Day 73 6.6.23

Specchiolla to Paestum.

We decided not to go down to Otranto to see the castle as we were going to have come straight back up the heel of Italy after, so it’s on the list of next time visits.

Instead Gareth had seen a post on FB about Paestum. We’d never heard of it before even though it houses 3 of the best preserved Greek temples in the world!

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Paestum is on the way to Pompeii and was a 4-5 hour drive (basically across the ankle of Italy) which took us through beautiful mountains with some amazing hill villages and towns to see from the road.

The best thing about it was it was cool , we all appreciated that. We stopped a couple of times for refreshments and just enjoyed the slight chill in the breeze – heavenly .

We eventually arrived in Paestrum at about 4.30pm and instead of using the Sosta (equivalent to a french Aire) we tried a P4N car park just down the road and opposite the archaeological site. We haven’t seen anyone to pay the nominal charge of €5 yet, maybe they’ll be here in the morning.

Anyway, it was the perfect temperature to go sight seeing and, yes, dogs are allowed but not in the museum which is fair enough.

Our photos don’t capture how big this site is. Around the 3 huge temples there are the ruins of the town buildings, including a hospital, a gladiators arena, a prison and two amphitheaters, one Roman and one Greek.

The Doric columns are amazing, the colossal buildings seem to tower over you as you get close to them. You can also go in and walk around, imagining them full of toga clad people offering gifts and sacrifices to the gods.

Two temples are quite close together and are thought to be dedicated to Hera. Originally they thought one was dedicated to Poseidon (how Paestrum got its name) but artifacts and statuettes found now say otherwise.

]The Temple of Athena is set apart at the other end of the site and, once again the uncovering of clay statuettes depicting Athena confirm it was a temple dedicated to the goddess of warfare and wisdom.

The original town defence wall is still visible and there have been numerous tombs found outside of the town walls.

Definitely worth a visit if you ever come this way.

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We finished with a lovely glass of rosé….sorry, make that red wine (Gareth’s Italian had slipped but mine is definitely worse ) and some complimentary snacks in a bar right opposite the Temple of Athena, what a view .

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