We are on the road again, leaving wonderful Matera and heading for Positano via Paestum.
The bufala, or buffalo in English. Not to be confused with American bison, these animals are prized for the high fat content in their milk; 3 times that of regular cows milk. The Paestum area is noted for its "mozzarella di bufala", which we saw produced on a very modern and organic farm.
Happy cows make more milk, so these are queued up at a massage machine. However, each has a chip for identification; no milk, no massage! They are milked when they want to be by a fully automated and robotic milking machine. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch complete with buffalo mozzarella and ricotta cheese. Dessert included buffalo gelato with no sugar added. It was very sweat anyway because of the milk.
Paestum has some of the best preserved Greek ruins in the world. After conquering the Greeks, the Romans built their towns around these temples. Luckily for us, the Romans were superstitious, and didn't want to disturb any gods. Luckily the early Christians and Muslims never paid much attention to this area.
This temple is massive; Vera is in the blue jacket.
Paestum is one of the few places in the world where you can see actual painted Greek frescoes, preserved because they were on the inside of stone coffins buried long ago. This is one of hundreds in the museum.
Yesterday's word of the day: chiese rupestri or rock-hewn churches. There was a picture of one in yesterday's blog update. Matera has nearly 50.
Today's word of the day: estintore
Hint: You find these in almost every public building.
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