Paestum, Italy, Day 8

8am Woke up had breakfast, checked out and started our walk to the beach to catch the ferry to Salerno and from there, a train to Paestum.  Presenting... the last pictures of Positano.

Our view from the balcony

One of the many views from various footpaths

View from on board the ferry

Leaving the Amalfi coast for Salerno...

11am Arrived at Salerno and walked to the train station.  The train to Paestum was at 1:47pm so that gave us plenty of time to get food and maybe a short walkaround.  Tickets were 3.30 Euro each.

Salerno harbour

Lunch was 3 different calzones

Gelato after lunch as usual :)

1pm I went to the bookshop while Lauren went to a women's shop.  Every book in the bookstore was in Italian except for one that talked about Naples and the Amalfi coast.  Also walked to a nearby Apple store but that was closed along with every other shop it seemed.  There was a store sign outside one shop that said they would be back at 2:30pm.  An hour and a half lunch perhaps?  We just walked around until 1:30pm then went back to the train station to validate our tickets.

1:47pm Boarded the train.  There were a lot of people!  No Japanese though.

Salerno train station

 2:20pm Arrived at our destination... Paestum.  Paestum is the classical Roman name of a major Graeco-Roman city in the Campania region of Italy.  It's located close to the beach actually if you look it up on the map.

Paestum station

We caught a taxi for 8 Euro that took us to our hotel.  After we checked in we went straight to the temples!  

3:30pm Arrived at the archeological site. Paestum's well known for 3 temples, the temple of Hera, temple of Neptune (or second temple of Hera) and the temple of Athena (or temple of Ceres).

Temple of Hera, 550 BC

Temple of Hera II

View of the surrounding area.  Many ruins.

Mosiac from 2000+ years ago, incredible.

Inside an amphitheatre.  This is facing the entrance.

Temple of Athena

Paestum's great because there were next to no tourists and it's also historic.

5pm We finished our walk and wanted to go to the museum but that was closed.  Wanted to have dinner at the nearby restaurant called Ristorante Nettuno but that was closed too.  We walked back in the same direction of the hotel and to the beach but there was hardly anything open.  A few people wandering around.  Hmm... Paestum is a really sleepy town. :)  There was an arcade that was open and some grocery shops.  And the beach.  People kept honking at us while we were walking to indicate Hi or something like that.  Eventually we just came back to the hotel and they said the restaurant would be open at 7:30pm so we just booked a table for dinner for that time.  Meantime I was too hungry so we walked back outside and I bought a pack of tomato chips and a can of lemon soda.  Anyway it just made me wonder what do people do when there are no tourists around?  Also do restaurants only open from 7:30pm onwards?

7:30pm Went to the hotel restaurant to have dinner.  There was a reserved sign on our table even though we were the only two in the restaurant.

Our hotel

Reserved for us!

Buffalo mozzarella with bread as starter

1st course was linguine with shrimp that was really lobster

My 2nd course was steamed prawns with zucchini and cheese

Lauren's 2nd course was fish and spinach

1:02am Time for sleep. Off to Florence tomorrow, another early start and not enough sleep for me.  15K steps today.

Just for something random, I will end with this quote as a reference tonight... "the course of true love never did run smooth".  From what I remembered in secondary school.  I suppose it's a bit useful for moments like these.