Before exploring the cave dwellings, our first stop was at the Locanda di San Martino hotel, home to an underground thermal bath spa. The wellness experience offers a series of heat and sensory rooms, from wet and dry saunas to underground jet pools and relaxation chairs, with a recommended progression based on healing properties. I think most of the group lounged in the pool area for the majority of the time, but Kristen and I decided to go for it and take in the full order of rooms and experiences.

Anyone who knows me knows I am not a heat person, so the fact that I willingly spent an hour going in and out of saunas… pretty proud of myself! And you know what? After the initial blast of stifling heat in some of the rooms, it became easier to breathe and I definitely left the spa feeling rejuvenated and even breathing a little better than when I came in.

Pretty sure you weren’t supposed to have a phone or take pictures in here but you know I couldn’t help capturing the experience.

This city is definitely one of the most unique places I’ve ever been. It’s the third oldest city in the world (after Aleppo and Jericho), and has been inhabited by humans since the Paleolithic Age 7,000 years ago, when we were hunter-gatherers living in caves. Since then, people have been living in the same place, gradually burrowing deeper and expanding the caves into living spaces. These original cave-houses are called Sassi, and understandably have been named a UNESCO World Heritage Site – it really is like nothing I’d seen before.

We took some time walking around to explore the ancient streets around the Sassi, learning about the unique history and taking in the incredible buildings.

We went inside the Casa Grotta Narrante, a preserved and furnished cave dwelling that shows how families were living in the Sassi as recently as the 1950s. One family, one cave room, shared with their animals, with no running water, electricity, or sewage. The conditions were so dire that the Italian government forcibly evacuated the entire population of the Sassi in 1952, calling it 'la vergogna nazionale,' the shame of Italy. The entrance to the Casa Grotta includes a quote from writer Carlo Levi, whose eyewitness account of the poverty here shocked the country and helped spark that evacuation.

One memorable tradition in Matera is these little bird carvings called cuccù. They’re small terracotta whistles usually in the shape of a rooster that, when blown, make a rooster sound. They’re meant to ward off evil spirits and were placed in babies' cradles to protect them before being baptized.

They’re also a symbol of fertility and abundance, and a whistles was usually bought for a boy to wish him fertility in life. He then would eventually give it to his fiancée after declaring his love, and the more highly decorated the whistle, the bigger the promise of love. Some of them are incredibly elaborate!

And of course I got a little souvenir for myself. Such a unique thing!

We stopped to really look across the Gravina gorge to the opposite cliff face, where some of the oldest cave dwellings are carved directly into the rock. It's one of those views that makes the age of this place actually register.

A bunch of us ended up going out together to what turned out to be a really fantastic restaurant, La Vecchia Terrazza, at Michele’s recommendation.