Jeff's Blog - Wednesday, October 1, 2014 - Paestum
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Oh, ho hum, another day of mid 70s and full sun, this time here in Paestum. I arrived at about 9am, walked the mile from the train station, through farmers fields, then through the small town to my old converted farmhouse hotel, dropped off my big backpack, and left with my daytime backpack to see the temples. The three temples were awesome, a photo of the best one is below. All four walls of all 3 temples are completely intact -- no missing bits, no visible braces, just missing their roofs, with the temple below even having the interior structure still intact. The excavated area (about 1/2 mile by 1/4 mile) also includes foundations of the entire ancient town -- lots of homes, apartment buildings, stores, their forum, an amphitheater, etc. It took me a few hours to see it all, then I walked about 1.5 miles to the Mediterranean Sea, took off my shoes, and waded in the warm, clear water for a few minutes. Gorgeous sandy beach, only a few people there, all the stores and restaurants closed for the season (maybe they open on weekends?). Back to town for lunch, then I went to the archaeological museum where they have a lot of rather boring relics from ancient Paestum (lots of pottery), plus several spectacular painted tombs from a nearby dig. Lookup "Tomb of the Diver" if you're interested -- that was the best one. After supper I'll walk back to the temples to see them lit up at night, then early to bed since I need to leave the hotel at 6:50 for my train to Rome. It'll be nice to stop packing, unpacking, and carrying that heavy backpack every day or two. Plus, I'm looking forward to so many sights in Rome...
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