Another leisurely morning – breakfast – different, but still totally varied, spread this morning. We fill up, not knowing what our day will bring.
We head out to Paestum. One hour driving down the coast, dealing with those crazy Italian drivers. Phew. they pass you at any given chance, just to get stuck behind some truck in front of us – or better yet – to turn left onto some road a couple of meters up. Psycho! We just tootle along, keeping to the speed limit (our what we guess is the limit, since nobody follows it) and soaking in the scenery.
Along this road is nothing but holiday communities and little roads cut through the forest to reach the beach. There are local buses – and kids everywhere – hopping off for their favorite beach spot. One hour after leaving the hotel (way longer than you’d think it should take) we find the turn off for Paestum. One wrong turn later, and we are in the parking lot for the entrance.
WOW. That’s all we have to say. It’s better than the Acropolis – and there is NOBODY here – and I mean nobody! There is a tour of 26 people in front of us, but we walk in and they dilly dally around listening to the tour guide and sitting in the shade, so – really – we have the place to ourselves. Well, except for the geckos, which are everywhere – following us around!
Paestum was originally called Poseidonia, founded by the Greeks in 6C BC in honor of Neptune. It changed hands over the years, and the name was “Latinised” to Paestum while in the control of the Lucanians. then came the Romans, and the Saraens who destroyed the city and left it in ruin in the 1C AD. Today it stands in the quiet wilderness, a temple (in more ways than one) to Greek architecture that withstands the effects of time.
We take our leave of the ancient ruins after more than an hour of wandering around the temples, the forum, the amphitheater. Simply amazing!
Back in the car, we set the GPS to Cosenza and head out. Long story short, we ended up with an in-car GPS unit. Since we figured this to be a “local” unit, we used what we referred to as Camila (for her proper British accent) for our main navigational unit. After some bizarre twists and turns (that CPS did not agree with) we found ourselves back on the A3 – but a little bit more North than we anticipated. Regardless, it’s a straight shot down to Cosenza from here.
If only it was an easy shot! The A3 Autostrada was under massive construction through the mountains, with new tunnels being dug and bridges installed at virtually every turn. The speed limit, while normally 110 or 130, barely crept up past 80KM in most stretches with some as low as 40KM. It was more like an old country road than a super highway. However, the scenery was incredible, high up into the mountains, ravines and valleys down below, green, green forest covered hillsides. A beautiful drive, if not frustrating on the road. (A lot of it actually reminded us of the PA turnpike!). We finally hit Cosenza after 2 or 3 hours and…Argh! Confusion city. Not only is it a big city, it is a confusing big city and Camila was not awe-inspiring. We turned on Alice (pronounced "Ah-Lee-Chay", our personal GPS) and thus began the GPS wars. It would have been hysterically funny if it weren’t so darned frustrating and confusing. Camila saying “turn now”, Alice saying “in 750 meters turn on some-unintelligible named street). Finally – Alice won out. She guided us to the hotel while Camila still thought we were in Naples or Malta! Pretty bad.
The hotel turned out to be another gem. Called the Home Suites, it was just like the basic suite hotel in the states. Mini kitchen (with gas burning stove), dining area, living area, separate bedroom and separate bath. This particular room also had the biggest balcony you’ll ever see! It was great! No furniture, unfortunately, and not the best view, but boy the people watching was great. You could hang out there forever and watch the neighborhood life all day and night long.
We settled in, then toured the city center – only a couple of blocks away. It was siesta time, so not much open. A few cafes, one of which we took our mid-afternoon wine and beer break. Then onto the grocery store for antipasto. The hotel actually has a restaurant, but we didn’t see anything too interesting there, and since we have a refrigerator, we figured we’d do an antipasto night dinner. Worked perfectly! Different cheeses, meats and an incredible spicy marinated artichoke dish. Beer and wine. We’re done! Quite happy.
In for the evening, we eat, drink, read and watch the neighborhood goings on until late, then hit the sack for our big day of driving in the morning.
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