Quilts and Other Stuff from Frances

It’s Greek to Me…..

I always do this…..get to the end of the trip and not get around to posting about the last few days until well after we are home again!! I guess that it is natural since you have to pack one day, travel the next and then there is washing clothes, buying groceries and generally getting settled back in at home. However, I vowed that it wouldn’t happen this time…..oh well, maybe on the next trip.

Anyway….. on Friday we were picked up by Michael’s colleague, Giovanni and driven east, following the coast to the city of Paestum where, surprisingly, there is an area of Greek ruins!!! The area is know for it’s three Greek temples that date back to 600 BC!!

The area is gorgeous, with rolling hills in the background and lush trees mixed in with the ruins……

You could see the outlines of the town, nestled between the town walls, and could walk among the setting stones for the houses…..

We spent some time chasing these interesting lizards…..

They were obviously used to people and were quite happy to run around our feet as we explored.

But, the highlight were the three temples…..to Hera, Athena & Poseidon. The magnitude of the columns was amazing…..

Michael and I kept seeing different angles that we wanted to photograph and kept passing the camera back and forth…..

There was a group of High School students working to remove the grass and weeds that were threatening to cover some of the ruins……

There was another school group ……

….and I have to say that these teachers were awfully brave to bring that many toddlers on such a field trip!!! We were interested that the teachers were talking to the students in English which might explain why everyone speaks so many different languages!!

There were some areas where you can see small portions of frescoes…..

and I’m always on the lookout for geometric designs…..

We had to take a few “people” photos….

We left the ruins and headed for our next destination…..a Mozzarella Buffala production facility. This Italian cheese is made from Water Buffalo milk and this farm carries the process from beginning to end, starting with the Buffalo pens…..

….and ending with the sale of the magnificent cheeses…..

The cheese on the left is fresh Mozzarella, the middle is smoked and the cups on the right contain Ricotta. When Giovanni placed his order, they packed the Mozzarella in a bag and added liquid to it. I assumed that the liquid was salt water but Giovanni said that it was the liquid that had been squeezed out of the cheese during processing.

Then his order was packed up in a small sytrafoam box…..

….and quickly (and I do mean quickly) taped up and presented ready to carry away….

Next we were off on a scavenger hunt to find a plant that Giovanni wanted to start researching. Fortunately, this hunt took us to some beautiful coastal areas. We started in one small village…..

….but the plants were no where to be found. We did however enjoy looking at the boats in this very comfortable bay…..

….and I loved this bit of street art, although maybe I should call it Pier Art…..

As luck would have it, some of Giovonni’s friends were also collecting in the area and knew exactly where to send him. We followed Google Maps until we came to a very small inlet, complete with a fence barrier that, fortunately, had already been cut open!!!