Monday, February 28, 2011

Pizza!

I had my last Greek meal at Paestum, sausage, stuffed grape leaves, olives, feta, the last of the Ouzo. I am ready for Italian food. More than ready. For lunch in Naples, we went to the Trianon, a favored pizza place. We're loving it.


Vicki had the sausage and mushroom, I had
the anchovy




















Marquee




















I have always believed that pizza crust is a basically non-
nutritive handle for eating pizza by the slice, as we
Americans tend to do; at Trianon, one eats it with a knife
and fork, thus leaving the crust intact; see illustration above


















Pizza artist at work; seriously, as simple as it was, this was
the most interesting pizza I have yet had; the crust was thin,
yet chewy, the flavors simple but wonderful

















A bit of the restaurant decor















Ditto















Real wood-fired oven...

A Bit Nippoli in Napoli

We drove up from the Bay of Salerno to the Bay of Naples and stopped at Pompeii, at Camping Spartacus, right across from the entrance to the archaeological site. This is significant because a) I am pretty sure this is exactly where we tent-camped in 1979 (we thought the freight train rushing by was an eruption of Vesuvius), and b) we are showing our solidarity with workers world-wide and especially Wisconsin. Geez, Wisconsin?!

Anyhow, next day, despite very cool temperatures (Nippoli; get it?), we ventured into Naples (Napoli) for a walking tour.
A view of Vesuvius from the train station















In the fish market near the central train station















I did not know there were this many different kinds of clams















Street scene; it's a very densely populated
place, with little green space




















The Garibaldi monument; patron saint of motor scooters




















Old fortress















Inside the Galleria Umberto I, a beautiful place, but filled only with tiny shops
















Ditto















OK, it's 19th century or later, but very striking















And a cool site for wedding pix




















Ditto; as I write, Will and Rachel are in Missoula, tasting cakes, visiting florists, etc.















The Teatro San Carlos, Italy's second most famous opera house
















Another street scene


















Paestum Museum

The Museum at Paestum is of interest, if for no other reason than for a collection actually on-site. It was surprisingly large, with a floor devoted to the Greek/Lucanian age, one to the Roman age, and one to the paleolithic and neolithic finds at the site.

Paestum Museum















Back-stabbing; among the metopes from the temples















A very helpful map of the Greek diaspora, c. 1000-500BCE;
where we have been recently
















Greek era pottery















From Paestrum's necropolis: sarcophogus interiors were
decorated with frescoes, unlike pretty much any other place;
here is the most famous of them, The Diver

















Over-view of The Diver (diving into the next life, as it were)















Another of the more colorful tomb frescoes




















And expressive















Elsewhere, a terracotta still-life















Not sure what to make of this metope















Neolithic pottery from the site
















And from the Roman, a togato (toga! toga!)

Paestum, 2011

Paestum is one of Italy's greatest archaeological sites, but not for anything Roman nor Italian. In the 6th century BC the Greeks established a colony here, Poseidonia, one of scores they established after the end of the Bronze Age, all over the Mediterannean and Black Seas. What is notable at Paestum are three 6th and 5th century Doric temples, largely intact, older and better preserved than anything you will see in Greece.
Temple of Apollo, 5th century BCE















Remains of theatre, much buried beneath a 19th century road















The Ekklesiasterion--a meeting place for citizens--established
by the Lucanians, indigenous folk who took over from the
Greeks

















Temple of Athena, on an artificial mound, to be above the
others 




Baths















More of the civic area, looking north to the mountains















Main street




















Us at the Temple of Apollo















Temple of Apollo















Temple of Hera...really old...550BC















A forest of ancient Doric columns

Sassi

Having gotten our bearings, sort of, we drove out of Bari (Patra's sister city, I think) and on into the interior, stopping at Matera for a) purchase of an Italian USB modem (yes!), and b) a stop at the Pantaleone Azienda Agritouristico campground. The former entailed biding our time parked on the main drag of Matera until 4:30PM when the Wind store reopened after its 4-hour lunch break. The latter is (we hope) a typical Italian farm expanded to include a restaurant, hostel, and campground. The campground was actually fairly nice and reasonable, although the English spoken was pretty minimal. The restaurant had no menu--"cuisine traditionale." We were joined later by a pair of French RVs and then another from Spain. We spent the evening recovering from our voyage, but the next day we ventured back into Matera.

Modern-day Matera sits along a great limestone gorge in which people have been living, in caves, for some aeons. In 1952, the Italian government declared them unsafe and moved everyone to Matera, atop the gorge. The cave dwellings--Sassi--are now a World Heritage Site, many restored and an attraction of some note. Mel Gibson's Passion of Christ was filmed here, but we went to see Sassi anyway.

En route from Bari to Matera, we saw a number of these
interesting stone corballed structures out in the groves
















The gorge and some of the dwellings















Across the gorge, mostly cattle nowadays















River at the bottom of the gorge














Interior of Casa Grotto, one of the restored family dwellings;
three rooms, actually; it looked pretty spacious to us; in
reality, Sassi was noted for its poverty and 50% infant
mortality rate; the plight of its residents was made known by
physician/writer Carlos Levi


















The kitchen




















Living area; common bowl from which food is served















One-car garage















More of the cave town















In there somewhere is St. Peter's church/cave















The campground Pantaleone Azienda Agritouristico; very
nice
























Sassi/Matera is worth a stop on the way. If you have seen Cappadocia, however, you won't be impressed.