athletically inclined. 

Be warned ladies, leave your high heels at home. Be prepared to walk on uneven stone steps everywhere. The elevation change in town is challenging; we averaged 25,000 steps a day, 30 floors of stairs.