Ciao Positano!

I've been muchos excited to write about this little piece of heaven in Italy. It's been a long, hard road to select the images that have been included in this post, I do apologise in advance if it's a bit OTT. Where do I begin? You know when you visit one of those towns where it's just a complete sensory overload, from the moment you get there? You don't know where to look in terms of the landscape, because everything is just so flipping stunning. The food is amazing. Don't even get me started on the buffalo mozzarella. The smells coming from the restaurants are.....yep, amazing. The local wine is delicious. The locals are friendly. The vibe of the town is chilled. There's just too many adjectives to use to describe this town. But one thing's for sure.....I'm in L.O.V.E.

We flew into Naples from Nice, where we were greeted by our hosts; Daniele and Francesca. As part of our booking through Air BnB, we had organised for them to collect us and drive us down to Positano. Whilst there's a few different options on making your way down to Positano, a private transfer is the easiest and most time effective way to get there. On the way, we took in views of Mount Vesuvius, which was quite impressive. The roads were windy, so as a result I felt pretty nauseous on the way down and had pretty much made my mind up by the time we arrived in Positano that I'd be staying put!

Mount Vesuvius

We were offered a porter service when we arrived, which we gratefully accepted (€30 for four bags). Once we saw for ourselves the number of stairs you need to climb up and down the hills of Positano, it made perfect sense that it's such a big business there! These stairs aren't for the faint hearted. 

Our villa was typically Positanese....colourful ceramics throughout and a drop dead gorgeous view overlooking the town. It had just recently been renovated, which is always a bonus. We made the most of the balcony, by purchasing fresh produce from the little grocery store near us to prepare breakfast most mornings. Through our hosts, we also could have organised other fun activities like a winery tour which included lunch, having a chef come to the Casa to cook us a three course dinner or a cooking class at the Casa where we would learn how to make a traditional Positanese dish, however we just ran out of time.

Partial view from the balcony

Full view overlooking Positano from the balcony

I had researched Positano quite thoroughly and for those of you wanting to spend the majority of your time in Positano, you must book Positano, not Praiano or any other villages like Nocelle and Montepertuso or you will just spend all your time getting on and off buses. We were situated in a great location, a little bit up the hill and close to lots of restaurants that aren't as touristy as some of the ones in town. Whilst those stairs became the bane of my existence during our stay, they were a great form of exercise. 

It's such a pretty place, easy on the eye with lots of colour from the abundance of petunias everywhere and dramatic landscape at every turn. 

Laneway wandering....

Sunset at Il Capitanos

Positano is a little touristy, however I would say most of Italy falls into that category, particularly at this time of year. We heard plenty of American and Australian accents floating around. For me now living abroad, it's always nice to pick up on an Aussie accent as it makes me feel a little closer to home. During our stay we spent a lot of time doing what should be done in Italy during summer. We chilled out by the beach, ate a lot of food and gelato, drank plenty of wine and did a little bit of shopping. The climate in May meant that it would get very hot and humid in the mornings. Cloud and mist would then build up over the mountains during the course of the day, which would result in a downpour of rain and then clear skies. We got caught out a few times, luckily for us we were always within running distance of a wine bar or gelato shop!

Why have one gelato flavour, when you can have two?

Based upon a recommendation from a friend, Chris and I spent a day out on a small charter boat and had an unforgettable day. You can read more about the trip on the Amalfi Coast with Pete in the next post. There's plenty of other things to do around the area, like hiking, hiring a vespa and driving down along the coast to Amalfi, up to Sorrento or taking a day trip to Capri (all of which are accessible by boat too), however we had heard that Capri is SUPER touristy and decided to give it a wide berth and enjoy the town. After being in Positano over the weekend, you realise how many people flock to these hot spots on massive tour coaches and by car. It was shoulder to shoulder walking the laneways which was all a bit too much at times. I imagine Capri would be even worse.

 

 

Rancho relaxo on Spiaggia Grande

Our villa is up there.....somewhere!

We ate at some really beautiful, local restaurants during our stay. Through some recommendations via Pete, we dined at Mediterraneos one night where we had lots of fun. The staff were extremely friendly and personable and they had a live musician playing traditional Italian songs, which we were all encouraged to participate in singing. At one point the musician handed around tambourines for everyone in the restaurant to play, which had us all in good spirits.

 

Being welcomed at Mediterraneos. Peter's name did wonders for us!

This guy.....hilarious!

It could have just been the lemoncello talking, but after copious amount of it from the staff and being a Friday, it was decided that no visit to Positano is complete without heading to Music on the Rocks at midnight; which is a bit of an institution.

Positano at night

Before long, it was our last full day in Positano. We visited Fornillo beach for the day, which is accessible by stairs from higher up the town or by a coastal path if you are on Spiaggia Grande. Eight euros included a sun lounger, towel and free wifi access. Whilst we enjoyed both beaches, we probably preferred Fornillo a little more.

A little shrine on our walk to Fornillo

Fornillo Beach

That evening, Chris and I enjoyed a gorgeous meal at La Terra, another recommendation of Peter's. Located up in Montepertuso, which is a village further up the hill, they have a shuttle van which collects you from Positano and drops you off again at the end of the night. This is definitely somewhere you want to go for more of a special meal. The food was sensational and we ate lots of mouthwatering dishes like ricotta stuffed zucchini flowers, parma ham and mozzarella, eggplant parmagiana, pan fried squid, prawn gnocchi and fish. Needless to say, after all that food we were in a food coma come 10.45pm.

A quintessential Italian fiat

Seeking refuge from the rain at a local church whilst waiting for the shuttle to La Terra

The final supper at La Terra

On our last day, the sun was shining and Positano was looking its usual picture perfect self. We enjoyed one final breakfast at our agreed "favie" of the trip, Casaebottega. They make a mean omelette and coffee! We didn't get the opportunity to ever have lunch there unfortunately, as the menu looked fabulous. Casaebottega is a cafe/homewares store and I was in love with all the homewares there, a lot of which are handmade and painted by a local artist. Sadly, I could only carry so much so only treated myself to a couple of ceramic bowls for the house. 

 

Casaebottega

Coffee to rival Melbourne!

I'm completely obsessed with these bowls. I wish I'd been able to buy more!

Some new post box tiles to eventually replace the old ones for our home in Australia....which will always be a reminder of our time in Positano

It was very sad farewelling Positano, it's such a magical place. This trip has definitely ignited our love for Italy and we know we'll be back next year.

We stayed in Casa Cicogna and ate at La Zagara (lunch), Il Capitano (dinner), Casaebottega (breakfast and homewares shopping!), Il Fornillo (dinner), Ristorante Mediterraneo (dinner), Ristorante Pupetto (lunch) and La Terra (dinner)

Next 2 (dinner. also owned by Casaebottega), Da Vincenzo (dinner),  Da Adolfo (lunch. accessible by boat only, which collects you from the jetty) and La Sirenuse (cocktails) also came highly recommended, but we just ran out of days.

As previously mentioned, our day out on the boat with Peter was so good it requires it's own post, so click here to read all about it!