After walking round most of the excavated site (which is just a small proportion of the original city) we explore the attached museum and watch a couple of short video presentations - one of these deals mainly with the tombs found here, the other has footage from the Second World War that shows a unit of the British Army making the first professional excavations ever conducted on the site. The museum contains some stunning exhibits, the most interesting being some slabs recovered from tombs that have wonderful frescoes on what would have been the inside of the tomb

Leaving Paestum, we drive north to the Novotel at Salerno

Our room at the Novotel  is a spacious suite on the top (6th) floor. The suite has plenty of creature comforts and even boasts two bathrooms. There are good views of the sea from two large patio windows, but we are unable to open these to obtain access to the balcony. A maintenance man is summoned, but despite assistance from the hotel's general manager, one window remains unusable.

 

Dinner provides us with large servings, first of pasta, the swordfish (J) and entrecote (D). With the compliments of the general manager we are given some delicious hot bread, some tasty expertises,s of wine - we are unable to manage desserts. By the time we retire to our comfortable room, it is too dark to use the balcony.

 

June 2nd: in contrast to the previous night's civilised meal in an almost empty restaurant, this morning's breakfast is a bun fight with the whole room full of families, and the staff struggling to cope - despite this we are able to enjoy our last Italian breakfast before driving to Naples Airport, where the damaged Peugeot is received without any drama. Flight ZB 3597 gets us to Luton Airport just before 10pm and we are hope just after midnight.

 

A most enjoyable holiday, the highlights of which were the wonderful people we met; the comfortable (though sometimes idiosyncratic) hotels we stayed at; the delicious food that we thoroughly enjoyed; and the magnificent scenery that was enhanced by the amazing art, history, and architecture. The only downsides were the poor driving standards and poor road conditions we experienced - plus, of course, the damage to the hire car which, fortunately, the insurance company paid for.