We return to mainland Italy after Sicily and arrive at Reggio di Calabria. The coutryside and waterfront areas along "the sole of Italy" were quite lovely with their spring flower shows. For a boating person the ocean was a real picture but the weather was very calm - guess it can turn nasty facing the Adriatic Sea. We parked in Bari for a few days at our embarkation point to Greece and caught the train for our day trip to Matera. Matera is one of the most interesting and memorable tourist destinations in Italy - and at the same time by our standards, looking like it would have been a colourless and depressing place to live.