The last few days have been hot. Very hot and very humid. So getting around has been a challenge but returning home from the hotel a few days ago things changed. We were offered a ride in the hotel Tuktuk.
The best way home
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Category Archives: New Zealand
Visitors to the coast
Over the last few days we’ve been joined in Positano by Jake and Lauren, our lovely niece and nephew from Texas. They arrived last Friday and left Tuesday, heading north to a wedding in Tuscany and then on to the Dolomites.
They are keen walkers and, for those of you who know Positano, that’s good because the village is all walking – up, down and sideways.
It was lovely to be able to provide some tips for them – places to go and things to see – although they had a pretty full itinerary worked out before they arrived.
They visited Pompei, did the walk of the gods and spent a day on a boat cruising along the coast to Amalfi and back. We organised a dinner at Il Ritrovo in Montepertuso, above Positano, and an afternoon at Da Adolfo, a beach club along the coast only accessible by boat. We also had dinner at the famous Chez Black on the waterfront.
We had a great time and it was lovely to spend time them both.
Pool lunches
Our days spent by the hotel pool are broken by lunch at the Eden Sky Bar. The food is always great but we have very different orders. One is healthy and delicious, the other is fish and chips. Guess who has what.
Rainy evening in Positano
A few days ago the run of fine and sunny weather was broken by a combination of rain followed by a night of thunder and lightening.
It hadn’t rained for 2 months and the downpour made up for this, soaking everything as it passed. The thunder and lightening later in the night was spectacular, thunder loud enough to wake us and keep us awake and lightening that lit up the coast like day. The storm lasted about hour and managed to knock out power to the village for a short time.
Thankfully next day normal transmission resumed although with a lower temperature and a freshness in the air that was welcome.
My elusive Jean
I try very hard to get photos of people in blog posts. But it can be tricky – particularly when my lovely wife is involved. She is a bit camera shy – but God knows I’ll keep trying.
Positano – first impressions
We arrived in Positano on Saturday and have settled into villa life. The jet lag is pretty much gone and we’re feeling human again. The last couple of days have been spent in and about the hotel pool dealing to our winter whiteness, and even after a couple of days we are both a little browner and a little more able to fit in with the locals.
One thing we were expecting – the crowds – were much reduced on two years ago.
The last time we were here Positano was packed. Mid August is peak season and the combination of the village population trebling as hotels and Air BnBs fill up, and the day trippers arriving by the coach load, meant the village could barely cope.
Good news – this is not so much the case this year. Everyone we have talked to puts this down to a combination of economic uncertainty (particularly holding back American visitors), global unease and shifting travel habits with more visitors earlier and later in the season. In fact one local said with some shock, that some hotel rooms were available at 24 hours notice which, for the last few years has been unheard of.
Day trippers still mean the village is crowded between 10am and 3pm but much less so than in the past.
And the hotels are finding that they are booked longer into the shoulder season. Eden Roc Hotel closes at the end of October which is traditionally when bookings have dropped dramatically but this year they are fully booked right to closing day.
Pillow fight
Both girls love being on the pillow in the study – but when one gets there first (Bella) the other (Ellie) gets as close as possible hoping for the best.
Wellington on a good day
Lately there have been quite a few bad weather days in Wellington. Here’s a better one – taken from our balcony overlooking Evans Bay on a calm autumn morning.
The mystery machine
Next to our hotel in Rome there is a vending machine. It is covered in buttons, has slots for money and for cards, is covered in pictures and Italian writing, and it changes colour every few seconds. It looks a bit like a Las Vegas slot machine, and like one of those has caused both delight and tears.
We have sat at the bar which is next to it and observed many people using, or trying to use it. Last night there was an American girl trying to use it, the interaction ended in tears.
So what is this mystery machine and why does it affect people the way it does. Jean went to investigate.
it is a cigarette vending machine which has instructions only in Italian and a process for purchase that is convoluted and complicated. Clearly the locals understand it, but any visitor is baffled. Often they put their money into the machine only to fail the process to purchase and then walk away empty handed and without their cash.
Upon investigation, Jean’s concluded that ID is required as part of the purchase process. All Italians have this via a national ID card. Things like passports and drivers licences or foreign ID cards are useless – but there is no indication of that on the machine. So having watched people struggle with it and fail, I’m pretty sure that this machine is the most profitable vending machine in Italy.
Friends in Tuscany
We are lucky enough to have friends in Tuscany and we all got together for dinner at San Felice. It was a wonderful night, great food, great wine and great company.
Three Kiwis and four Italians, what a special experience.
From seafood and bustle to meat and quiet
We have been in Tuscany for a couple of days and the contrast with Positano is dramatic. Gone is the bustle and noise of the busy seaside town, replaced by the quiet of rural Tuscany. The noisiest thing we hear are the church bells ringing out on the hour or the distant sound of tyres on white roads (gravel roads).
The constants are the long lasting summer weather and the incredible sunsets.
We moved into Relais Vignale in Radda in Chianti a few days ago and it felt like catching up with an old friend. We booked the same room as last year so enjoyed our own private garden and a room with enough room to swing many cats – if we so wished.
Marco still runs the bar like a military operation and remembered us from last year. The pool was still there but with new seats and loungers. The big change was the restaurant – Vignale Ristorante – which has a new manager, who has taken it’s slightly tired and stodgy menu and reinvented it with traditional local cuisine with a modern feel.
The restaurant uses its terrace view to great effect and we spent the first evening enjoying some delicious food – lots of meat and not much seafood, excellent local wine and the view of the sun slowly setting beyond the olive trees.
If you’re staying at Relais Vignale in the next wee while (that would be you Tony W) give the restaurant a shot. I’m sure you’ll be in for a great evening.
We have also been able to catch up with our friends Olga and Dani. We’ve had meals out and meals in – including a traditional kiwi barbecue at their place, with an Italian flavour. Marinated chicken, Italian sausages and a huge slice of prosciutto went on the barbecue, accompanied by arancini, courtesy of Dani, focaccia courtesy of our NZ friend Tina and everything else courtesy of Olga.
There was food for a dozen people but the 5 of us made a good dent in it.
Has anyone we know invested in a local villa recently?
We spotted this lovely villa on our walk to the village in Positano.
Tax – boring but worth it
For those of you heading to Italy – or the rest of Europe, tax is an important subject. Sales tax specifically. Anything you buy which is coming home with you, and which you paid more than 70 Euro for, you can claim the sales tax back. This averages around 12% of the sale price. On a 600 Euro purchase that can be around 75 Euro back.
This can mount up and become a welcome refund at the end of your trip.
The place you purchase the item from does the paper work (which is mostly automated anyway) and all you need to do is visit the relevant tax refund kiosk at the airport you are departing from to claim the refund. Simple.
View from the pool
The hotel pool has a great view. Yesterday afternoon at 5pm the dock was busy with ferries coming and going. Beside them, the smaller boats dropping off their day trip customers – returning from Capri, Amalfi or other places along the coast.
Further down the coast a gaggle of super yachts are moored up as they prepare for another night on the water. I have to say – the slide? Really?
Sweet treats
Tony works at Eden Roc hotel and, among other things, manages the breakfast service. He is a lovely man with a happiness and joy about him that is infectious. Even the grumpiest breakfast customer is inevitably won over by his charm and eagerness to make “Tony’s breakfast” the most important meal of the day.
Even on days that we don’t have breakfast at the hotel but come later to spend time around and in the pool, he appears with a small box of sweet treats for us (well me actually) – a selection of the cakes and pastries he knows I like – that we can bring back to the casetta and eat later.
Toscanakiwi 