Retire Early
Lifestyle
Retirement; like your parents, but way cooler
In 1991 Billy and Akaisha Kaderli retired at the age
of 38. Now, into their 4th decade of this
financially independent lifestyle, they invite you
to take advantage of their wisdom and experience. |
|
Our
House-in-a-Cave Rental in Matera, Italy
Billy and Akaisha Kaderli
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Even with the ambitious day
of travel we had planned going from Salerno to Matera, we made every connection.
There were 2 buses and 3
trains and several of them were late! Rain and drizzle were predicted for both
Salerno and Matera, but neither happened.
Sure, we were tired and had
pushed ourselves a bit, but we had no issues really. That is, until we arrived
in Matera and tried to find the house we rented.
Matera is an ancient city
made of stone and tiny alleyways and Google maps was grumpy. Simply not helpful
at all.
I asked waiters at
restaurants where the actual street was, and one pointed this way and the other
pointed that way.
Along with translation
problems with the property manager, we spent over an hour looking in a very
small area for the house. Of course we had our luggage with us - which wasn't
much until you consider that everywhere you look there are steps up and down,
tiny lanes and bitty avenues of bumpy rock some of which we had already scoured
and still couldn't find our rental.
Enough was enough, and we
finally WhatsApp'd the manager and said "Sorry but we are lost. Come find us and
take us there."
The steep little passageway to another opening
on the left to reach our apartment
You can see from this photo how small and
steep some of these walking paths were.
The young property manager had sent us photos
of flower pots to give us an indication of where our house was located, but
"everyone" had flower pots in front of their doors.
That was also not helpful.
Why not simply give us a photo of this sign?
Or at least the name of this tavern.
So. Much. Clearer.
But such was not the case.
Since the Tavern was closed, one could easily
walk past it on the street as a non-event. The sign for the tavern was around
the bend and easy to miss, so we didn't notice it at all.
The center door was our rental
Finally, a well-built and healthy man named
Francisco found us near an outdoor restaurant where we were waiting.
He smiled at us and spoke no English.
Immediately he grabbed my rollie and walked in the opposite direction of where
we were standing.
Up the street and down the lane to this
end-of-the-line place with four doors.
Our rental was the middle black iron door.
We were located next to the tavern and the
boxes and herbs you see belong to them.
The bright modern kitchen
Thank God getting inside the house, was easy
enough.
The total for our rental was $1,000 Euros
for 10 nights with breakfast included.
Food on the back table, water bottles on
the stairs
Through all of this, Francisco was wonderful,
kind and patient.
He said he lived out in the country on a
ranch and he left us a flat of eggs for breakfast, a whole round of cheese in
the refrigerator and 2 bottles of olive oil from local production.
Food on the back table also included toasted
bread in a package - which is big here in Europe - some tea choices, milk,
drinking water in bottles on the steps and juice.
There was an espresso machine also, but we
could not get it to work.
The view from the kitchen to the outside
alley and into living room
Actually, it was unclear to us that we were
to be living in a renovated cave.
We have been told by several people that
their dream was to live in a cave.
However, I want to make clear here that - to
us - there was no romantic view of this.
Billy and I are "Sun People" and the door you
see here was our only natural light.
The rest of the living area was deep
underground and perhaps it was our imagination, but living under tons of rock
was... heavy! We could feel that density and over the time we stayed there, we
went outside as much as possible. In this way we received natural sunlight and
broad vistas to shake off that "bomb shelter/basement/survival cave" feeling.
A closer look at our food supplies
Now mind you, the house was painted bright
white, was spacious and very clean.
Our brand new appliances worked and we had
enough electric outlets for our computer needs and the refrigerator was large.
The property manager called us cheerfully
every morning.
BUONJIOURNO!! she cheerfully chirped on the
phone.
"Is there anything I can do for you? Can I
book a tour? Do you want to go down to the Sassi? To an olive farm? Have you
ever tasted fried olives? Should I book you for this or that or this or that??
The girl was sweet and was only doing her
job, but after a few days, Billy would simply hand his cell phone to me. From
then on I was the one who communicated with her and basically told her that we
are independent travelers and we enjoy our privacy. If we need anything at all
or if we had questions, I would let her know.
This was very confusing to her, but she
understood.
We think most tourists stay in Matera for one
to three nights and they want to squeeze in everything they can in this short
time period.
But in our case, we were booked for 10 nights
and wanted to take our time.
Our bedroom from the living room
This photo was taken from the living room
into our bedroom.
The archway leads to another room that had
closets, some comfortable chairs and a baby crib.
We had plenty of artificial light so the home
was not dark.
Photo of living room from the bedroom
As you can see, there was plenty of
room and we were not cramped at all.
This view takes you to the living room and up
the steps is the bathroom.
Behind the curtain on the left was a room
with cleaning supplies, mop, broom, Windex and such.
Another thing that one might not know about
living in a cave, is that there is a lot of moisture.
Walking in from the outside it was like
walking into a sauna immediately. We needed to keep the dehumidifier
on continuously or it was like wandering through the rain forest.
We had plenty of towels and extra linen for
the bed.
The bathroom
We had lots of hot water, which was great.
Hot water with two people showering at
separate times creates steam. With no ventilation outdoors... this humidity just
added to the rainforest feeling.
I needed to mop the dampness off the bathroom
floor daily.
Bathroom supplies were provided.
Living room
This is the living room.
It's all open-spaced which we liked.
As I mentioned before, with all the dampness
in the house, the dust on our shoes turned into a light mud on the flooring. I
mopped every day just to keep the light colored tile from turning brown in our
pathways.
This was actually a decent home to rent...
just simply not our style.
We prefer LOTS of natural light, windows and
perhaps a veranda with a view.
But it was an experience we'll never
forget.
Would we recommend renting this location in
Matera?
We would have to say that it's a personal
choice. We learned that the number one thing to do in Matera or Sassi (the
ancient village below) was to rent out a room in a cave.
So if you would like to fulfill that dream,
then perhaps this is the place for you!
__________
Acasadefelice
1 Via Domenico Ridola
Matera, 75100, Italy
Telephone: +39 3290386921
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About the Authors
Retire
Early Lifestyle appeals to a different
kind of person – the person who prizes their
independence, values their time, and who doesn’t
want to mindlessly follow the crowd.
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