Category Archives: Amalfi Coast

Return to Positano

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Prosecco for dueYesterday, our week in Sicily came to and end and we returned to Positano. Our journey back was a truly Italian experience. We drove from the villa to Catania airport and arrived with over 2 hours to check in, go through security and board our flight – loads of time we thought.

The first clue that the airport was going to be an adventure was the thousand or so people crowding around the 4 Alitalia check-in counters, with another 150 people crowding around the 3 working automated check-in terminals.

Jean and I have played this game before so she joined the “bag drop” queue (for that read mass of people all crowding around the one poor Alitalia staff member at the bag drop counter) while I joined the “print your boarding pass” queue.

After about 40 minutes Jean had moved 3 feet and I had reached the check in terminal. With about 200 people watching, waiting and providing helpful (and loud) advice in Italian (no pressure) I went through the process of printing the passes.

Just as I rejoined Jean an Alitalia staff member came through the crowd saying that those travelling to Napoli should move to another, newly opened, check-in counter. Salvation we thought, as we joined a relatively short queue to check in.

But then another Italian tradition kicked in – everyone in the queue had a problem with something – the lady travelling alone with 4 check in bags and no intention of paying for excess baggage. The couple travelling with a dog, but no booking for the dog.

In 30 minutes 3 people (plus 4 bags and 1 dog) had checked in. We now had less than an hour to our flight departure.

A lovely Italian gentleman who was seeing his son off looked at us and shrugged his shoulders. He said that this always happens but somehow it all comes together in the end – he called it “Italian creativity”.

At that point the baggage belt stopped working. Apparently the baggage handling team was overwhelmed and needed some time to recover.

By this time we had reached the check-in desk and had our bags tagged but they were sitting on the floor in front of the counter – together with a growing number of bags as the luggage started to spread across the terminal floor. The baggage conveyor belts were full and not moving and we were told not to leave our bags unattended.

We now had less than 30 minutes to get through security and make the flight. This made us nervous because as we’d passed the entrance to security about an hour and a half earlier and it had queues longer than the check-in desks. But we had no choice. We were stuck watching our bags.

Stalemate.

At this point a helpful check in lady pushed a few bags around on the carousel and found a spot for our luggage. So we were off to join the queue at security.

But now the delay worked for us. Because check-in had effectively stopped, security was deserted. It took 5 minutes to go through and reach our gate, just as boarding was commencing.

At this stage we gave our bags about a 10% chance of making the flight – but as we sat on the plane we could see them being loaded – along with all the others for the flight. We left on time and actually arrived 5 mins early into Napoli – with all our luggage intact.

After the early start and drama of the flight, we were exhausted so both managed to fall asleep in the back of the car that collected us from the airport for the drive to Positano.

But things were looking up – we arrived at the hotel to a warm welcome, a room upgrade to a suite, and two glasses of chilled prosecco waiting for us.

All good.

A cliché within a cliché

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For the week at Positano we booked the smallest rental car we could. For those of you who know the roads and the local drivers, this makes perfect sense. We were aiming to be the smallest target possible.

The rental turned out to be a Fiat 500 – the quintessential Italian car.

On top of that we were offered the cabriolet version which meant the chance of open air motoring on fine sunny days. How could things be any more classically Italian.

Our road trips were all cream scarves blowing in breeze, polka dot print dresses, white linen shirts and designer sunglasses. Truly la dolce vita.

Our little Fiat made trips down to the village for groceries (no one wants to carry heavy shopping bags up the hill at Positano during summer) and over the hill to Sorrento to explore old haunts – as well as the hour and a half drive to and from Positano.

The bonus was returning it undamaged – no mean achievement given the roads and drivers of the Amalfi Coast.

Ready for festival

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The August Festival is a much anticipated event in Positano. There are parades of boats and fireworks all topped off with dinners all around the town on Friday August 15th.

Sadly there had a been a fatal car accident the night we arrived which took two lives – one being a local boy, the son of a prominent Positano family. With a population of only a few thousand people, the loss was keenly felt in the village. A decision was made on Wednesday not to have the fireworks display on festival night as a mark of respect. This was the right decision but meant that for visitors the evening was much quieter than usual.

Having said that, it was still a great night with everyone getting dressed up for the occasion. Jean had purchased a dress in the UK especially for the evening.

The paparazzi caught her about to leave Villa Greta for dinner.

Jean wearing Karen Millen

 

Firefighting in Positano

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During festival night a fire started on the cliffs above the coastal access road to Positano. It burned up the hill for most of the night and because of the terrain the ability to get men on the ground was … Continue reading →

Hotel life

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Yesterday we moved from the villa to the hotel proper. We have a delightful room just a stone’s throw from the piscina – and the hotel staff to cater to our every whim. The hotel describes its rooms as suites … Continue reading →

Plonkers in Positano

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Dinner at Chez Black can be a sophisticated affair. The restaurant is one of Positano’s oldest and most respected. Since 1949 it has been host to many famous people including Denzel Washington and Harvey Weistein who we sat next to … Continue reading →

Dinner at Ristorante Bruno

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Half way down the hill on the way to the beach at Positano there is a restaurant called Bruno. It started as a small indoor restaurant and, over the years, developed a great reputation for it’s food. In the last … Continue reading →

A thank you

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MedsWe just want to say a huge thank you to the team at Eden Roc hotel for their help when Jean fell sick. Within 30 minutes of us contacting them and asking for a doctor one turned  up on our doorstep. Dr Buonocore you were fantastic.

Later that day we had a visit from Dominic, the head of the Casola family, asking after Jeans health and stressing that if there was anything we needed we were just to ask.

As a result, dinner that night were Eden Roc takeaways – not something that is usually available to anyone as far as we know.

Stunning Penne Carbonarra accompanied by crispy bread and some beers for the caregiver, all transported from the hotel on the handlebars of a Vespa to make sure it was still piping hot. As the young hotel concierge said – Carbonarra is always best hot – which it was.

Grazie mille Eden Roc.

We’re here – or there – depending on your point of view

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First Positano BlogGentle reader, please accept my apologies but it has been almost a week without a post. Put it down to jet lag or simply the frantic activity involved in doing very little, but rest assured a stream of posts will follow.

We arrived in Positano last night and are now resident at Villa Greta.

As I write this the temperature is a warm 29 degrees, the sun is shining and I can just glimpse the Galli Islands above the Bougainvillea covered railing running around the patio.

This afternoon is planned – a late lunch at Eden Roc and an afternoon by the pool.

Enough said.

 

Plans are afoot

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Positano from Villa Greta's roof terrace

Positano from Villa Greta’s roof terrace

Our Italian holiday is less than a month away and we are in the final planning stages. Rome, Tuscany and Sicily are all places we will visit but our base will be Positano.

Ahhh, Positano.

We have booked Villa Greta for a week in August to coincide with the Festival of Our Lady of the Assumption on August 14th and 15th, which is one of Positano’s most important festivals. To quote the Positano.com website:

The festival both honors the town’s protector and commemorates the ancient legend of how a ship carrying a Byzantine icon of the virgin Mary was beached in the bay of Positano. Not until the sailors gave the icon to the local inhabitants were they able to set sail once more.

On August 14th, the celebrations begin with the so-called “Alazata del Quadro” (“The Lifting of the Painting”) in front of the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.  In the evening, a spectacular procession of illuminated boats heads to the “Mamma e Figlio” rocks by the beach of Fornillo before returning to the Spiaggia Grande beach and the Cathedral.

On August 15th, the festivities continue late into the night and conclude with a magnificent firework display over the sea, which lights up much of the Amalfi Coast.

We will be watching from the terrazzo of Eden Roc hotel – one of the best vantage points in Positano.

Today we turn 300

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Since April 2011 there have been 299 posts to this blog so this one is officially number 300. Over the last 2 and a bit years we’ve covered our trip to Europe – which was the reason for starting this … Continue reading →

Another stormy day remembered

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Having successfully survived Wellington’s recent storm, we started to think of other storms we’d been through – and the one that sprung to mind first was, funnily enough, an Italian storm.

It was during our stay in Positano in November 2011. After unusually good weather we were warned by the locals that the weekend was going to be stormy. It happened to be a weekend when we had visitors from the UK and New Zealand staying with us at Villa Greta.

Now, please understand, by storm we mean weather that was less than idyllic. Which involved wind (a bit), rain (not a lot) and seas that were rough (all to be taken in context of the Med just being a giant bath).

Our Saturday started with a visit the the beach at Positano and a late breakfast at Buca de Bacco. Apart from a strong breeze and the overcast conditions the only clue that there was a storm was the surf hitting the wharf. But despite the poor weather the resident beach artist was painting – as he does every day – a beautiful sunny vista full of blue skies, blue seas, bright sun and Bougainvillaea cascading down the sides of houses on the hill, somewhat at odds with reality.

In the afternoon we drove down the coast to Amalfi. The roads were treacherous and largely awash in places. The Amafi Coast has no real storm water drainage system  – other than the water rushing downhill towards the sea as fast as possible – down streets, across roads and over cliffs until eventually ending up in the sea. This system meant we were often driving along roads more like rivers and through villages where every lane was a steam cascading towards the sea.

In Amalfi the sea was crashing against shore and the sea side carpark that we had used only a few months previously in summer was now forming the breakwater and largely underwater. The wonderful thing was that, by the time we had driven up from Amalfi to the top of the cliffs to Ravello the weather had cleared and we had magnificent views looking east along the coast towards Salerno. Normal transmission had resumed.