Tag Archives: Holiday

And so Thursday comes to an end

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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.

Good morning Positano

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Early morning in PositanoThose 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

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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.

Images courtesy of Live Salerno, stuff.co.nz and YouTube.

The day of the cat

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Villa catThe 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

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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?

Journey’s end

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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.

A twitch upon the thread

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Positano Panorama - small

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.

 

Some randomness

Gallery

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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

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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.

 

 

Aaahhh … Positano

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Positano from the seaRegular 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.

The view ahead

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Highway to the mountains 2I took this shot on a trip across the South Island a couple of years ago. The day started off overcast and raining in Christchurch but the further west we drove the better the weather became.

As we climbed up into the Southern Alps the sun was starting to show and the low grey cloud was clearing.

Piazza San Pietro in Roma

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Piazza San Pietro RomaFor no particular reason I was looking through our photo archives and came across a half dozen shots we took of the piazza outside St Peters a few years ago. I’ve never stitched them together before. But now I have, they actually make a half decent panorama despite being from a camera quite low on megapixels.

As a matter of interest the Pope often gives blessing to the crowds in the piazza on Sunday from the window of the building in the centre of the shot. Top floor, second window from the right.

A post with something for everyone

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Bella with Pop in backgroundIt’s not often a single post can appeal to a range of different interests – but this one really hits the mark. It’s a picture of the dogs in our front yard but it offers so much more.

For dogs lovers it’s Bella taking some time out from patrolling the front gate with Poppie still on guard in the background. She’s wondering why I’m lying full length on the grass – hence the quizzical look.

For gardeners it’s a study in lawns – check out that lush green growth clipped to perfection and standing to attention – defying a hot and dry Wellington summer’s afternoon which is arguably one of the best summers anyone can remember.

For photographers the shot was achieved with the camera flat on the grass and was one of about 30 shots taken as the girls wandered around.

The camera used was my Nikon D7000 with a Nikkor 18 – 70mm zoom lens set to 50mm, the aperture at F9 to keep Bella in focus and to throw Poppie slightly out of focus, and the  shutter speed at 125th of a second to freeze any rapid movement. In Photoshop I replaced the original image of Poppie with one from another shot so she was looking up, cropped the shot using the rule of thirds (Bella’s head is about 1/3 of the way down the shot and 1/3 of the way in from the right), removed the distracting bright round hole in the gate, sharpened around Bella’s face and generally corrected the colour. Simple.

I’ve included the original shot for comparison.

 

Together for Christmas

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In order from left to right – Georgie, Bella, Macey, and Poppie.

We had a “house full” of people for Christmas day – and briefly during the afternoon a “couch full” of dogs. Thanks to my dog wranglers for organising this shot.

 

 

2014 – the year that was

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It was a fun old year at our place. As always there seemed to be a lot happening but when I look back at the photos we’ve taken, our trip in August and those puppies – well Bella mainly – seem to dominate.