italy: salerno, paestum, and naples

my host was traveling out of country the next day, so i moved into naples...i'd made a reservation at a guesthouse, and though i arrived too early to check in, i was able to leave my bags for the day...

from there i went to the train station and caught a train to salerno...when i checked one ticket machine, it said the next train wasn't for two hours, but i figured out that was the next express fancy train...the next regional train was only 40 minutes later...not only was this train sooner, it was a LOT cheaper...why do people wait longer for a more expensive train? especially when the earlier train is only 30 minutes?!?!

when i first arrived in salerno, i walked along the seafront for a while...it was pretty, and quiet...i felt totally at peace...the boats were all waiting in their docks, the bay curves around so you can see the hills behind the city...

eventually i moved into the old city area, where the streets are small, it's easy to get lost in the maze of streets...i found the duomo, which isn't nearly as well known as it should be...it's HUGE, and airy, the mosaic decoration inside is awesome...you're not supposed to take photos, but i snuck one when i was in the crypt...stunning...

outside the church is a nice courtyard with a plant decoration in the middle...it was built by the normans in the 11^th century, and dedicated to san matteo...so quiet, so awesome...i wish i could've climbed up the bell tower, i bet the view is awesome...

i took the train back to naples, checked into the guesthouse, then started walking again...i found the via de tribunale, one of the main tourist drags of the city...somehow, it wasn't as busy as i remember it being in december...maybe i was walking at a different time of day, or there really arent as many tourists at the beginning of july...

i found the starting point of one of the underground tours of naples...the tour took everyone through 1 km of the underground aqueduct, built by the romans waaaay back in the day...the area was also used as shelter during the bombing of WWII...some of the tunnels were quite tight, others were much more wide open...as usually happens with being undergound, it was pretty chilly, i wanted long sleeves...

back on street level the tour also took us to where a roman amphitheatre used to be located...by the time the ruins were located, many families had already built homes above...it's wierd to see windows going right into old roman arches...i think the law says the families can't be kicked out, so the ruins will never be fully excavated...

i had a big bowl of mussels for dinner...yum!

The next day i got up very slowly...another carb loaded breakfast included with my room...how do people never want anything but various types of bread for breakfast?

eventually i got back to salerno, and from there took a bus to the ruins of paestum...the bus dropped me at the train station of paestum, which appears to be located in the middle of nowhere...i had to walk a kilometer or two down the road to get to the ruins, it was easy enough...

the ruins of paestum are unesco listed, i expected them to be covered with tourists...they weren't, probably because it takes a couple hours to get there from naples...there are three large temples, all surrounded by fences, but the rest of the ruins aren't protected, and it's difficult to tell what they are...

there are a few signs describing what the ruins in various areas used to be, for the most part i just wandered around...i really liked the mosaic decor on the floors of what used to be upper middle class homes...i reckon the areas not protected will continue falling apart until it isn't possible to see anything identifiable...there is also a museum across the street from the ruins, but i didn't go inside...

back in naples i had mussels for dinner again...two servings this time...YUM! The restaurant tried to charge me for a breadbasket, which i wouldn't have minded if i had actually received the breadbasket...but i didn't, so i wasn't going to pay that charge...

it's a normal part of a restaurant bill in italy to be charged for the breadbasket they put on your table, whether or not you eat the bread...i don't mind that since it's tradition, but i'm not paying for it if i don't even get it...

that night i paid for my guesthouse since i was leaving quite early the next morning...they tried to charge me 10 euros extra, until i showed my booking confirmation...too bad i had to leave before breakfast...the airport bus got me to the airport quite quickly, since there is no traffic at 0615 in the morning :)