Paestum

Today we drove for an hour and a half south of Pompeii to a Greek town of Paestum. It was first founded in 800bc as a trading settlement and later grew into a planned Greek polis based on an organised grid system of roads. It flourished until overrun by the Lucanians around 400bc and then the Romans a century and a half later. Both adopted Greek culture and preserved much of the Greek monuments.

The main features of the site are 3 magnificent Greek temples still standing to full height - some of the best preserved anywhere. But we were surprised to find that there are many other interesting ruins to see albeit not so well preserved. After Jamie's tour and explanations we spent another hour and a half wandering round on our own.

This area is famous for its buffalo mozzarella so we had to try some for lunch. After lunch we had a couple of hours in the site museum and rewarded ourselves with yummy gelatos.

Yesterday there were thunderstorms and rain which we managed to dodge. Today was sunny again but much cooler and very windy.Read more