We had a wonderful time staying at San Felice, it is a magical place. Here are some evening shots in and around the hotel.
Echoes of San Felice
Tag Archives: Wellington
Dinner at Eden Roc Hotel
Saturday night we dined at the hotel. They have made major improvements to the restaurant in the last few years and it’s paying dividends as the patronage has increased considerably.
One new addition to the facilities is Terrazza Paradiso, a terrace sitting above the rest of the restaurant, open to the air and with a spectacular view of the village and sea below. The lovely Carlo, who runs the Adamo ed Eva restaurant at the hotel, managed to get us a table on the Terrazza for a magical dinner which ended with two drunk kiwis being driven home afterwards.
This meal was also the debut of one the dresses Jean bought in Sorrento when we visited on Friday.
This week is hot
Italy – and other parts of Europe – have had a warm summer. Each day this week the temperature in Positano is reaching around 39 degrees. That is warm.
It means that life has to adjust accordingly with more time spent doing very little and more time spent in the shade or in air conditioning.
Yesterday was a case in point. We were planning to have lunch at Casa Bottega in the village. It was a walk of about 1km down hill to get there so we geared up with water and hats and the minimum amount of clothing we could wear without being arrested. Casa Bottega is a small cafe with great food and air conditioning. But it is shut Mondays, something we only found out when we arrived at the front door. It was about 1pm and it was hot, really hot.
New plan – Jean has spotted another cafe on the walk which we returned to called Ohimà. It had both an inside and outside area. The kind waiter asked us “inside or outside” with a wry smile already shepherding us towards the inside with its cool air conditioning.
It took us 10 minutes to recover from the heat – to take in water and for our clothes to dry off.
Lunch was great and an excellent way to wile away an hour or two with great authentic cuisine and wine – before we head out to take on the heat again – walking up hill to our place.
Luckily mid way between the restaurant and home there is Li Galli Bar. It has spectacular views across the bay and friendly staff we have come to know. It straddles the main road through the village with the kitchen on one side and the tables on the other. So every drink or meal or chair or umbrella has to run the gauntlet of the road. This is expertly managed by the staff and we have yet to see a casualty of any sort.
It is the ideal place to break the walk home – but yesterday the heat meant a short stop – just sitting still in the shade was exhausting. The staff even suggested we head somewhere cooler after our drink, no “altro giro” today.
With the same weather forecast for the rest of the week it will mean more days by the hotel pool and less exploring the area. No great sacrifice there.
Wednesday was Siena day
Every time we visit Tuscany we make a pilgrimage to Siena. It was our local town for 6 months in 2011 and we take the chance to revisit some old haunts whenever we return.
Siena is famous for the Palio – a bare-back horse race that occurs twice a year (July and August) when local communities or contrada can enter a horse in the race with the victor having the honour that comes with winning. We have mixed views of the event – the drama, excitement and passion around the race is infectious but horses can often get injured or even killed during the event.
To prepare for the race, the central piazza in Siena – the Campo – is turned into a race track with a layer of clay laid down over the tiles and cobbles and gradually compacted over the weeks prior to the event.
Temporary wooden grandstands ring the Campo so the large crowd that attend the event has somewhere to get the best view.
When we arrived on Wednesday the track was down and all the bars and restaurants that ring the Campo had their tables and chairs set up on the track. Because of the temporary grandstands, they also have to squeeze their tables into a smaller area to allow people to walk past.
And once a day, at 3pm, the bars and restaurants have to remove all their hardware as the track is watered to help the clay compact. No one is allowed on the track so the Campo comes to a standstill.
Once the clay has dried enough – after about 2 hours – the tables and chairs, and people are allowed back on the track and Siena’s Campo returns to normal.
A little more of Venice
Having already published some Venice pictures, here are some more that we think might be interesting.
And the holiday has begun
With our out-of-office notifications turned on, and bags and clothes strewn around our spare room the holiday is underway. We are in the middle of a weekend of packing. On one hand packing our bags. On the other, packing the girls off to their holiday retreat.
The sound of silence
View from our verandah – Wellington Airport, Kilbirne, Evans Bay and Hataitai.
One thing that I’ve noticed over the last few weeks is the silence. Outside at night you can hear – nothing.
With virtually no cars on the roads and even fewer planes coming and going, the constant background city buzz has gone. To be replaced by silence, and at night, the call of our local Ruru.
Sentinel at the Gate
Bella loves to bark at people passing our front gate. She sits and waits to hear someone approaching – then when they are level with the gate she lets loose – barking, barking barking.
Every morning and evening people on the way to and from work give her a “target rich environment” but in lockdown it’s different.
Here she is siting patiently, waiting for someone to walk past on Wednesday evening. But no one came.
So much music everywhere
Thank you gentle readers for the additions to the lockdown playlist. Happy lockdown day 9. And the extended playlist is:
Alone Again, Naturally – Gilbert O’Sullivan
The Chain – Fleetwood Mac
Need You Now – Lady Antebellum
Don’t Stand So Close To Me – The Police
It’s Oh So Quiet – Bjork
I Think We’re Alone Now – Tiffany
Staying Alive – Bee Gees
Is There Anybody Out There – Pink Floyd
A funny thing happened this morning
So it’s day 7 of the Covid-19 lockdown. Our medical community is braced for an influx of virus sufferers and I’m ensconced in the safety of my home. What could possibly go wrong?
Quite a bit it seems.
It only took 7 days but I’ve done it – produced a sequel to the “nail through the foot” incident of last year. All it took was a blown lightbulb and a step ladder – well a kitchen step ladder to be honest.
Yes, another foot injury. This time it’s torn ligaments along the side of my left foot, swelling, pain and embarrassment – in equal measures.
I fell from the bottom step of the ladder and managed to sprain my foot to such an extent the doctor was impressed. “The bottom step? Really? The bottom step, are you sure?”, were his words while examining my swollen and rapidly blackening foot.
One x-ray later and I’m in a moon-boot with enough pain killers and steroids to treat a horse. Easy.
I’ll be spending the next week with my foot elevated, garnering as much sympathy and as many cups of tea as I can.
Top Tip: If you do something silly like this, now is an oddly good time to do it. When Jean called my doctor as I lay groaning on the ground she advised me to visit the after hours clinic (in Newtown for me) as they are “very quiet”. Apparently all the usual maladies that fill the clinic’s waiting room have mysteriously been cured. At 1pm I was the only person in the waiting room and when I had my x-ray I was the radiographers second customer – that day.
Day 6 and puppy boredom has set in
After 6 days of having us at home, Ellie has run out of things to keep her occupied. There’s only the office chair left.
Let there be music everywhere
Day two of the lockdown and it’s quiet out there – too quiet. Time for some music, and what could be better than a curated playlist to suit these odd times.
- We Gotta Get Out Of This Place – The Animals
- Dancing With Myself – Billy Idol
- Jailhouse Rock – Elvis Presley of course
- All By Myself – Eric Carmen
- I’m In Chains – Tina Arena
- The Walls Are Closing In/Hangman – The Pretty Reckless
- I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel To Be Free – Nina Simone
- Me & You Together Song – The 1975
- Mad World – Tears for Fears
- I will survive – Gloria Gaynor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ARt9HV9T0w8
- All Revved Up And No Place To Go
And, of course, anything by Small Spaces. All suggestions for additional songs are welcome.
It’s 24 hours from lockdown
We live in extraordinary times. In the next 24 hours we will give up our freedom willingly (for at least 4 weeks and possibly longer) and retreat to the relative safety of our homes, isolated, socially impotent and very likely bored out of our minds.
Today and tomorrow are the days to tidy things up – to sort all that life admin that needs to be done for a month in isolation. Not wanting to appear shallow, but top of my list was to purchase some of the delicious SmokeHouse Salmon Pate that New World stock. Ok, not earth shattering but just something that seemed important at the time.
Of course if I’d thought for another moment I’d have realised that it was possibly the least important thing I could have done in the day. But my brain ended up fixated on this damn pate.
So off I went to Chaffers New World to buy my limit of 2 pots. A llimit we can blame on all those who panic bought toilet paper, hand sanitiser, coffee, chocolate, baked beans and whatever else was panic buy of the day over the last few weeks.
I was expecting the supermarket to be chaos, queues out the door, police in attendance, possibly some tear gas being fired around but – no. It was quieter than any time I’ve been there recently – from a certain angle the store almost seemed empty.
Never one to miss an opportunity, I went in for some good old fashioned panic buying – well as much as you can do with a two item limit. When Jean saw my purchases she said I’d missed the point.
Poor women, she’s now stuck with me for 4 weeks – alone, together.
Despatches from home
Our girls have been in a kennel for over two weeks. For both of them this is a whole new experience. We were a bit concerned how they would react and whether they would settle in.
We have been missing them so we asked the team at Waglands Dogs’ Holiday Retreat – seriously that is the name – to send us some photos of the girls. They arrived today and it seems we had nothing to worry about.
We suspect they’ve just had a bath as they look a bit too clean and fluffy for over two weeks on holiday in the country.
For the uninitiated, it’s Ellie on the left and Bella on the right.
Last day in Camogli
Today we leave Camogli and head south to Positano. We have thoroughly enjoyed both our time here at Cenobio Dei Dogi and our time exploring the village.
Would we come back – like a shot.
As always it’s about the place but also the people you meet. After 6 days of turning up at the same places for meals and drinks, exploring the village on foot (it’s not a big village so there’s not much walking involved) and generally settling in we are starting to be recognised. The fact that we are from New Zealand is a surprise and the start of a conversation. And that’s what it’s all about.
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- Hotel from the upper pool level
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- Terrace sunset
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- Swimmers at sunset
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- Seats with a view
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- Flags flying at Cenobio Dei Dogi
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- Main hotel building
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- Hotel and pool
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- Drinks in the evening
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- Church from hotel
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- Camogli Beach panorama
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- Cenobio Dei Dogi entrance
La dolce far niente 