The site was OK and was quiet overnight but the toilets and showers weren't great. However they were good value at €11, the cheapest in Italy by some margin.
By the end of today we would have had enough of archaeology, with visits planned to three sites that I had circled on the Michelin map. However this was quickly reduced to two after Jane pointed out that the first one that I had marked was an oil refinery and not an archaeological site. My excuse is that the symbols are similar in low light when I haven't got my glasses on! At least Jane realised before we started driving around the area trying to find it.
It was a cool overcast day and shortly before we arrived at the first site, it started to rain. We arrived at Sybaris to find two coaches of school children sheltering from the rain. One of the site personnel was asking us something about visiting the site and the museum but we couldn't understand what he was saying. Fortunately, a very helpful school teacher translated for us and when we said that we were going to visit the site, she said “In the rain????” in utter disbelief. She suggested that a visit to the museum, a little further down the road would be a better idea. We took her advice and directions and headed for the museum. It was very good, well presented and extremely quiet – we were the only people there. Having seen the museum we decided that we didn't need to see the site so, after lunch in the car park, we moved on to the next site.
Some 75 km further up the coast is Policoro and the site of Eraclea. We went to the museum first and saw excellent finds (without English explanations) from 7,000 BC, through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, the Lucanians, the Greeks and the Romans. Amongst the very impressive displays were pre-Greek graves from the 7th and 8th centuries BC (?). These were of women with incredibly rich grave goods – beautiful bronze headdresses and chest decorations, and huge amounts of jewellery – large bracelets, dress fixings, rings and much more. Then there was the Greek pottery – so many complete pieces including lots of beautifully painted ones. There was also industry on the site with a number of kilns and a number of pottery moulds were displayed. A large pot was filled with small votive (?) vessels – miniature pots of many different shapes and animals such as ducks. You could imagine they being displayed on a stall on the way to the temple with a sign saying “Only €1 each or three for €2.50”.
We then stopped to look at one small part of the very large site – the Acropolis. Many houses were located very close together on the ridge with a number of kilns in amongst them. Again these were well displayed with covers over the areas of special interest.
Then it was on to our camperstop at Lido di Metaponto. It was closed for maintenance but fortunately there was an open campsite very close so we drove in and chose our space.
Photos: Female figure from an 8th century BC tomb at Sybaris; One of the many kilns at Eraclea.
By the end of today we would have had enough of archaeology, with visits planned to three sites that I had circled on the Michelin map. However this was quickly reduced to two after Jane pointed out that the first one that I had marked was an oil refinery and not an archaeological site. My excuse is that the symbols are similar in low light when I haven't got my glasses on! At least Jane realised before we started driving around the area trying to find it.
It was a cool overcast day and shortly before we arrived at the first site, it started to rain. We arrived at Sybaris to find two coaches of school children sheltering from the rain. One of the site personnel was asking us something about visiting the site and the museum but we couldn't understand what he was saying. Fortunately, a very helpful school teacher translated for us and when we said that we were going to visit the site, she said “In the rain????” in utter disbelief. She suggested that a visit to the museum, a little further down the road would be a better idea. We took her advice and directions and headed for the museum. It was very good, well presented and extremely quiet – we were the only people there. Having seen the museum we decided that we didn't need to see the site so, after lunch in the car park, we moved on to the next site.
Some 75 km further up the coast is Policoro and the site of Eraclea. We went to the museum first and saw excellent finds (without English explanations) from 7,000 BC, through the Bronze Age, Iron Age, the Lucanians, the Greeks and the Romans. Amongst the very impressive displays were pre-Greek graves from the 7th and 8th centuries BC (?). These were of women with incredibly rich grave goods – beautiful bronze headdresses and chest decorations, and huge amounts of jewellery – large bracelets, dress fixings, rings and much more. Then there was the Greek pottery – so many complete pieces including lots of beautifully painted ones. There was also industry on the site with a number of kilns and a number of pottery moulds were displayed. A large pot was filled with small votive (?) vessels – miniature pots of many different shapes and animals such as ducks. You could imagine they being displayed on a stall on the way to the temple with a sign saying “Only €1 each or three for €2.50”.
We then stopped to look at one small part of the very large site – the Acropolis. Many houses were located very close together on the ridge with a number of kilns in amongst them. Again these were well displayed with covers over the areas of special interest.
Then it was on to our camperstop at Lido di Metaponto. It was closed for maintenance but fortunately there was an open campsite very close so we drove in and chose our space.
Photos: Female figure from an 8th century BC tomb at Sybaris; One of the many kilns at Eraclea.
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