a better me

Positano day 1

As a recap from my last Italy post, our travel from Firenze (Florence) to Positano was rigorous to say the least:  “By the time we arrived at our splurge-of-a-hotel, we were literally dripping [with sweat] and more ready than ever for the luxury that awaited us!”

Positano was our only non-airbnb stay, so we figured we’d go all out for our two nights there.  We stayed at the beautiful Punta Regina.  It was worth every euro. Our room was spacious, luxurious (it included bathrobes – my fave!) and romantic, but what really set our stay apart from any others (ever), was our large, very private balcony  which overlooked the ocean… complete with loungers, a cabana and our very own hot tub.

We planned Positano to be a more relaxing leg our our Italy travels (other than the travel to and from), which suited us just fine once we saw where we’d be staying the next two nights.  We would have been entirely happy spending 24/7 on our balcony, so long as someone would deliver us certain necessities (pizza, gelato and champagne drinks)!

After oohing and aahing over our room and balcony, we took much-needed showers and naps before heading out to see the town for the first time without our luggage in tow.  We watched an uomo (man) making sandals, window-shopped at a few store-fronts, took in the beautiful sights and picked an ocean-view table at a romantic restaurant.  What a perfect night… UNTIL our waiter told Rob that they were not serving pizza, despite pizza being listed on the menu.  Imagine taking a spoiled two-year-old boy’s favorite toy from him in the middle of him playing with it.  Now multiply that crankiness factor by 10.  Well, that was Rob.

Fortunately, instead of walking out of the restaurant like he wanted to, he ordered a bottle of wine and let me order our dinner.  Everything we had… red wine , champagne drinks, ravioli, bruschetta and zucchine alla scapece… was multo buono!  The lack of pizza was quickly forgotten!

cranky rob

happy rob

happy maria

After dinner, we enjoyed some gelato, then picked up a bottle of champagne and headed back to test out our hot tub.  We were not at all disappointed!

Positano day 2

Who could possibly complain waking up to a view like this:

Certainly not us!  We lounged around our balcony for awhile and then headed upstairs for the hotel’s breakfast buffet, not exactly sure what to expect.  The spread was fancy and delicious – two qualities I thoroughly embrace, in breakfasts and otherwise.

breakfast views

delicious breakfast!

upstairs pool/lounging area

“relaxing pool”

We sat upstairs enjoying the view and soaking up some sun for awhile, sipping cappuccinos and game planning for the day.  Unlike our days in Venice and Florence, there was no long list of sites to see, so we decided to walk (or rather, descend stairs) to check out the beach and shopping areas.  Of course, going down all of the stairs was a breeze and we were at the beach in no time.  The views of Positano from the beach were truly postcard worthy!

on our walk to the beach

view from the beach

The beach itself was unusual in U.S. terms.  Instead of sand, there were tons of small pebbles.  Not exactly “curl-your-toes” worthy, but it was scenic and somewhat exotic.  Oddly enough, there was a sandy section of the beach partitioned off and, for approx. 12 euros, you could gain admission to that section of the beach and use the umbrellas and beach loungers that were all set up and waiting for paying customers.  Italy’s version of beach tags, I suppose!

Although not dressed for swimming or sun bathing, there was one thing I HAD to do while at the beach:  stick my toes in the Mediterranean Sea.  Check!

Mediterranean Sea

After snapping numerous shots of our prodigious surroundings, we explored the shops and restaurants near the beach.  We picked up some staples,  water, sunblock and limoncello, and headed back (up the many stairs) to the Punta Regina to relax by the “relaxing pool” and catch a few rays (in October!).  While we were out exploring the beach area, we forgot to pick up anything to eat, so we ate a light, late lunch by the pool which consisted of equal parts of food (fruit and pizza) and mojitos.  YUM.    A few hours later, and a few shades darker (or so I like to think), we showered and got dressed for dinner.  In case you haven’t read Eat, Pray, Love or haven’t caught onto the reoccuring food-consumption theme in my Italy posts, when in Italy, food is a big highlight.

Based on some impressive online reviews, we decided to try out Ristorante Pizzeria Lo Guarracino.  Using Rob’s handy OffMaps app, we routed ourselves to the restaurant.  Although it appeared to be really close, because of the built-into-a-cliff nature of Positano, our route involved a lot of ups, downs, overs and arounds.  We finally found a dark path (yes, a path) that seemed to be leading directly to the restaurant.  After walking down the dark path for several minutes, we were about to turn around when, around the next corner, lo and behold, there it was!  The service wasn’t anything to call home about, but the food was terrific and the views, even at night, were unbeatable.  Since it was off the beaten path, this seems to be a somewhat well-kept secret.

a carafe (aka jug) of wine

caprese salad

pizza pizza!

So happy and SO stuffed, we headed back to the Punta Regina for our last night in Positano.

Positano day 3

All too fast, another travel day was upon us.  We savored our last morning in Positano (and our last fancy breakfast buffet) wishing all the while we were staying for another week, or at minimum, another day!  Positano must’ve known how sad we were about leaving, because it held a parade in our honor, which I enjoyed from the comfort of our balcony… in my bathrobe.  Ironically enough, it reminded me a bit of Narberth, what with all of the parading around that happens just outside our apartment in the Narberhood.

Too cheap for an extra bus, we walked/lugged our luggage (makes sense that you would lug, luggage, right?!) up and down steep hills, and reversed our trip to get back to Naples (i.e., long sweaty walk, huge bus whipping around the mountain/cliff-edged roads, sweaty mess of a train), and then took TrenItalia to our next and final destination:  ROMA!