The next few days were difficult.  The Earl’s expectations of himself were too high.  He expected that he would be well enough to sightsee and take ferry trips and perhaps even make the long train trip to Diamante after a few days.  But he was still in pain and tired easily and this made him demanding and grumpy.  Even  brief walks exhausted him. And so he spent a lot of his day sleeping or watching Italian Television.  Lady Helen offered to download Netflix movies for him but he refused to watch them. The pictures were enough, he said, listening required too much concentration.

The Earl was not an easy patient and Her Ladyship had little talent with nursing the sick and the old. Give her a hyperactive class of unruly children and she would cope with a smile on her face and happily come back for more.   But with her ailing husband she had to exercise extreme patience. She would, therefore, see to his needs and then at least twice a day take to the streets of Salerno for long, stress relieving walks. She soon knew the city intimately and she never tired of The Lungomare

Family fishing outing in the harbour

Perfect place for paddlers

Not many people swim on the beach due to pollution – signs warn one not to swim

There were not many birds in the city but the gulls were beautiful and not shy to take advantage of free titbits from anyone who cared to feed them.

Walking the narrow streets of the Old City gave Lady Helen  great delight as she admired the amazing wall art.

The Earl did make an effort to get out a little every day but at an extremely slow pace and only very short distances.   His favourite thing to do was to stop and have a gelato.