Category Archives: Positano

Two weeks in the sun

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We’ve now been in Positano for a fortnight and have gone from a pasty white colour to a burnished brown (Jean) and a slightly brown tinge (Me). Our stress levels have dropped and our ability to spend time doing next to nothing has increased.

Positano is busy but less busy than last year. The number of people in the village each day seems less and everyone – including the locals – seem happier about that. The general consensus seems to be that 2024 is a return to 2022 visitor levels.

The main reason for this seems to be a reduction in the number of American visitors holidaying this year versus last year.

By coincidence, there is an article on stuff.co.nz today (originally from the Washington Post) looking at tourism on the coast and painting a pretty grim picture of the numbers and the crowding. Some of it rings true but, based on our two weeks, some of it seems to be more about last year than this year.

This last few days we had a visitor from the north staying with us. Our friend Tina has been on holiday in Tuscany and she came down to stay in the casetta for a few days. Days of wine and … more wine.

After two weeks it is time for us to move on to Tuscany – high speed train from Napoli to Firenze, then a rental car to Radda in Chianti and our place for the next few days – Relais Vignale.

As a farewell to Positano, here are a grab-bag of images from the last week.

Casetta Arienzo at night
Bloke trying to look cool
Woman trying to look cool
Shopping
Casa Bottega lunchtime view
A friend from home joins us for a few days in Positano – Ciao Tina

Carved out of the cliff

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When we say that Casetta Arienzo is carved out of the cliff, we are not kidding. The best place to see this is in the laundry/downstairs toilet. I’ve posted about this before but it still amazes me the work that went in to building this place. You can still see the holes where the builders drilled into the cliff.

Has anyone we know invested in a local villa recently?

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We spotted this lovely villa on our walk to the village in Positano.

View from the pool

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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

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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.

A trip to the dairy

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Yesterday we were running a bit low on essentials so Jean decided to walk to the corner dairy and pick some stuff up. It’s a great walk, even dodging the traffic on the narrow road is a sport in its own right. Here she is returning triumphant with milk, eggs, wine and beer. She forgot the tonic, bugger.

Good Morning Positano

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Get up. Put the kettle on. Open the front door. Not a bad way to start the day.

Sorrento for the day

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Our driver arrived promptly at 10:30am and we were off to Sorrento for the day. Alberto was a great driver, just the right amount of chat and info, and great skills getting us over the hill to Sorrento feeling good – it is a twisting road and can cause a queasy stomach.

Because he is from Sorrento Alberto drove a route that took us along the edge of the cliff past some great views and some stunning hotels and homes.

It was hot today in Sorrento, either 28 degrees if you believe Apple’s weather app, 32 degrees if you believe il Meteo which is the equivalent of our Metservice app, or 39 degrees according the sign outside the Farmacia in the main square. It felt like the Farmacia was closest. Ideal weather for shopping.

Alberto dropped us in the middle of Sorrento at which point the shopping began.

Jean stumbled across Marella last year when we were here. Its parent brand is Max Mara and it has the essence of that top end clothing brand with somewhat more reasonable pricing. The clothes look great. And there is one in Sorrento.

So while I sat in the “husband chair” she was dazzled with options. One thing we notice is the sales assistants are also fashion experts – this goes with this, and with this and when we add this, and what about this … so half an hour later Jean has a selection of clothes being rung up and a bag so full the handles break after leaving the shop.

“The husband” also did a little shopping bagging a rather nice Bulova watch for the collection.

Lunch was at Fauno bar, followed by a few more hours shopping while “the husband” found himself a nice quiet bar and an endless supply of Heineken to fill in the time.

Alberto then took us home and the purchases were unveiled one by one. For you to see the purchases, gentle reader, you’ll have to wait for our return.

Jean in Sorrento
Watching the world from Il Fauno Bar in Sorrento
Shopping
Bulova – the other moon watch

A day at the beach

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On Friday we went to the beach. There were three options – Arienzo beach – 239 steps below our villa, Spiaggia Grande – the main beach in Positano and Fornillo beach which is one bay on from the Spiaggia Grande.

Arienzo beach is home of the famous Arienzo beach club which we have visited before. It is close to the casa and private but has changed in the last few years. It used to cost 10 Euro for a towel, lounger and umbrella plus whatever you spent on lunch and drinks. Since Covid, it has become an Instagram hotspot and now only offers packages which start at 350 Euro for the “basic experience” which includes loungers, umbrellas, lunch and a bottle of bubbles, and goes up to 850 Euro for the “VIP experience” which include a 20 minute photo shoot, vintage champagne and caviar. Yikes, that makes for an expensive day out.

Spiaggia Grande is the beach you see in all the classic shots of Positano. Rows of loungers and umbrellas all lined up like soldiers. It is close to the village but is very busy. It seems better value for money than Arienzo beach but we have tended to avoid the hustle and bustle that comes with it’s hundreds of keen beach goers.

Which brings us to Fornillo beach, the quiet alternative to the main beach and where we spent a day last year.

It is a longer walk to get there and back on a hot day but it’s worth it. Jean got to swim in the sea, taste the salty waters of the Med, and fulfil her piscean needs.

Casa e Bottega – revisited

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One of our favourite places in Positano is Casa e Bottega. We wrote a story about it last year and we were keen to revisit this year. Checking our schedule of events – yes we have one, but that’s another story – Tuesday was the allocated day we walked down to the village for lunch at the cafe.

Casa e Bottega is both a cafe and an arts and craft store which, for one of us is dangerous. Last year we bought a ceramic jug for the kitchen which Jean then nursed home wrapped in copious layers of bubble wrap in her carry on luggage.

Bad news, this year the moment we walked in she spotted this years purchase, another jug which will go well with the one we bought last year. I am seeing the start of a dangerous trend here.

As always the food was excellent and the company of the staff and owner, the lovely Vito (who also owns the Palazzo Murat Hotel) was delightful. He confirmed what we had felt from day one, that the village is less busy and more relaxed than last year with less people visiting on day trips.

For him that meant a hotel that was still fully booked during the peak season but less people spending at the bars and restaurants. Given how frantic last year was, he genuinely thought this was a good thing. A sentiment echoed by everyone else we have talked with this trip.

One thing about the Casa I had forgotten were the two resident dogs who have free rein of the cafe, sleeping in their beds in one corner, walking around being patted by the patrons, or simply lying down wherever they want. Being dog owners separated from our girls, it was great to be able have a pat or have a head laid on your knee for a gentle rub.

Wellington’s leaking pipes crisis reaches Positano

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Just as Wellington Water cleaned up a major leak on Kent Terrace yesterday, a leak in Casetta Arienzo robbed us of our hot water.

Yesterday afternoon a loud hissing started emanating from the roof of the casetta. A plume of hot steam started to appear above the villa and the hot water supply promptly stopped. For those not familiar with Italian plumbing (myself included) when houses are built into cliff-sides it’s usual for things like water cylinders, gas tanks, wiring, piping and electrics to be mounted externally. Hence the dramatic steam display when our hot water tank (sitting on the roof of the casetta) failed.

It was enough to stop passers by who stared, pointed, looked worried, and asked each other meaningful questions which we didn’t know the meaning of.

A quick call to the hotel and our friend Pascal arrived on his trusty Vespa. He looked both confused and worried, and after making sure we were ok disappeared up the path that led to the roof and the tank. He took on the steaming monster singlehanded and seemed to win.

He managed to stop the noise and the steam and the water that had started to cascade down the cliff, but restoring the hot water was a job for a professional. First thing this morning a plumber – whose name might have been Mario – arrived at the cassetta and within 15 mins the hot water was back on.

Maybe we should see if Wellington Water would like to use the services of Mario?

Dinner at Eden Roc

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On Tuesday night we had dinner at Eden Roc Hotel’s in-house restaurant Adamo ed Eva. We had a table with a spectacular view (thank you Carlo) and enjoyed food and wine that was seriously excellent.

The service was also second to none – thank you Michael – it made for a great night.

Given the location, seafood seemed the way to go ordering prawns in a tempura batter with avocado foam and ricotta cheese as an entree and oven roasted sea bass in a lemon scented panko crumb with quenelle potato and raw and cooked vegetables as a main. No dessert however, as we both have new clothes that we still want to fit at the end of our holiday.

A broom, a broom, my kingdom for a broom

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Those of you who know Jean well are aware of her need to clean. She cleans the house after our cleaner has been, she vacuums on a regular basis – daily over the weekend. It’s a type of therapy I think.

When we returned from Europe after our stay in 2011 one of the few items shipped home was the vacuum cleaner Jean had bought in Italy and which was in the back of our car and visited 4 countries with us (all of which were cleaner when we left) before it was shipped to New Zealand. We have it still.

Jean cleans not because she has too, but simply because she can.

So yesterday afternoon she was at the reception desk in the hotel trying to ask two slightly bemused and confused staff members for a broom. No not a cleaner to come to the villa, just a broom and a pan so she could keep the terrace and the apartment tidy. To their credit, there was a broom and pan waiting for us when we got back to the villa about 30 mins later. Much to her delight.

Paradise?

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We arrived in Positano to hot, humid weather. Within a few hours that had changed. Our first night included thunder, lightning, rain and fire.

It reminded us less of paradise and more of that other place.

Thunder storms are not normal in August but we had one rumble through overnight Saturday which was accompanied by rain. This was quite handy as it helped damp down the fire that broke out, also on Saturday night, alongside the coastal road. Thanks to jet lag Jean managed to capture the action at 3am.

Thunder, lightning, rain and fire – welcome to Positano

The next morning it rained again – which left Jean acting like a caged lion waiting for the weather to improve as the pool at Eden Roc hotel was calling. It did improve and it was off to the alimentari for provisions (most importantly gin and beer), followed by an afternoon basking by the pool at Eden Roc Hotel. Normal transmission had resumed.

Sunday morning from our front door
Monday morning from our front door

Arriving in Positano

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After a half days travel from Rome we arrived in Positano yesterday afternoon. We had a quiet night – the jet lag was still there so it was early to bed.

We watched the sun go down through a humid haze as the sky slowly changed colour.