Another overnight flight, and thankfully I had a sleep, well about nine 1 hour sleeps all up! Actually felt a little refreshed on arrival in Rome and raced into the city to find a train to Salerno. Found that we had a few hours to kill so we went for a wander outside the station. Thought about checking our bags but it wasn’t worth it for $24. They worked quite well dragging them around – very happy we didn’t have 20 kg each!
So, found a coffee (at Macca’s) for 1 Euro and sat near the P.zza Della Repubblica and watched Rome go by for a while. Lots of open-topped buses doing tours, little cars and scooters whizzing round the central fountain. Checked out a church/basilica and marvelled at the space & beauty inside of what looked like an old brick building from the outside… It had a great display about Galileo and his church-defying science and inventions, and an intricate meridian line set into the marble floor.
We had time to check out another cathedral nearby, so wandered a couple of blocks and got surprised by a convoy of vintage Fiat 500s, driving passed with horns blaring, yodeling & honking. It was Sunday morning, the weather was perfect, and everyone was having a good time and enjoying themselves, hanging out windows and sunroofs. I reckon there must have been hundreds of the cute little cars celebrating their existence. After that cacophony we enjoyed some respite in the S. Maria Maggiore cathedral with an choir and organ recital under way (the pews were packed).
Back to the Termini station and a quick visit to a supermarket for some food and to the platform for the train to Salerno. The train wasn’t there and didn’t turn up, and with only a couple of minutes to go we realised (along with lots of other people) that we should have been on the next platform! A mad sprint around to get on just in time. The trip was a fairly straight forward with a few stops, amazing mountains & a few tunnels, lots of farms, market gardens, and dingy looking railway stations. We sat opposite a family (mum & two girls) who were coming home after 3 weeks in Egypt visiting a daughter. Everyone seems to catch up on some sleep whenever they can
Into Salerno mid afternoon and walked along the waterfront to our hostel in the medieval part of town. An absolutely amazing complex of alleyways shops, churches, apartments etc. Amazing that cars are game to go down them and there must be some sort of one-way system to keep things a little organised. Visited the Duomo (closed) and then the terraced Garden of Minerva (built in the 14th century) before catching a lift (an outdoor one!) that took us back down to ground level. Then had a lemon sorbet in the park with lots of other people out for a stroll. Later we walked the cobbled streets with all those others out for a Sunday evening stroll and stopped at a small cafe (hole-in-wall) for some pizza, calzone & beer.
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