Paestum🦬🏛️

The last day with our hiking group but no hiking today. I’m ok with it as we have had 6 good days of hiking and my legs want a bit of a rest. We visited two really interesting places in Paestum and they couldn’t be more different.

Our first stop after about an hour and a half of mostly beautiful scenery heading south on the Amalfi coast was a buffalo mozzarella farm called Tenuta Vannulo.

Buffalo mozzarella? I had never really heard of it. Well turns out the area south of the Amalfi coast is kind of swampy so in the 6th century water buffalo’s were brought from India. Water buffalo’s like a swampy area and they also provide excellent milk. I was picturing the huge bison that you can see in Western Kansas in the Tallgrass National Park. They are very aggressive and mean! Not the same buffalo at all. The water buffalo is very docile and I might go so far as to say sweet. There are lots of buffalo farms in this area so we visited one that also offers a restaurant and tours of the process. It was really interesting and we did get to sample quite a few products.

While the animals aren’t out in a field roaming around it’s still a pretty good life. They play classical music which they discovered relaxes the buffalo and they produce more milk. The top picture is the stall the buffalo goes into to be hooked up to the very high tech milking machine. The animal is cleaned and the milk is tested to make sure there is no infection then milked. Then they have access to a nice buffalo meal. How about a massage? Sure! It’s available around the clock. In the lower left picture see those big yellow spongy things? Just stand underneath one and it will massage your body. They are very patient so if the machines are busy they just wait their turn. They get in the milking machines two or three times a day so when they feel ready they just get in the pen and move forward to get into the machine - bottom right picture. The reward is food so they are more than willing to line up.

So sweet you could almost have one as a pet! This one used too much fur gel. A very stiff fur do😂

We toured where the milk goes after it leaves the buffalo. Straight in to make cheese. Mozzarella, ricotta, yogurt, gelato and cappuccino’s. A perfect mozzarella braid.

There is also a museum of farm implements and a leather shop with beautiful purses, wallets, belts etc and a restaurant where we had lunch and ate all buffalo products. A heavy calcium intake but all delicious and creamy.

On to our second site which was close by. The Archeological Park where they have Greek and Roman ruins that date back to 600 BCE. We were all blown away. There are three large temples that predate the Parthenon in Athens and are in better condition. Did you ever hear about this? I never did and it was fascinating. The Greeks built the first temple in 560 BCE, then the second in 500 BCE and the third in 460 BCE. The Romans arrived and they didn’t fight the Greeks but eventually the Romans took over and built a number of structures. Interesting that the Roman buildings are all mostly in ruins but the Greek temples have successfully survived. We had a wonderful guide Sylvia that took us through the area including the museum. Bottom right is Sylvia showing us the Roman brick. I see you Frank Lloyd Wright! He loved Roman brick as it is longer and thinner than regular brick and invoked the prairie to him. Bottom left is Keeley inside an actual tomb in the museum. So amazing that some of the original paint has survived.

The Temple of Athena - the goddess of wisdom and war. A strong woman! Let’s channel Athena friends!

Temple of Neptune.

We stayed the last 4 nights in the town of Maiori which is a short boat ride from Amalfi. We stayed at the Reginna Palace which was right across from the boardwalk and beach. Maiori has the longest beach on the Amalfi coast because most of the towns have no beach because of the rocky coastline. It was a beautiful small town and much quieter than Sorrento or Positano. To each their own but we really liked hiking into those towns, staying for a bit and then getting back to our sweet much quieter town. The way to get between the towns is definitely the ferries NOT the road which is narrow and packed with traffic. Rick Steves my favorite European travel guru is redoing his Amalfi coast book and recommending Maiori as the best place to stay for cost and congestion. You read it here first!😂

Scenes from Maiori. The beach, center street, our pool and my morning cappuccino 🩷

If you get a drink for happy hour you also get snacks. Quite a spread for one drink. Chips, nuts, some kind of rice cake but the one in the center in a circle shape is called a Taralli. Comes in quite a few flavors and Keeley and I loved them. Kind of a cross between a pretzel and a breadstick. We liked them so much we went to a little grocery store and bought them to bring home. They come in different flavors so we bought fennel, black pepper and original. If I have to go back to Italy to get them I am willing😊

For our last dinner with the group we went to a cute restaurant called Masaniello. We had the house specialty which is an entire local fish called a Sea Bream. Is is cooked in a thick layer of rough salt. When they bring it to the table they light it on fire then use a mallet to break off the salt. The fish inside is very moist and delicious so I think the salt steams the fish. That’s my guess. We had an appetizer that was a piece of cod, zucchini flower and something with sardines on top. Keeley was braver than I and ate the sardines. I was saving room for the Sea Bream🤣 Second coarse was a pasta in a lemon sauce and the fish was served with salad and roasted potatoes. Lemon sorbet for dessert. Another great meal.

Our guides were fantastic! A 10 out of a 1 to 5 scale. They made us feel comfortable immediately, kept us on track and where we needed to be when, led the hikes, navigated the crazy marina’s with the ferries and fast boats, kept us laughing and no question was too ridiculous for them to explain. Why can’t we share a pizza or have a cappuccino after 10 AM? Really no parmigiana cheese on a pasta with fish? Thanks Chiara and Federico! You are forever a part of our wonderful Amalfi memories🩷

While we are leaving the Amalfi coast we still have a day in Napoli before heading home. One more post to go! Check back soon for the big finish!