We visited some old favorites while visiting with an old friend from Iowa. The weather finally cleared and London’s skyline looked lovely set against blue sky and sun. The whole city seemed to come out from inside, where the grey and rain kept us cooped up. We even ate outside at Gordon’s wine bar which is famous for its dark candle-lit cavernous interior. Instead we sat at an outdoor table with a heat lamp, sipping wine and eating cheese while looking out at a green garden along the Thames.
Maison Bertaux
Next stop Neal’s Yard, a tiny pocket where I used to go to a lovely bakery/tea house in the 1980s. Long gone but the cheese shop is still nearby where we bought some Stilton for the Iberia flight we’re on right now to Madrid, that won’t even give you water unless you pay for it.
Lamb and Flag
On to the Lamb and Flag, a pub from the 1600s in an alley (Rose Lane) in very bustling Covent Garden. Many streets are now pedestrian only, which is pleasant and we even reached a multi-directional crossing at Charing Cross that reminded us of Tokyo’s. We were ready to cross horizontal and then cross vertical when we saw people crossing diagonally and followed suit.
Final stop, maison Bertaux, a tiny French patisserie that oozes character. We found a rickety table upstairs and had tea, coffee, a strawberry tart and a surprisingly dry chocolate mousse cake, which may explain why the server brought us a free cream tea that was better.
London seemed good but our English friends are understandably outraged and aghast at what’s happening in the states, as are we. They have vowed not to visit unless we’re in dire need. At least one friend worried about whether she’d have trouble entering because she has been critical of trump on social media. So I guess we’ll be coming back to see them.
A fascinating exhibit of art and war photography by American Lee Miller lured us to Tate Britain, which I have visited less of late than its popular offspring, the Tate Modern. I forgot how Old England charming the original building and its collection are, not only the atmospheric Turner paintings but Pre-Raphaelite gems including John William Waterhouse’s 1888 painting, “The lady of shalott” my daughter’s favorite painting. (She inherited the poster from me, which I inherited from my mom.)
We saw it on her birthday! I was also dazzled John Everett Millais’s 1850s “Ophelia” (that emerald green!) and several huge John Singer Sargent portraits.
Marylebone fancy food (Bayley &Sage)
After a decent sandwich in the busy v &a cafe, we walked out into near sunshine, which was welcome after arriving in grey drizzle. We walked behind Millbank into beautiful old brick row houses with the occasional plaque of indicating the former home of someone famous (TE Lawrence, actor John Gielgud) to deans yard and Westminsterschool and then Westminster abbey and parliament where I was an intern 46 years ago.
Westminster hood
Dinner was at an Australian restaurant, Granger and Co. with two friends from our parliament days, my Londoner pal Francine and my college friend Patti, who is working in London. It was fun window shipping in Marylebone. Pro tip: visit the charity shops (Oxfam, cancer research) for some affordable finds. Otherwise the boutiques are ridiculously expensive. Also visit the charming Daunt bookshop.
A dazzling exhibit on the couture and fashion influence of Marie Antoinette at the Victoria and Albert Museum turned out to be a perfect activity of a gloomy rainy day in London. We also enjoyed eating in one of the beautiful old tiled rooms of the cafeteria and cream tea in the members lounge with member Francine.
V&A
Breakfast with Una: pastries and egg concoction s was good at The little Hive, across from Mortlake station, a warm rustic place run by Albanians. we also had good pub grub nearby at the Hare and Hounds. And good jazz by a Francine friend at a pub in west Ealing, where I first lived in London as a student in 1980.
The weather is dark and rainy but at least not cold or torrential rain and there is occasional sun and bright green lawns and even some flowers so an improvement over frigid Chicago.
Note to self: Boston Manor tube was a much easier pickup than Hammersmith when arriving at Heathrow and pleasant cafe (#66) to wait
The latest issue: global entry gave Dirck a name that differs from his passport name so he cannot use it on this first attempt for a trip to Europe. grrrr. Homeland security put his middle initial instead of his full middle name on his global entry. His middle name is on his passport and his ticket. Everything needs to match, especially for international travel.
This is incredibly frustrating especially since it took months to given get an application interview after applying. We applied on the same day and mine took maybe a month.
Meanwhile, one perk of having global access/tsa preselect is gone. You no longer have to take your shoes off going thru regular check-in. And we’ve seen little difference in the time it takes me to go thru tsa or global entry vs. dirck going through regular.
Also, Dirck automatically received a global entry card, which turned out to be useless in this situation and not needed in general. And I never received a card, although I requested one several months ago after it didn’t automatically arrive.
So my advice based on our experience to date: skip the hassle and expense of global entry and maybe also tsa preselect.
We got last minute seats to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s holiday concert which meant we were way up in the (top) sixth floor balcony, second to last row. I didn’t know symphony center went that high. Not ideal but we could at least see better from there than from the nosebleed seats at The Auditorium theatre, which is set back further from the stage so the members of The National (the band) were ant size (and the giant screen was mostly psychedelic art instead of the action on stage. Never again.)
Symphony Center
At least at symphony hall we could see all the musicians, including the tops of their heads. The seats were a little too shallow and upright and it was disconcerting to have a metal pipe railing in front of our seats, presumably to keep us from keeling over. Fortunately there were two upholstered chairs st the end of the aisle for disabled patrons. I sat in one which was much more comfortable. The music, plus the symphony choir and an appearance from Santa, was great.
Chicago has no shortage of charming and ornate old theaters including The Lyric, CIBC and the Chicago theater.
What a great NYC Day. We started at Grand Central Station to meet up with Myra for a post-Thanksgiving favorite: Myra Tuesday. It was raining so our usual wander around the city became a quick walk to MOMA where we lucked upon the excellent retrospective of Ruth Asawa, who used wire to make gorgeous hanging sculptures.
Ruth Asawa work
I loved her paintings and drawings too. We enjoyed a light lunch at MOMA’s terrace restaurant on the top floor – cubano, a fancy version of potato chips and onion dip, potato soup.
Dinner with Aunt Diane was delicious at Shukette, a middle eastern restaurant in Chelsea with a welcoming hipster vibe. Somehow Shukette managed to make hummus distinctive and delicious, it was creamier and lighter than I’m used to, with maybe extra tahini and oil? We chose Frena, a puffy Moroccan bread with garlic and oregano, that was chewy and full of flavor. Another standout: the lamb kebab, served perfectly pink.
The queen of Versailles was fun, if not the catchiest musical I’ve seen or heard. Great performances especially by Kristin Chenowith, seen up close and personal from fourth row seats in the pretty old St. JamesTheater. Always exciting to walk on Broadway at night, even with all the garish flashing billboards.
On to Marie’s Crisis Cafe in the Village, a tiny basement gay bar where people crowd around a piano player to belt out show tunes until 4 a.m. We left a little after midnight. So. Much. Fun! If only I knew Rent a little better.
On our last day, we wandered around the village, Nolita (mulberry street) and Chinatown on a sunny Wednesday, stopping for dim sum at the atmospheric Nom Wah Tea Parlor. (Reminder to self: cash only)
Trying out my Illinois lingo: word has it anywhere in the state south of I-80 is “downstate” although some northern Illinois places are deemed downstate by some.
Lincoln is definitely downstate, almost 3 hours south of Chicago. We were there for a sad occasion- a memorial service- but it turned out to be an interesting place, with a grand stone and domed courthouse and fairly alive town square that reminded me of some of Iowa’s more economically healthy county seats, like Winterset.
Prairie Threads and nextdoor Airbnb
Around the square are some pretty restored 19th century buildings and interesting shops including Prairie Threads, a great menswear store in a beautifully restored building with a painted stamped tin ceiling and a long wooden bar with stained glass. Its sister store is the nearby The Bee boutique. Spirited Republic is a lively brewpub with exposed brick walls. There’s a coffee house and a tea house (goofy name: Sir Renna Tea.) I made one small purchase (30 percent off retirement sale!) at Mary Todd’s Hallmark Shop, presumably named after Abe Lincoln’s wife. Turns out the courthouse was built in 1905, replacing the 1858 one that Abe worked in as a lawyer.
Lincoln is reportedly the only city named after Abraham Lincoln before he was president. (Take that Lincoln, Nebraska!) It’s also on the old Route 66. Take it away AI:
Named before presidency: Lincoln was named for Abraham Lincoln in 1853, before he became president. He was present for the christening, which involved cutting a watermelon and using its juice to christen the town.
Legal career: Lincoln practiced law in the area from 1847 to 1859, and the Postville Courthouse, where he tried cases, is now a state historic site.
Route 66: The city’s location on U.S. Route 66 made it a notable stop for travelers.
Written onboard: This isn’t exactly a “fast train” – it’s making several stops between Bari (in Puglia) and Rome but it’s 4.5 hours, faster than other trains we spotted that took 6 or 7 hours. And the price is right — 16 euro (about $20). The train left about 10 minutes late. It’s a good thing we booked ahead. The seats are comfortable but train is full and there’s not a ton of leg room. I am trying to avoid footsie with the long legged young man across the table from us, who occasionally nuzzles his female companion.
Matera cathedral
There is supposed to be Wi-Fi but it’s spotty. Initially the train was moving in the direction of our seats, north along the Adriatic coast but after a few stops we’ve now moving backwards, northwest through mountains.
Bari vecchio (old town)
I am glad we finally made it to Puglia. Matera was the highlight, which is technically in Basilicata, not Puglia. It’s unlike any place I’ve ever been and, better yet, we felt like we got to know people there (our guides, Airbnb host) who offered insights about life there. Our little trulli house worked well. It was interesting to be the only tourists in a little Puglian backwater. We didn’t see the Adriatic coastal resort towns like Polignano properly or get north to the gargano pennusula or south to Otranto or other Salento region spots in Italy’s heel. Next trip.
Assassin pasta in Bari
Next trip, we also will have an international drivers license, the lack of which almost messed up our trip because our original rental car agency wouldn’t give us the car we’d reserved. Puglia is hard to explore without a car, especially val d’itrea’s pretty backroads (where our trulli was located). Train service is limited. Fortunately we found another rental agency nearby that would rent us a car. We also got an international license online but word has it a physical copy, beyond a digital copy, is required. Apparently the license rules changed recently because we have never had this issue. (And the car rental company did not properly warn us.) We rented in France last year and in Italy two years ago with US licenses and passports.
Trulli and me
This was the first trip that I used my new global entry and it did little good. I know this because dirck has yet to receive even an interview for his global entry (while mine took only a few weeks). So I used TSA preselect to depart and global entry to return. In both cases, Dirck was only a few minutes later using regular check-in, which also no longer requires that shoes be removed. So I see little benefit to global entry so far. Maybe during busier holiday travel when lines are longer it will pay off.
One of our guides in Matera, Silvio, offers his services and rental property to others. Below is contact info:
Least but not last: in case you or your friends are coming here in Basilicata and you want to explore not only Matera but also the surrounding areas of the Basilicata Region, please contact me because I have a Penthouse in Bernalda (between Matera and Metaponto Beach for 6 people: https://www.guidearoundmatera.it/index.php/en/b-b-2)
Silvio SCOCUZZA Professional Tour Guide Italian, English & German for Basilicata & Puglia Technical Director of Travel Agency – Travel Advisor Tel. +39 3924725785 – PIVA/VAT 01281750776
I can’t tell you all the names of the places we visited during our two days because we paid for two personal guides, Silvio to take us around the maze of streets that wind up and down and around this magical town; Cosimo to help us navigate the trails on the other side of the canyon, dotted with caves. Both were excellent! As I suspected, Matera is not a place that I wanted to figure out all on my own. Let the professionals do it!
Day View from our Airbnb
Matera is otherworldly, especially at night when the caves and stone buildings built above the caves are lit up. Our Airbnb has an astonishing view from on high, looking out at a hillside above a canyon the lit-up sassi (stone caves and buildings built into and on top of the caves) and the dramatic church Santa Maria de idris (circa the 14th century) built into an enormous towering rock. The place is a self-contained canyon, hidden from the world beyond. Matera’s history goes back to the Stone Age. Today it has two historic “sasso districts.” (Our Airbnb is in Sasso Caveoso.)
Bari
We ditched our car in a paid lot (no parking in the old town/sasso districts) and made the trek with our roller bags past the duomo and down down down slick stone steps to our Airbnb built around a cave but not in a cave now offered by luxury hotels. (Too claustrophobic.) The steps required to get around (up and down) town are shiny and slick, a bit scary to navigate. I wonder how many broken legs and wrenched knees this town sees.
Selfie with Silvio
I found our great guides from a story about Matera that I happened to chance upon in the Financial Times. (I rarely see or read the FT so it was fated that I find these guides!) Silvio took us to various highlights including a beautiful ancient cave church (Santa Lucia alle Malve) that still has some bright ancient murals painted on stone walls.
Santa Lucia alle Malve (cave church)
The baroque duomo was smaller but more ornate than Lecce’s, to our surprise, dripping in gold that reminded me (alas) of today’s White House. The cave churches were the most fascinating, especially the smaller one, Santa Lucia alle Malve (circa the 9th century) which had a few remnants of frescos. (There’s a bizarre breastfeeding Madonna —the breast is located on her shoulder.)
We also visited a replica of a cave home, where people lived in squalor, sharing their cave with their animals and manure until the 1950s and early 60s when the government was shamed into moving them into better housing. the story of Matera’s rebirth is recent and remarkable. After the government moved people out of the sassi, the area was largely abandoned and considered a dangerous no-go area, with drugs and crime. but gradually people started rediscovering and restoring the sassi. Getting UNESCO world heritage status in 1993 was a boost, so was Mel Gibson’s creepy film about Christ which was,partially shot in Matera (deemed a perfect biblical stand in).
Cave house
We spent two nights in Matera and enjoyed having one day to just kick around and wander. (We visited the Duomo.) On our last morning, we went on a four hour walk and talk across the canyon in the archeological park, guided by lovely Cosimo, a 44-year old Matera native who offered all kinds of information on life in Matera now and long ago.
With Cosimo in a cave church in archeological park
It was also great to stand on the other side of the canyon that we had looked at for two days and see our Airbnb location from afar. Our Swedish-born Airbnb host was old school – she met us in person! (No anonymous lock box with code.) It was fun to get to know her, her restored sassi is beautiful and she had fantastic suggestions for where to eat and shop.
Airbni8kAk9A hostView of sassi from the other side!
We ate well. Dinner on night one was at La Lopa, a fashionable spot which in addition to traditional fare has a clever movie reel in the bottom floor with highlights from movies shot here including the James Bond film “No Time to Die.” Our food was even better on night two at Osteria Belvedere al Vecchio Frantoio, a less fashionable but welcoming traditional trattoria where we had superb fried zucchini flowers (which I have never made right) and a matera version of lasagne, light on the cheese but featuring eggplant, tiny meatballs and little slices of salami. Really delicious.
For lunch, we shopped in and near a fruit and vegetable market in the newer part of town, picking up local cheese (caciacavalla), salami, delicious eggplant focaccia, and dried crispy red peppers (eaten here like potato chips) which we ate outside our Airbnb with the stupendous view. We met various tourists who happened by including an outgoing South African guy. Two other food finds (thanks to our Airbnb host) Ridola Cafe for breakfast and I vizi degli angeli – laboratorio de gelateria artigianale (yes, superb gelato).
Matera movies
We did some early winter holidays shopping at several nice stores. Turns out our lovely Swedish Airbnb host also owns a jewelry store I’d admired before I knew it was her’s, called Elisa &Janna near the Duomo. ( In a strange coincidence, the Airbnb host lived years ago on the same street in London as our longtime pals there.😳)
We ended the day in Bari, a relatively easy drive hour long drive from Matera and are staying at a easy in and out Airbnb near the train station, where we leave in the morning on a train back to Rome. We explored the Bari Vecchio (old town) with its narrow alleyways and massive ancient chur hs (sound familiar) and had the city’s famous assassin’s pasta at a hip place near the university. The pasta is not boiled but instead fried to crispiness. Wasn’t as hot as I feared and I liked the church.
Some AI basics re:Matera
Matera is considered one of the oldest settlements, often cited as the third oldest after Aleppo and Jericho, with evidence of habitation dating back over 10,000 years. Matera is a continuously inhabited city in southern Italy, known for its ancient cave dwellings carved into rock.
Age: Evidence of settlement in Matera dates back over 10,000 years, with some sources citing the existence of prehistoric cave dwellings from the Paleolithic era.
Inhabitation: The city is notable for its Sassi, or “stones,” which are ancient cave dwellings that were inhabited for millennia before being evacuated in the mid-20th century due to poor living conditions.
Modern status: The Sassi have since been restored and now house modern amenities, acting as hotels, restaurants, museums, and homes, while still showcasing the city’s ancient history.
We went for contrast today, knowing which town we’d like most but also finding some to like about both. Alberobello is a major tourist town, famous for its overwhelming number of trullis, earning it recognition as a UNESCO heritage site. As expected it was packed with tourists who wandered up the main trulli-lined drag, past bored shopkeepers standing in front of tacky gift shops. But it was also possible to wander along parallel streets that had fewer tourists and shops, so you could be properly astonished by the profusion of these charming little conical-shaped, Mediterranean dry-stone huts with grey stone roofs and thick bases of whitewashed stacked limestone.
Trulli galore
Ceglie Messapica, by comparison, is lesser known, with fewer tourists, no trullis and only a handful of noteable buildings. But it’s one of the Puglia’s oldest continuously inhabited towns, dating back to pre-Roman days (hence the name, related to Mesopotamia). Its charm is that it feels like a real place. We loved wandering down the centro storico’s quiet narrow whitewashed passageways and small piazzas. Surprisingly, we found a great gift shop with Puglia-made products including handpainted shirts and cloth breadbaskets, and a good neighborhood clothing store on a quiet side street where dirck and I both bought a shirt from a talented saleswoman.
The Puglia Guys helped again, with parking tips and restaurants. Ceglie Messapica is a food town. We went for simple, basic fare at Osteria Pugliese, eating orecchiette or spaghetti with tomato sauce and Parmesan cheese in a tiny stone dining room off an alley where we were the only tourists. The pasta is thicker and more Al dente than back home. The orecchiette is almost like small dumplings. Our bill, including wine for one, was 22 euros ($25). We began our visit at Caffe Centrale, circa 1861, famous for its pastries, including a soft brownish Biscotto Cegliese, which has earned “Slow Food” protected status, a big deal here. It’s made from ground almonds, local cherry jam (which saves it from being too sweet) with a dab of lemon zest or cinnamon.
Note amusing toilet signs below
One happy discovery, a little late: our car has a USB A port in the back seat so our phones and GPS remained operational! The drive from ceglie to alberobello via Locorotondo was gorgeous, along narrow winding roads lined with dry stone walls, past bright green fields with silvery olive trees and fall colored vineyards. And of course the occasional Trulli.
TakeBetsywithyou 