Around here every evening is a different light show. Here’s last nights effort straight from the camera – taken from our roof terrace.
Category Archives: Italy
“The boy can deliver it.”
Groceries delivered – job done. Grazie mille.
One thing we needed to do early in our stay was to shop for groceries. This meant a trip to the alimentari in the village – a walk of about 1km – but importantly, the same distance home with arms weighed down with shopping bags. Not a problem until you realise the temperature is about 28 degrees and quite humid, and the walk is predominately up hill.
Thankfully the lovely staff at the store recognised us from years past – asked if we had the dogs with us – sadly not this time, and made the kind offer that “the boy” could deliver the groceries – si, graze mille.
You cannot understand how happy that made us feel – as we added another few bottles of beer and tonic and water and bread and vegetables to the order.
The delivery address was confirmed using a picture of the villa we had on our phones – yes, next to the madonna on via Marconi. What is that villa like inside? More photos and discussion about decor and layout. It’s spacious, yes, very nice.
The walk back was a delight and as promised “the boy” – looking a little hot and bothered – delivered everything an hour later. That was worth a generous tip.
And so Thursday comes to an end
It is Thursday evening , 27 degrees, and I’m sitting on our front verandah enjoying the sunset and watching the locals passing our front gate on their way home. In the days since our arrival, we have spent time in the sun, in the pool, visited Sorrento for a morning and shopped in the village – both for the necessities and a few luxuries.
We had dinner with Carlo and the team at Eden Roc earlier in the week. Beautiful fish with patate and pomodoro preceded by a shrimp cocktail that tasted of the sea and complimented by a Falanghina which was older and more complex than the usual. Clearly we are not the only ones to be impressed with the food because they have achieved the status of No1 hotel restaurant in Positano on TripAdvisor. This is quite an achievement given the calibre of the competition. And I feel it’s all down to that magic mix of the food, the service and the superb location looking across the bay combining for a dinner experience that is unforgettable. Read the reviews yourself if you don’t believe me.
We kept our promise to eat at Bar Bruno again – on Wednesday night – and enjoyed the meal so much we have booked again for Friday night.
The family that run the alimentari in the village remembered us from past visits and asked about the dogs – no, they are not with us this time – 2 weeks is not a long enough visit. They also made our grocery shopping a delight rather than a chore – but more of that in a later post.
The boys who run the Galli bar which we walk past on the way to the village now greet us with a cheerful Ciao in the mornings and ice cold gelati for the walk back to the villa in the afternoons.
It feels like we are slipping back into village life.
Jean has just wandered down to the local alimentari for some provisions – primarily beer for me and something for us both for tea and she will no doubt return with some tale of the local happenings or of the trip there and back.
Tonight we decided to eat in, simply because we can. And because the thought of getting ready and heading out is to much of a chore. It’s great to be back and to have reached that point – la dolce fa niente. The sweet art of doing nothing.
-
- Super yachts with with super villas in front
-
- Heading into the village for a shop
-
- Ceramics are big here – and Jean’s spotted something she likes
-
- The cruise ship Europa spent a day in the bay
Good morning Positano
Those of you who know me, know that mornings and I aren’t the best of friends. Even with the added incentive of lingering jet lag, I still manage to miss a fair bit of this magical time of the day.
Luckily the lovely Jean is an early riser and this morning, from our veranda, she captured this early morning view of the bay. A view which I have never been up early enough to witness.
That this shot exists at all is tribute to the camera in her iPhone 6 which managed to capture the image in the pre-dawn darkness.
Cliff diving on the Amalfi Coast
It’s crazy what you see online – I was just checking news from home and ran across this article and video about a young Amercian and his mates making a film about cliff diving along the Amalfi Coast.
Putting aside the health and safety issues around diving off cliffs (I never thought I’d see myself write that comment) it’s a great film and much of it was shot in and around Positano – our neighbourhood – and Capri – just a 40 minute boat ride along the coast.
But for those of you who think the divers are crazy, think again, they clearly know their limitations.
There are a number of shots of the stone bridge at Furore (first seen in the film with a red Fiat 500 crossing it) which is just along the road from our place. There are scenes of people jumping from the base of the bridge but none from the top – why is that?
Simply because the bridge is 28 metres (just under 92 feet) above the water and in July each year the true high diving experts dive from the bridge as part of the Mediterranean high diving championship cup. The jump takes 3 seconds and the divers hit the water at around 100km/h. If you want to be a spectator, the event is scheduled for July 12 next year – bring your own boat.
-
- The Bridge at Furore with diving platform in place
-
- Spectators watching the diving
Images courtesy of Live Salerno, stuff.co.nz and YouTube.
The day of the cat
The news that a pair of animal lovers have arrived in Positano has spread quickly with our first feline visitor arriving on Sunday afternoon.
Clearly a cat that knows a couple of “soft touches”, this little girl wandered into the villa and made herself at home. As I write this she’s spread out on the front verandah enjoying some late afternoon sun.
Super view
From the villa we have a view of the various super yachts that visit Positano. Some are relatively modest and some are a little over the top.
Often the yachts launch smaller craft, jet skis or motor boats for the use of those onboard, but this is the first time we’ve seen a waterslide as an accessory on a super yacht.
What will they think of next?
-
- Boats across the harbour at sunset
-
- Super sized sail boat moored in the bay
-
- A gaggle of super yachts off Positano
-
- The ultimate super yacht accessory – a slide
Journey’s end
After 3 days travelling by plane, train and automobile we have arrived in Positano. Along the way we spent 3 hours in Auckland, 4 hours in Hong Kong, 25 hours in the air and a day and a night in Rome.
New Zealand farewelled us with chilling rain on a grey day and Positano welcomed us with sun, warmth and gentle breezes. The delights of jet lag haven’t quite left us yet so currently a late night is 8pm and a “sleep in” is 5am. We know that will change as the wonderfully pedestrian pace of life in Positano takes over.
As always everyone has looked after us superbly – from the welcome sight of the hotel driver at Rome airport to our room being ready for us at 8am when we arrived at Hotel Barocco. The ability to drop our bags and freshen up was a lifesaver – and no mean feat for the hotel as they were fully booked the previous night but still they managed to get our room ready in record time.
The trip south by train was blissfully uneventful and relaxing with none of the hassles that accompany air travel – although recent events in France and Belgium may change that.
The welcome at Eden Roc was as warm as ever with time spent catching up on events of the last year – had the changes to the hotel that were talked about last been made? No, too much beaurcracy and too little time – maybe next year. Were all the staff well, who had left and who was new? All the usual characters were still part of the team – plus some new faces – it has been a good year. Were we in for good weather or was the recent rain going to dampen our holiday? No, the weather had settled and we could expect hot, dry days.
The afternoon was spent enjoying a late lunch/early dinner on the hotel terrace looking out over Positano and the bay beyond. Let the relaxing begin.
-
- Farewell rainy Auckland
-
- After 24 hours we are getting close
-
- The welcome sight of our driver after arriving in Rome
-
- The almost invisible entrance to Hotel Barocco
-
- Elegant colazione at Hotel Barocco
-
- Approaching Napoli at 297 km/h
-
- The view on our arrival
A twitch upon the thread
We never intended to return to Italy for a holiday this year. After visiting last year there were too many other things that demanded our attention, so 2015 was going to be a “stay home” year.
And it remained that way until winter set in, the bleak weather started and “our place” lost the sun for it’s enforced winter shading.
Then one evening after a long day at work we started to talk about some form of escape to the sun. Just a few days away – maybe Fiji or Rarotonga or at a push Tahiti. But each time we talked about it we came back to the place we would really like to spend some time in the sun.
So we’re off – two weeks in Positano and a few nights in Rome in late August and early September. We can’t wait.
Please come to Cesena – the response
A thousand musicians playing your song is a powerful invitation. And it only took a few hours for Dave Grohl to respond.
In Italian – who knew? Click here to see the response.
Please come to Cesena
The small town of Cesena in northern Italy is trying to attract the attention of the band the Foo Fighters. They want to the band to come and play a concert in their town.
They are really, really keen. See for yourself – http://www.rockin1000.com
Some randomness
Gallery
This gallery contains 8 photos.
I have had a collection of random photos building up on my desktop for a while. Shots that I liked but which had no real story attached to them – other than they might be useful for a blog sometime in the future. Today … Continue reading
To retouch or not to retouch
A few years ago we found ourselves in the hiiltop town of Monteriggioni about 20 minutes north of Siena. It was late in the afternoon and there was a view through the Eastern gate looking out across the Tuscan countryside that just had to be photographed.
When I saw the shots on screen I was disappointed. In some shots the gate surround was almost black and the shot lacked colour and contrast. In others, when the exposure was long enough to show the gate surround the countryside beyond was over exposed. The obvious thing was to load the shots into Photoshop and do some work. Which is what happened.
One of the great things about digital cameras is that they store a huge amount of the detail lurking in dark areas of a shot. The area may look black but with a little coaxing the detail can be brought out. Usually without affecting the exposure in the rest of the shot. This is what I did along with increasing the contract and saturation in the shot.
I guess the test of the finished shot is whether it represents the scene as I remembered it at the time? And yes it does.
-
- Monteriggioni’s eastern gate before retouching
-
- Monteriggioni’s eastern gate after retouching
Aaahhh … Positano
Regular readers will know that Positano on Italy’s Amalfi Coast is one of our favourite places to visit. We’ve taken many picture of the view from the village looking out to sea and of the village from the beach, but it’s not often that we venture onto the water and see the village from the sea.
Good news though – it still looks great.
This picture is actually from a few years ago when we were returning from a day tour along the coast. Thanks to Gennaro and Salvatore’s boat hire for many great days on, and in, the water. As I look at the photo I can still hear Capitano Salvatore singing as we make our way home at the end of the day. Multo bene.
Echos of summer in Toscana
For the northern summer of 2011 our life consisted of doing very little – but doing it very well. On the fine sunny days – pretty much every day between May and October – we spent time at our villa pool.
And after a hard afternoons sunning and swimming it was a short walk back to the cottage for a G &T, a beer and some time to recover from the stress of the day.
La dolce far niente 