It's a nice feeling getting up out of bed, walking 3m and standing on your own private balcony overlooking paradise. One of the most picturesque places we've been.
We head downstairs for breakfast at the hotel restaurant which is under the canopy of a wine vine on an elevated terrace above the street. Loving cheeses, salamis and prosciutto in the morning with a pastry and coffee. Sims having much more healthier options.
We head out down via Cristoforo Colombo and stop in at a few different stores along the way. There some cool art galleries and lots of shabby chic clothes shops/homewares stores. We see a really cool ceramics shop with lots of unique hand painted tiles, plates, vases, etc but then find out its one of about a dozen in town, so not as unique as we first thought. We check out the Missoni store and Sim finds a really nice shirt but at €600, no thanks. We quickly discover that many of the shops are how should I say, not tailored to our budgetary needs. Honestly it's like 5th avenue here.
We head down the steps of via dei Mulini past the square in town and then past the duomo until we get to the bottom where you open up into the main beach, Spiagga Grande. It's an interesting beach, as about a quarter is public (the bit near the ferry wharf) while the rest is a private beach club with rows of orange and yellow beach lounges and umbrellas. There is no sand, only stones and largish pebbles. Further back from the water it's like a grey powdery dust. I must say our sand has this covered.
We walk some more, snapping photos as we go as every twist and turn, every climbing or descending of a stair, offers a new and spectacular view. Such a cool place. We walk along the coastline and head to the smaller beach of Fornillo.
We arrive at the beach club Ill grassi and pay for 2 sun lounges with an umbrella and a towel each. It's a bit steep in price, but its super luxurious and so comfortable. Considering the beaches are pebbles too, it wouldn't be pleasant on a towel all day.
We sit back, lather on the sunscreen and watch the world go by. After a slightly overcast start to the morning the sun comes out. Seems to be a trend. We spend the next several hours going for a swim, drying off on the lounge, drinking, eating, swimming, drying off again. It's pretty nice! Although, the stones and large pebbles make it ridiculous difficult to get out of the water at the shoreline. It's like walking over an inclined loose pebbled driveway barefoot. Your feet sink into the pebbles and the soles of your feet feel the brunt of the little rocks , not pleasant. Note for reference, wear rubber things to waters edge!
We head for Lunch which is all of 10meters away behind us on the beach club deck. We order a caprese salad which has the juiciest tomatoes I've had in a while. Sim orders a panini and I have some grilled octopus and salad. A few peronis and back for a swim.
It's now 3ish and we decide to take the small timber boat back to positanos main beach. Whilst it's only a 10min walk it's nice to get out on a boat on the water.
Arriving back to shore we then head up the hill, bracing ourselves for all the steps up. It's surprisingly not too bad, although sims not too keen on steps, "give her an inclined gradient anyday", she says, "but steps, no thanks!"
We have a small break back at the hotel room, i.e. a €1.50 peroni from the mini bar on the balcony, before heading out for an afternoon stroll. We head up the street from our hotel, grab a gelato and a granita for sim, and just wander really.
It's a crazy place for many reasons. The sheer vertical nature of the town is incredible, and offers amazing terracing and stepped spaces. It's intersecting to note the many little gardens there are, terracing down and up the cliffs. With all the lemon trees, vines, Bougainvilleas and wisterias growing over pergolas and trellis, there's no shortage of greenery.
Another crazy thing is the carparking situation on the side of the road. I will let this picture do the talking but basically he's a bees d$#k away from the concrete guard railing.
We stroll right around to the other side of via cristoforo columbi until we are high above Fornolli beach. We check out an interesting grotto in the natural rock walls before stopping in for dinner back at Caffe Positano. It's one of the typical cafe/restaurants you'll find here, where the actual restaurant building is on the hill side of the street but they offer outdoor seating on the coast side of the street. The views are breathtaking and the experience of eating on a cliff edge is surreal. It provides another crazy quirk where the waiters skip between cars, scooters and pedestrians to bring you your drinks and food from the bar and kitchen. Again it highlights for us the tightness and close spatial relationships between things that we've come to see in Italy! Things just work. It could all go terribly wrong, yes, but it seemingly doesn't.
Dinner is lovely, sim has a lovely fresh salad, and I try a local amalfi specialty, grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves. For main I have a spaghetti with clams and tomato/garlic sauce.
It's now 7:30 or so and the sun is starting to disappear behind the mountains and shade the city. It's interesting to watch the shadow creep across the town.
We stroll back walking the sane way we came and head back to the apartment for you guessed it, more €1.50 peronis and prosseco from the mini bar on the balcony. It's a nice spot to watch the sunlight fade and the artificial lights on all the towns buildings take over.
Grazie Mille Amalfi
mat + sim
No comments:
Post a Comment