This gallery contains 4 photos.
… beautiful. As we hoped, it’s back to summer clothes for a wee while. Yesterday we wandered down to the beach at Positano. The village is still busy but that summer crush of people has gone and everyone seems more … Continue reading
Once upon a time there was a pretty girl and a dress. The dress was magically beautiful and hung in a shop window in the little village of Positano. The girl who was visiting Positano in July saw the dress and tried it on. It fitted perfectly. The girl’s sister said she looked beautiful in the dress. It was perfect. The girl said she must have it.
But the girl hesitated. Buying the dress would mean the girl and her handsome husband would have no money for food or drink for a week. The girl proclaimed “I will come and buy the dress before we leave. If it is still in the shop it is meant to be”.
Her husband was most pleased as he would not have to go hungry and would have a plentiful supply of ale to quench his thirst.
For the next two days the girl thought about the dress. She longed to wear it again. She vowed to make it hers.
When she returned to the shop, alas, it was shut. The wicked owner was taking an afternoon nap. The girl would return later. Again, when she returned the shop was closed. Many times she returned and each time the door was locked and the lights were dimmed. The girl was despairing.
Finally the girl’s time in Positano was ending. Still the shop remained closed. The girl’s sister reminded her “if you return to Positano and the dress is still there, it was meant to be.”
The girl left Positano with a heavy heart and no dress. Over the next months she had many adventures in the land of Italy but always in the back of her mind was the magically beautiful dress.
In November the girl and her husband returned to the little village of Positano. The girl resolved “if the magically beautiful dress is still there, I will purchase it”. Secretly she thought that a dress as magically beautiful as this one would have found an owner long before her return.
On her first day in Positano the girl rushed to the shop. She chose a time when the shop must be open hoping against hope that the dress was waiting for her.
As she approached the shop, through the window, she could see the dress. Still magically beautiful and still waiting for her. It was meant to be. She broke into a run, reaching for her purse filled with gold coins.
But alas, as she got closer to the shop the girl could see that the lights were off and the door locked. The shop was closed. She wept.
To be continued…
Inside stuff to pack
It has been a fantastic 6 months reveling in the Tuscan way of life but all good things must end. And our ending is just a new beginning as we swap Tuscany for Positano on the Amalfi Coast.
We were there in July when it was summer and it was almost tropically hot. In November it should be cooler but still as warm as a summer’s day back home.
Outside stuff to pack
We shall see, but first we have to get there and that means cramming everything we own into our Renault Megane Wagon and driving south for about 5 hours … 6 with stops for the girls.
Farewell Tuscany, hello Positano.
Note: For a larger version of the video click the “Share” button when the video is playing and select “Download Video”. A new window should open with a larger and better quality version of the movie.
Our stay in Tuscany is coming to an end. We leave at the end of October but our original plans to head home have changed a bit.
We have decided to chase the warm(ish) weather south to Positano and have arranged to stay for 6 weeks at Villa Greta looking out over the ocean. After we spent two weeks there in July we always said it was somewhere we wanted to return.
So, at the end of the week, we pack up the Renault and head south until early December.
It sounds simple when you say it fast but after 6 months we are quite settled in our tiny cottage in Tuscany. We have a lot to take with us. Slightly more, we suspect, than our 3 suitcases can carry.
This gallery contains 15 photos.
In July we spent 2 weeks in Positano on the Amalfi Coast taking a holiday from our holiday. During that time we were joined by Mike, Charmaine and wee James. Looking back, there were photographs taken that never made it … Continue reading
It’s not often we delve into specialist areas in this blog but this post is about Riva’s Aquarama – the classic Italian speedboats of the 60s and 70s.
They defined style and cool from their launch in the early sixties and were often referred to as the Ferrari of speedboats. In all only 768 were built between 1962 and 1996 when production stopped.
The originals now sell for hundreds of thousands of Euros, however we spotted these models in a shop window in Positano. At €600 each they seem a real bargain. Any takers?
Gentle readers, I have just updated our photo album with all the latest shots used on the blog and a bunch more. Click here to see them.
It was simple. Charmaine, Mike and James on a high speed train from Naples to Florence. Jean and I and the dogs in the mighty Peugeot doing the same trip aiming to arrive before the train so we could help them collect a rental car and then follow us to our place south of Siena.
As with all Top Gear challenges there was a twist. We left Positano at 11am and drove hell for leather north to Florence – a five and a half hour trip. They left Naples at 1:50pm and were due to arrive in Florence at 4:50pm.
It was always going to be tight. But I always thought the mighty Peugeot had the edge. And so it proved as we blasted north along Italy’s version of SH1.
We were just south of Rome when the train was due to leave Naples which gave us a lead of 1 hour. An hour that would be quickly eroded as the train hit it’s maximum speed of 300km/h on the straights between Naples and Rome.
So we put the hammer down and and spent considerable time close to the 150km/h mark.
But no challenge is that simple. We got a text from the train travellers that they had run into problems – the train had stopped just 15 minutes out of Naples. We continued on, extending the gap as quickly as possible.
An update from the train said the delay would be lengthy so we revised our plans. Mike and Charmaine were picking up a rental car in Florence and were going to follow us south but the rental depot closed at 7pm and with the train delay we were not sure if they would arrive in Florence in time. We would go to Florence via our cottage in Tuscany, drop off bags and then proceed to Florence with enough room to carry them if required.
Update – the train was moving again and halfway to Rome. We were on our way to the cottage, it was going to be close.
Update – the train had arrived in Rome. We were still on our way to the cottage, it was going to be really close.
Update – the train is halfway to Florence. We had dropped our bags and were on the highway north, we were in trouble.
Update – the train has arrived in Florence. We were still 30kms short of Florence. Game over. I could almost hear Clarkson yelling “loser” with the dreaded right-handed “L” to the forehead.
Moral of the story – never race a high speed train. The trip from Rome to Florence should, according to the train timetable, have taken about 90 minutes. The train did it is less than 60 minutes – clealry they have a “little slack” in the timetable.
We have had a fantastic time in Positano. The apartment was great, the weather hot (too hot on occasions) and having Charmaine, Mike & James arrive near the end of our stay a real bonus.
As always we were spoiled by the wonderful people at Eden Roc Hotel who made us feel very welcome. But all good things come to an end and on Saturday morning we headed for Tuscany.
We enjoyed the stay at Villa Greta so much we are sure we’ll be back. So it’s not so much goodbye to Positano, more “au revoir”.
Positano from Villa Greta roof terrace
But the villa is way below the road and there’s a lot of building materials that needs to be moved down and lots of rubbish that needs to be moved up.
What do you do? No problem, just put in a bit of scaffolding for a hoist up to the road.
I’m not sure that a kiwi health and safety person would be completely happy with the Amalfi Coast approach.
Today Jean’s sister, brother-in-law and their wee baby arrive in Positano. Charmaine, Mike and James have been in Europe for the last 2 weeks visiting London and Paris. They should be well acclimatised and ready to tackle the frantic pace of life that is Positano.
This is their first trip to Italy and we are really excited to have the chance to show them around.
They fly into Naples airport later this afternoon (Wednesday) and we have arranged for a car and driver to pick them up and bring them over the hill to Positano. We’ve already asked them not to judge Italy by what they see during the drive. While there are parts of Naples that are beautiful the parts you pass through on the way to the Amalfi peninsula are not those ones. I’ve never really experienced the third world but I imagine it’s a bit like southern Naples.
The Amalfi Coast with the coast road cut into the cliffs - look closely and you'll spot it
The good news is that all that is forgotten when you crest the backbone of the peninsular and the view is the blue sea with the thin ribbon of road winding along the coast cut precariously into the cliffs and with small villages hanging to the cliffs in seemingly impossible places.
We’ve also warned them about the width of the roads (or lack thereof) and the propensity of Italians driving everything from scooters to tour buses to overtake or undertake or to do u-turns or simply stop for no reason at all.
Thankfully the limousine drivers are experts at negotiating these roads however I do recall one occasion a few years ago when almost all the luxury Mercedes car that we started the trip in made it to the end.
It had a wing mirror removed by a passing car that got a little too close. All I remember was the sound of tearing metal and smashing glass, and the sight of the mirror flying past the side window of the car. No one stopped but we did learn a few choice Italian phrases that we could use if we found ourselves in a similar situation.
Charmaine, Mike and James – welcome to Italy.
There is a constantly changing parade of superyachts mooring off Positano. Every day some arrive and some leave. The most we have seen at one time is 11 and on average there would be 5 or 6 in each day.
Thanks to a long camera lense we can usually name them. The shots below are of the Christina O – the private yacht built by Aristotle Onassis and a group of 4 superyachts which includes Arctic P, a research vessel that was converted into a luxury cruiser by Kerry Packer and is now owned by his son James Packer.
Ok, so I’ve got the luxury of time on my hands. And what better way to spend it than brushing up my PhotoShop skills and then boring everyone with the results.
In particular a process called “tilt shift” photography which makes a photo appear to be “model-like”. The purist approach to this involves special camera lenses and vast amounts of setup time. But good old PhotoShop can emulate the look with quite impressive results.
I’ve taken a shot of the local beach and had a wee play.
We have been in Positano for a week or so and life has settled into a comfortable, simple routine.
Our days start late at the villa and after a leisurely walk to the hotel we spend the hottest part of the day around the hotel pool.
Late evening in Positano
In the cool of the evening we either return to Villa Greta and enjoy a drink on the terrace or we walk down into the village for shopping, eating or just wandering and exploring.
We’ve been to dinner at Chez Black on the beach and had dinner on the Eden Roc terrace overlooking the bay. All in all I think we’ve perfected ‘il dolce far niente” as the Italians call it – the sweet art of doing nothing.
Never let it be said that Toscanakiwi doesn’t respond to it’s readers comments. The recent post about our day at the beach raised a number of questions.
Here, we answer them.
That Ferrari
I didn’t have a photograph of the Ferrari yesterday but “Tina of Texas” wanted to see the car. Today I wandered up the road to take a shot and, being Italy, the car was still there. In fact it hadn’t moved an inch.
What you can’t see from the photo is the steepness of the drive the car is parked on. Clearly the car’s owner doesn’t trust the handbrake and has used what I assume is a Ferrari aftermarket accessory to ensure the car stays put.
Obviously it must be a Ferrari branded brick although I couldn’t get close enough to confirm this.
The turntable
The turntable is covered in a very stylish faux grass finish. Not really sure the logic of this but I guess it’s an Italian thing.
The beach
Geoffman asked about the makeup of the beach. Asienzo beach is mostly a pebble beach. There is a small area of sand but from where we were it was a stony walk to the water.
Also the stones were incredibly hot so part of the entertainment was watching people do a funny little dance when a stone or two worked it’s way into their shoes or sandals. From experience I can say – ouch.
La dolce far niente 