Day 4 - Matera to Taranto - Schnooks Takes A Turn in Puglia - Tandem Tour - May 2024 - CycleBlaze

May 13, 2024

Day 4 - Matera to Taranto

A long, hot, dusty day through backwoods Puglia

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.Today’s ride was long and frankly not all that interesting.  We traversed a lot of farm and orchard country on asphalt and dirt roads of wildly varying quality. Mostly low quality.

 We had some interesting interactions with some locals, and arrived at our destination safely.  I’m not sure I’d do this ride again, though, if I had the choice.

The day started well when Rich woke up with the migraine gone.  A massive hydration effort yesterday bore fruit this morning.  After another decent breakfast, we rolled off from the Caveoso Hotel at about 0930.  The day was beautiful - perfect cycling weather.  Sunny with a cooling breeze.

We walked the first bit, up out of the old city to the new Matera at the top of the ravine.   We had the usual (so far) city traffic as we worked our way back to the EV5.  We got to swoop down the big hill that punished us on Saturday, and were soon out on dirt roads into the countryside.  

Decent quality
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Not-so-great quality
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We popped out onto some blissfully smooth asphalt, which rapidly degraded into the kind of road where the pilot can’t really take his eyes off the road surface.  Not great for sightseeing, but the sights weren’t spectacular.  Nice, but not spectacular.

Some of the better road surfaces of the day
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Nice not spectacular scenery
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We amused ourselves by searching for a great example of these giant dandelion things we’ve been seeing along the edge of the road.  Robin’s finger for scale.  They’re pretty cool!

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Bill ShaneyfeltSome species of salsify

https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/54142-Tragopogon/browse_photos?term_id=12&term_value_id=14
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7 months ago

We rode along a plateau for most of the morning, dropping down into the rather stark town of Castelaneta, where we had some adventures.  First, Rich got sent into a bakery to try and get some sandwiches.  Thanks to a lovely lady in the bakery, he succeeded despite his poor Italian.  She even made the sandwiches for us!  

Rich was also able to ask here whether there was a park we could eat them in, and actually understood the answer!  Thank you, Duolingo!  We ate our sandwiches on a bench under a tree in front of the city hall, where we were accosted by a somewhat crazy old lady, who delivered a long speech about how horrible the town was and how her children didn’t treat her well.  She punctuated her speech by giving us 2 bananas.  I guess we looked hungry?

Finally, Rich got deputized to look for a toilet.  He asked a lady coming out of the city hall, who gave directions, then consulted with a policeman just coming out of the building, and then finally insisted that Robin use the toilet in her office!  What lovely people!

With Rich feeling very chuffed about his improving Italian skills, we continued onto a section of rail trail that led to a bridge over a very imposing ravine.

Rail trail - good surface!
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Rail trail - over the ravine. That’s the new railroad bridge we’re looking at.
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Rail trail - Schnooks and Rich on the bridge
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Shortly after the town of Palagianello, Rich made a navigation decision that came back to haunt us.  He looked at the road he had chosen while planning and decided that it looked too sketchy.  We stayed on the road we were on, which led us on a long detour across a poor-quality dirt road that served the orchards in the area.  

The road surface alternated between difficult and almost impossible.  It threw everything at us.  Rocks, sand, potholes, puddles, dumped concrete, and loose gravel.  It was tough going, especially for Robin since she couldn’t see what was coming.   We spent a lot of time standing up.  It was exhausting!

Several attempts to get back on route didn’t work because of gates across access roads.   We stopped a few times to consult Google Maps and eventually figured  out a solution.  We managed to pop out on an asphalt road on which we made a triumphant and dusty entry into the town of Palagiano.  

A dirt road in southern Italy
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From this point, the ride was pretty straightforward but not very scenic at all.  We did enjoy the old, old olive trees along the sides of the deserted roads we were riding.

Wonder how old this guy is?
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After too much time spent riding along an autostrada, we circled the bleak industrial area north of Taranto and started into town.  We passed by something we thought looked like a Roman aqueduct.  It’s probably not that old, though.

Nah, it’s in too good of shape to be Roman…
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Bob KoreisThe Acquedotto del Triglio. It has quite a history.
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7 months ago

And then, with some creative Italian-style navigating and defiance of traffic laws, we found ourselves in the old town of Taranto.  Our hotel, the « Palazzo Mata », is lovely and stored Schnooks in a back stairwell behind a locked door.  Our room is amazing!  It’s so nice to finish a day like this with a comfortable place to stay.

We were exhausted, sweaty, and very dusty.  Clean-up took longer than usual.  But eventually we got out to explore the area a bit.  This part of Taranto is very « interesting »!   There are a ton of what look like abandoned, boarded-up buildings, interspersed with a bunch of grimy, seemingly inhabited buildings, with a few gems sprinkled in.  What a crazy place!

Derelict buildings. Nice work with the sheet metal in the upper story window.
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Semi-derelict, but a really nice carving up there! The door posts look like front feet of an animal to me.
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A gem. Cattredale St Cataldo in Taranto. Romanesque on the outside, baroque on the inside. Looks like it was recently restored.
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Inside the cathedral. This is the chapel for St Cattaldo. That’s real marble inlay, not the painted fake stuff you see sometimes.
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Preserved 11th century mosaics in the floor. St. Cattaldo Cathedral, Taranto
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Typical Taranto old-town street. Not looking too good…
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Two Doric columns discovered when a church was torn down in 1975. They can’t figure out where the rest of the temple was!
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Dinner was at « Gente di Mare », close-by.  On a Monday night, they were pretty empty but served us beautiful fish dishes.  Seared tuna for Robin, seafood pasta for Rich, with tempura vegetables to share.

We strolled back to the hotel along the dilapidated waterfront buildings and called it a night.

Streets of Taranto at night
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Today's ride: 79 km (49 miles)
Total: 193 km (120 miles)

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Suzanne GibsonI'm enjoying your ride and pictures. Taranto doesn't look much different than when we passed through in 2006.
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7 months ago
Suzanne GibsonAlthough on a different route, we also stopped for a picnic lunch in Castellaneta. https://www.cycleblaze.com/journals/2006apulia/matera-to-massafra/
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7 months ago
Rachael AndersonI’m sorry you had such a long and arduous ride!
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7 months ago