Alison and Alison and the art of re-tyrement

Cycling adventures in retirement

Day 9 Rest day in Matera

Walked. 6 miles

We thought we would treat ourselves to a day of rest and visit some of the sites of Matera.

A gentle start to the day and we even booked accommodation for the next two nights.

We booked ourselves onto a walking tour for today and arrived at the designated meeting spot, Panifico Casa del Pane. No guide shows up. I text and they send a message. Still no guide. Try phoning but my attempt at Italian through osmosis from Alison doesn’t work. The guide sends a pin of their location. We should be outside Panificio Paolucci fifty metres away. Well they do both start with a P.

Not the best start to our potential new careers as guides.

We were expecting to be guided by Guilio, but it was Pasquale who turned up. No wonder we are confused.

A very entertaining couple of hours. Pasquale is very knowledgeable and has opinions on everything including lawyers, shopping, shoes, tourists and food.

We really are on the site of the set of a James Bond film. No Time to Die was filmed here. Our guide shows us notable spots such as where Daniel Craig stayed, the route of a car chase in the Aston Martin, the famous motor bike jump……..


James Bond (well the stuntman to be accurate) jumped this wall on a motorbike. Fairly impressive we think, but it would be more noteworthy if he did it on a bicycle. Loaded with panniers of course. Now that would be worth watching.
From the city wall we look down into the ravine and remind ourselves we cycled up here yesterday.
There are over 150 churches carved into the soft limestone rock. They are said to be reminiscent of biblical times. The quality of some of the frescoes in these churches is extraordinary.
The Sant Agostino monastery where we collected another stamp for our Credenziale. We are on a roll.
The lights are on in Matera and it is festival time next week. Where will we be when the fun starts? Who knows? We certainly don’t.

Time for bed. Back on the bike tomorrow. Route planned and accommodation booked. What could possibly go wrong?

Good night.

alisonmiddleditch

One response to “Day 9 Rest day in Matera”

  1. chrisincarshalton avatar
    chrisincarshalton

    Dear bothWe are loving your blogs as ever! Shehla’s last words as she drifts off to sleep have become the regular utterance “is it here yet?”!Matera sounds very fascinating and has joined my long list of places to see! Can any place have 150 places of worship? It seems it can!Hope your diet has expanded from beer and crisps?!What a shame you will miss the festival. But we will have our own celebratory festival when you get to Venice! Love ChrisXOn 17 Sep 2026,

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