Today we headed further south to Ruvo, then onto Matera.

Ruvo is a very small town with a very large cathedral. Its very large and filled with beautiful windows, sculptures, frescos and a gorgeous statue of the madonna......with a built in flashing halo. After touring the cathedral I bought a fresh punnet of fragoli and a cappucino, went for a walk and throroughly enjoyed myself.

Moving on from Ruvo we went to Matera. This town is carved out of the mountain it sits on, making it really beautiful. Our guide says its almost impossible to tour the town as its a maze and really easy to get lost in. So we gawked at it from the other side of the valley. This turned out to be a blessing as we could capture the city in its glory. Plus we found a tiny church hidden away, also carved from the rocks it sits on. A small pop culture reference too - this is the town that the Mel Gibson movie, The Passion of the Christ, was filmed in.

From there we moved further south to Sibari. A very small town where not much happens, as the locals told me. Over the next couple of days we will be in the region called Calabria, which is the place my pappas family is from.

Tonight was the first truly Calabrian meal too, this took me straight home and made me think of my pappa and his home cooking. I wonder what he would think of all this?

JR