I took an impromptu trip to Paestum today. Had a nice breakfast from Luca, my B&B host-bread, cheese, croissant, tomatoes, coffee. I drank almost all the coffee, he went to pour himself a cup and only got a few drops "Vanessa, you like coffee?" Oops, thought nobody would notice if I took it all. Paestum was only a half hour train ride away. I got off the train, prepared to get totally lost, but the archeological site is just down a street from the station, about a 20 minute walk. Very impressive ruins & preserved temples of Magna Graecia, a Greek colony that was in Italy in the 6th century BC. There's an ancient forum, house floor plans, pool, amphitheater, heroon(shrine), ekklesiasterion (meeting place) & 3 massive temples. The site was interesting, there were only a few tourists, the weather was perfect, and the area is beautiful-stretches of lush green farmland and mountains in the distance. Luca told me that Paestum has the best mozzarella di bufala in Campania, so after my visit I enjoyed a cheese plate with various types of buffalo cheese. Wonderful lunch (aside from the old man making lots of mouth noises as he ate & the 2 wasps that couldn't get enough of the fig jam that came with my cheese plate). I enjoyed a nice leisurely stroll back to the train station, only to find out when I got there that the ticket machine was broken & the only place to buy a ticket was back at the archeological site. Really? I thought I had learned by this point in my trip to buy return tickets, but this is how my day goes when I feeis like everything is working perfectly. So I hurried back, found a bar that sold tickets, and then rushed back to the station. Oh well, I guess it was good to walk off all the cheese I've eaten today! Plus, gotta earn my afternoon gelato! Upon return to Salerno, I tried to find the bus stop & schedule to get to the airport tomorrow, but it seems to be nonexistent. Feeling freaked out about how to get to Palermo tomorrow & slightly defeated that I might have to figure out a different plan, I grabbed gelato (like I said) & went to enjoy it by the port. Of course some crazy dude came & sat next to me & was trying to talk to me - come on, can I just enjoy this moment in peace? I moved, found a different bench, sat a while, walked around Salerno a bit, then returned to the B&B. Luca assured me that there is a bus to the airport, so I suppose all I can do is find out if it comes tomorrow, & then have a backup plan.
