Sunday October 19, 2008
Happy Birthday to our Kevin!!!!
Today we drove north and west from our base to the ancient Greek settlement of Paestum in the region of Campania. The drive up there was partly along the beautiful coast and then inland to a hilly green area covered with trees and farms. Paestum was settled by the Greeks in the 6th century BC and later taken over by the Romans as part of their empire. The town was eventually abandoned due to the collapse of the empire and malaria, which spread throughout the population in the surrounding swampy land. Silt and forestation covered the city and it was lost from memory until the 1700’s when someone noticed the visible remains.
We first visited the museum, which contained beautiful examples of Greek pieces recovered from burial sites and temples. The area contains the remains of the later Roman settlement, but is most noted for the three remaining Greek temples, some of the best preserved anywhere. We spent a few hours at the site, then headed back south, hoping to take the coast road back to our home base. After a few arguments with our GPS (You don’t really think I could go down that road/alley do you?!?), we reached the coast. We followed the coast south, stopping every so often to admire a beach, town, or view and take more pictures, of course. Toward the end of the afternoon, along the town of Sapri’s seaside promenade, we saw the local citizenry out for their Sunday afternoon passeggiata, or stroll. The evening passeggiata is an Italian tradition and some towns take it very seriously as a time to meet and greet, see and be seen.
We saw the sun’s golden disk set into the sea before we arrived back at our apartment to find our hostess, Filomena, her husband and young daughter waiting for us with a gift of wine made by her father. Needless to say, we did not hesitate to accept!
Another fine day in a part of Italy that is lovely, but largely ignored by tourists.
Tom and Mel
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