May 8, 2010
It’s a sad day when you have to leave the Isle of Capri… but looking forward to the rest of the trip. We grabbed a beer for breakfast and then boarded our ferry to Positano. A relatively poor fishing village up until the 1950′s when John Steinbeck published an essay about the hidden gem in Harper’s Bazaar. Steinbeck wrote. “It is a dream place that isn’t quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone.”
And then… our ferry pulled up to this.
I eat my words. This has to be the prettiest place I’ve ever seen in my life. We were speechless as we stepped off the ferry. Steinbeck once said, “Positano bites deep”… modern day translation: Positano kicks ass. Surround on all three sides by cliffs, an amphitheater of multicolored homes, stores and cathedrals located right on the beach. No wonder its called “the pearl of the Amalfi Coast”.
We headed to our Bed and Breakfast, Holiday House Gilda. We’ve been lucky so far on the trip with lodging. We booked all of our hostels, hotels and B&B’s off of tripadvisor. We would read reviews, compare prices, amenities and location, location, location. So far, so good. We decided that having a place with a kitchen would be ideal for our next 3 nights. We took a cab to Arienzo – a small town right outside (5 minutes) of “downtown” Positano. We arrived and it was beyond perfect. Gilda was hilarious… a 60+ year old owner of the property who didn’t speak a lick of English. She greeted us with a high pitch “CIAO!!!”, showed us to our room (Patrizia) and immediately started making us an espresso. Classic Italian hospitality. We unpacked, drank Gilda’s espresso and hit the town.
The town is right out of a fairy tale. Pictures are worth a thousand words…
Tonight, we went to an amazing dinner at Ristorante Max. The restaurant was located inside an art gallery… rows and rows of paintings, stacked up against each other lined the walls. Really cool atmosphere and even better fresh fish caught that day. One of our best meals yet. Afterwards, we went to the clubs to get our party on. We went to Postiano’s famous, Music on the Rocks. One of the most badass bars I’ve ever been to. You’re literally at a disco club inside a cave. It was definitely straight out of a movie. We partied hard…
Big day tomorrow. The coolest thing about the Amalfi Coast is its accessibility. Buses run daily to neighboring towns. Hell, I would never rent a car and try to drive… WAY too sketchy! We’re going to use Positano as our “home base” for the next three days and check out all the must-do’s in the region. Ciao bella!
