After breakfast at Hotel San Nicola, Martin returned to his room to collect some things for his day"s activities. He put his camera, guidebook, and Italian-German dictionary into his back pack. He sat on the bed for a moment, thumbing through his grandfather"s journal until he reached the back. The phrases his grandfather left and the short narrative paragraphs focused his attention on this town and the Sassi that were cut into the nearby hillsides. There was nothing said directly about the Murge, the plateau that dominated the topography of this region, so he consulted the guidebook to get a better understanding of the area.
He carefully placed the old journal in his pocket and left the room, quietly closing the wooden door behind him. He proceeded down the stone steps that led to the lo
