Paestum Greek Ruins & an Artichoke Festival

We had been talking about going to Paestum for over a year, but for some reason we kept putting it off. The Greek ruins at Paestum are said to be some of the best preserved Greek ruins in the world outside of Greece. The city, originally called Poseidon, was founded in the 6th century BC and then came under Roman control in 273 BC. It was an important trading port until the fall of the Roman Empire when the citizens abandoned the city. It wasn't rediscovered until the late 18th century when the locals were trying to put a major road through the area.

We drove the 1.5 hours to Paestum, parked the car, and headed to the site. You can see the massiveness of the Greek temples from afar and it's amazing how much of them are still intact. Three major temples were built; The Temple of Neptune, The Temple of Hera (also known as the basilica), and the Temple of Athena.

So small in such grandeur - Temple of Neptune

Temple of Hera

Temple of Athena

Among the temples are remnants of a city that once was, with old remains of houses and streets, a Roman Forum, and an amphitheater.

The Roman Forum

The ekklesiasterion, an area for meetings

The comitium, another meeting room

We basically had the place to ourselves but funny enough we ran into people that we know. They told us about an artichoke festival (Sagra del Carciofo) that was happening nearby. Italy loves their festivals and whenever a fruit or vegetable comes into season many small towns have festivals promoting that product. Typically a festival that is featuring a product will have one inclusive menu with dishes highlighting it. At this particular festival we each had the menu completo: two artichokes, two separate pastas with artichokes or an artichoke sauce, fried artichoke hearts, artichoke hearts with potatoes, and some saucy artichoke hearts, with a bottle of water or a glass of wine on the side. Yum!!!

A lot of artichokes!

The final product!

Seeing the immense ruins at Paestum was spectacular and it's one more thing we can cross off our list. The festival was a nice surprise and added to our lovely day trip out of the Naples area!

Milan and Lake Como

We have had very few months here in which we've spent a whole month just in the country of Italy. April is one of those months. This long weekend trip took us to the Lombardy region of Italy, more specifically Milan and Lake Como. Milan is very different than other cities in Italy, and other Italians refer to the Milanese as workaholics, cold, and business-like. Top designers make their home in Milan while aspiring models from around the world hope to parade in their clothes on the runways. It is also home to Italy's stock exchange and drives a lot of the economy. It isn't powered by tourism; visitors don't usually spend much time in Milan as there aren't as many sites as the other cities, but they do flock to see the city's Duomo and the painting of "The Last Supper".

The Duomo in Milan

We spent a night in Milan and walked around some of the city. We had wanted to see "The Last Supper", but didn't realize that we needed to buy tickets way ahead of time, and thus we weren't able to see it. Instead, we went inside Milan's Duomo, which is the largest Gothic cathedral in the world. We climbed to the roof and marveled at the Gothic architecture of this building. We were truly impressed by the design and detail of this cathedral!

Impressive statues lined the corners

After we climbed down we walked through the streets and headed to Sforza Castle. It's near the center of the city and unlike many of the castles we've been to, we didn't have to climb a hill to get to it! The courtyard serves as a local park and the castle itself holds many museums.

The next day we drove to Lake Como and stayed in a peaceful village called Varenna. Varenna is not as touristy as the more well-known Lake Como town of Bellagio, but is in a great position on the lake to take ferries to and from there if one so chooses. Varenna is full of steep staircases leading down to the water, with small and quaint alleyways in which one can find some hidden gems.

 A lot of staircases....

We had booked a one hour boat tour in order to get acquainted with the towns on the lake. Luca, our boat guy, was waiting for us at the bottom of a steep stone staircase with a bottle of Prosecco, pizza, and olives. As we clinked our glasses we left the town of Varenna and boated to many of the different towns on the lake. Each town seems to have its own charm, history, and different attractions, and thus providing many reasons why people choose certain towns on the lake. Unfortunately, it was a very hazy day and a storm was approaching so we didn't get to see the amazing views of the Alps that we were hoping for, but we could still appreciate everything that Lake Como had to offer. We didn't see the town of Laglio where George Clooney owns a villa, but Luca was very excited to show us on the map where he vacations.

Leaving Varenna

Bellano

A nice villa!

This river is called Fiumelatte, Italian for "Milk River"

Varenna is overlooked by a castle in Perledo. We walked a little north of Varenna and picked up the "mule track" trail to Castello di Vezio. The trail was steep and rocky, and we climbed up and up until we arrived in a small piazza. We bought our tickets then headed to the path leading to the castle. The castle is supposed to boast incredible 360 degree views of the towns and across the lake, but it was so hazy that we couldn't see everything that we had seen in pictures - we haven't been having much luck in the weather department lately! Nevertheless, we enjoyed our hike and were happy that the thunderstorm didn't start until after we returned to Varenna.

The walk up

Varenna

The guard tower

A serene path back

The rest of our weekend kept us inside most of the time as the area experienced a huge thunderstorm from Friday night to Sunday morning. We had hoped to see more of the towns and experience all that this beautiful part of the country has, but it wasn't in the cards for us. We have already vowed to come back to this area in the future, hopefully with some nicer weather! Nonetheless, we're happy to have had one rain free day in Varenna and we packed in as much as we could!

The Region of Le Marche

Tucked away in a quiet position along the Adriatic Sea lies the region of Le Marche, Italy. Its serene setting is largely untouched by the hoards of tourists that flood Tuscany each summer, but it still sees its fair share of visitors (mainly German) each year. It boasts the rolling hills of other regions, the narrow winding roads of the countryside, and small medieval towns perched high on the hills. We hadn't heard of this area before moving here, and only just found out some information about it last fall - so it became part of the "list".

The countryside from San Marcello

Le Marche is full of tiny, quaint, walled-in villages. The towns are within close proximity to each other, reachable by long and narrow roads through vineyards and plains. They are some of the best preserved ancient towns in Italy and retain a quiet atmosphere that is void of shops, restaurants, and markets. Throughout the weekend we drove to towns such as Ostia, Ostia Vetere, Belvedere Ostrense, and Corinaldo. Each town boasted sweeping views of the region as we walked along their defensive walls and narrow alleyways.

Through the streets of Ostia.

In Belvedere Ostrense

Corinaldo

We were fortunate to have our friends Evan and Melana fly in from the States and meet us at the agriturismo in San Marcello. Along with exploring the towns together, we snacked on breads, cheeses, prosciutto, tomatoes, and eggplant, as well as taking part in a wine tasting held by the owners of our agriturismo.

Prosciutto, salami, a variety of cheeses, and homemade jam at the wine tasting. 

The four of us in Corinaldo.

This is definitely a nice weekend getaway if you're looking to relax and not have a lot on the agenda. In the summer months one can sit by the pool while drinking a glass of wine and just gaze out onto the countryside. We found it to be perfect for what we were looking for that weekend - quiet relaxation.