Dora’s headache and troglodyte living

We booked our ferry while on the Isole Eolie, we are leaving Italia in three days, but first Matera.

We returned to Dora quite late and although we had a key to the compound she was staying in we couldn’t get out. They were sure to try and charge us an extra day, but that argument was for the morning. We packed away our stuff and settled down for a peaceful nights sleep.

We are up early and true to form, the Italians just come across a little bit…well unscrupulous, but then Susana is very persuasive, so is eventually able to charm them. A good thing too as we have to get back to the mainland.

We drive along the coast back to Messina and the ferry to San Giovanni. It is a bit busier today but we are soon back on the foot and away from the mafia, we have survived!

Today is really a day of driving. We are heading towards Matera, our last tourist stop in Italy. The motorway is not tolled here so we get on board and are cruising at Dora’s sedate top speed 90 kmph.

We stop for lunch.

Now travelling like this can be pretty tough.

You have to decide where to have lunch.

Susana is still trying to determine whether this spot is good enough.

It is, so we can eat.

In Castrovillari we come across a Lidl.

We have actually passed this way before, on our way down to Sicily. It was a Sunday, so the saddest sight you will ever see, a closed Lidl. This time she is well and truly open.

Now that is OK. Dora is just 2.90m high, and as we all know, Lidl is very accommodating to motor-homers.

There is just one problem, not only can Italians not drive, they cannot measure either!

Dora now has a lot more ventilation than usual.

We are off to find the manager and his assistant.

 

And sure enough they have built the 3m height barrier at 2.85m high.

To be honest this is a bit of a relief. The entrance is on a slope, so we could have got into all sorts of arguments on angle of attack etc..

The manager is very accommodating, but you can also tell he cannot believe this, idiot contractors, all this hassle I now have to deal with.

Forms are filled in and he promises Lidl will foot the bill via the insurance, we await with much anticipation on that one, but we have the photos and the form as evidence.

But this still leaves us with a problem. We now need to repair a large hole in Dora’s roof.

First thing is to swap the roof lights. This one is above our bed, so we don’t want a draught.

Job done.

The Lidl manager gave us some plastic, so with a bit of duct tape and a temporary repair will be OK for the night. Tomorrow we need to find some plywood, screws and more duct tape and we can do something a little permanent until we can find a proper replacement.

Hopefully that will survive the night and a little bit of driving.

We find a nearby village on the coast with tolerated overnight parking for motorhomes and go looking for some Wi-Fi so we can seek out a repair shop. Realistically we know it is going to be Greece before we can sort out a permanent repair.

The village is a Wi-Fi free zone. Just when you really need it. Our Sim card ran out when we were on the islands and it isn’t worth renewing it.

The next day we drive to Matera looking for a DIY store so we can buy the plywood, screws and anything else we might require.

On the way we see a sign pointing in the direction of ‘The Caravan Centre’. It is worth a try. We pop in, and would you believe it, after 30 minutes ferreting around out he comes back with a new roof light, just like our but not in two hundred pieces, in one piece. And can he fit it? ‘Come back at three, it should only take an hour’, how at four thirty, we have some sightseeing to do, ‘OK’.

We cannot believe our luck, we head back to town.

 

Matera is a hill town half buried in the hill side. Much off it is constructed as caves. People were still living here up until the 1960’s.

Not now though.

It is incredible cute, quaint, old and restored.

Well most of it is anyway.

 

 

You can still find the odd corner that has yet to be touched.

Yet to be cleaned, sanitised, mould, vegetation and staining removed.

But this is really quite rare, and we are in the half of the Sassi, as it is known, that has received less attention. Tomorrow we will see the other half.

The locals don’t come here.

Except those that work here. Presumably this will increase as more and more tourist flock in.

This place is just for the tourists, and because of this, it is pure Disney.

Don’t get me wrong, it is lovely and fascinating.

Set within a beautiful gorge, steep sides, buildings cascading, clinging, submerging into the rock faces.

But maybe I will leave my criticism of this place till tomorrow, with the fully restored bit.

Lovely steep streets, notice how the entrances hug the rocks.

Ok, they aren’t all caves, presumably only the cheap dwellings dug into the cliffs.

How can anyone criticise a town looking like that, just wait until tomorrow.

And we won’t be talking UPVC windows and satellite dishes.

It is amazing how such a haphazard composition becomes so pleasing to the eye.

 

 

And what a gorge.

Maybe we can find our way across there. It would be a great place to spend the night.

We have to head off to the Caravan Centre for Dora’s repair, we climb out of the Sassi.

Dora is parked near the castle.

True to their word, the guys repair Dora with the new Perspex roof, and it takes them less than an hour.

And it all comes in at less than €300 which hopefully will be fully reimbursed by Lidl.

We take Dora back to the gorge and view the Sassi from the other side.

Watching as the sun sets.

GDR