Tim sneaks out at 6:30 to take some sunrise pictures of the Greek temples. Olga and kids get up at 7:15 to try out the playground in the garden. Our appartement also serves breakfast, and the kids are happy to note that it consists of a varity of cakes and fruit yoghurt.
We pack our suitcases and leave at 9 to drive further South, we’re approaching the heel of Italy’s boot now, as here is Elea, famous with philosophers for the school of Elea, a group of pre-Socratic philosophers of which Zeno was one of the main thinkers.
Zeno is a bit confused when we tell him we visit his town, and at the ticket shop we see Zeno merchendise and the similarities are very absent.
In 545 BC Greeks fled Turkey, which was being besieged by the Persians, and founded the town of Hyele, now callef Elea.
It are mostly ruins, a famous port still stands (rare example of Greek architecture), and the atrium, where Zeno used to lecture, can also still be recognised.
There is a low and high part of town. it takes 2 hours to see it all, and climbing the hill in the warm sun makes sure that all coats go off. Olga cannot carry any child anymore because of the huge pile of jackets.
At 11:30, we drive back North. We pass the Greek Temples and Amalfi coast, and close to Naples we conclude we even have time to visit the worlds second largest Amfitheater that was closed last week.
The ancient amphitheater, second only to Rome’s Colosseum and being its model, is impressive. Walking among the ruins and archways gives a vivid sense of Roman life and gladiatorial history. We can even visit the tunnels below the theatre, where the animals were kept.
The theatre is relatively intact. It was the location of the famous gladiator school. In the museum we can see some gladiator artifacts such as helmets.
At 15, we drive the final two hours to our appartement south of Rome. We do groceries for the coming days and arrive at 17:30 in our new, and final, appartment. We’ve crossed half of Italy today, and still managed to see some nice highlights. We cook wraps and call it a day.
