We were surprised to be greeted by a lovely varied breakfast this morning at the B&B. We were offered everything from eggs, freshly squeezed orange juice, breads, jams, fresh fruit, homemade cakes and cookies, yogurt to freshly made bruschetta. Such a nice change from the typical Italian breakfast of coffee and a brioche that we have had at other B&Bs throughout the trip.

With lots of energy this morning, we set out for Matera as our destination, as long as we didn't encounter any crazy steep hills!! On our way of of town we encountered more giants figures in the town including a Madonna at the end of main street heading out of town. Our route was relatively flat and quiet country roads today. Very picturesque rock walls bordering both sides of the road as well as separating the fields of olive groves and vineyards. We passed by a few herds of cows, horses and donkeys and very few vehicles. 

We were able to bypass Gioia del Colle, the next largest town, which saved us some time. After a very steep hill up from the main road, we finally made it to a campground just a couple of kilometres outside of Matera. The saying "never judge a book from its cover" is so true in this case as the campground really looked desolate and barren as we rode up to its main building. It didn't look like it would have any facilities at all. We were happy to hear that they had everything we needed from potable water to a shower and food to buy for dinner. The bonus is that they offered a shuttle to and from Matera a few times a day. So we will take the shuttle tomorrow and spend the day looking around this ancient city.

In the evening we walked out to a lookout to see the lights of Matera, just across a raven. Beautiful!!