Bob's World Travels

Paestum

June 14, 2008

Paestum


The last hike was to be the hardest and highest, so in order to not cause problems with my ankle, I skipped the hike and traveled by myself to the ancient Greek ruins at Paestum. The Greeks had colonized southern Italy before the Romans. The trip involved a one-half mile walk to the light rail station, riding the light rail to Pompei, walking a mile to the commuter rail station in Pompei, and riding the commuter rail for an hour through Salerno out into the Italian countryside. The station at Paestum was an isolated building among farm fields. There were no signs but it was obvious that one had to walk on a farm lane between tall, ancient stone walls that were in fact the walls of ancient Paestum. The lane led to the small tourist village of Paestum with its ruins and large Museum building. There were three temple buildings among the scattered ruins. The Temple of Neptune was particularly impressive, and it is said to be one of the best preserved Greek temples in the world. The Museum was very good, including its impressive tomb paintings with the famous painting of the diver. Walking back to the train station, I missed my turn and accidently found a lovely restaurant with outdoor tables back among tall trees overlooking the Temple of Neptune. I seemed to be the only one there for lunch, since Italians eat later, so I had the full staff of three waiters, none of whom spoke English. I managed to make my wishes known and had a nice Scampi with clams for lunch which was one of my best meals in Italy. They helped me with directions (destra-destra, right and then right) and I managed to get back to Sorrento.