Italy 2023

#11, Positano on the Amalfi Coast

Thursday 3/30. Church bells ringing woke me up at 7 a.m. We got our things together, called for a cab, but had no luck. We decided to just hoof it to the train station, but were cutting it close for our departure time. Luckily we arrived at the station with our printed tickets with only about 10 minutes to spare. The train pulled out of Florence right on time. After the dash from the AirB&B, it felt good that we made it and now could relax on our way to Salerno on the Amalfi Coast.

Again, it was so pleasant to stare out the window at the Springtime green. Passing by the beautiful countryside, we settled in for the several hours ride to Salerno on the West coast of Italy. I took the opportunity to catch up on my trip notes. Along the way the train fell 45 minutes behind arrival time in Salerno.

We had a car and driver pre-arranged and he, Dario, was patiently waiting for us outside the station in his Mercedes Benz station wagon. We had hoped to be driving along the Amalfi Coast from Salerno to Positano for the awesome seaside views, but Dario took us by way of the highways bypassing that drive we had hoped to experience. Later we understood why he took the highway instead of the scenic route along the coast.

Coming from the North into Positano, exiting the highway, we were treated to views along the coastline: steep hillsides were stacked with homes up on multiple level streets. And the views out into the Mediterranean Sea were gorgeous. These were mountain roads that curved and climbed along the cliffs. Motorbikes, vespas, cars, buses, trucks were all closely maneuvering on the crowded road. As we saw later in Positano, a lot of vehicles had multiple dents and scapes – no wonder with the speed that they drove and the tight quarters trying to share the roadways. It almost seemed a given that if you drove a car here, it was going to get banged up.

As we arrived outside our hotel, La Bougainvillea, we were greeted by Imma, one of the staff, who helped us with luggage putting it on an elevator to the lobby one floor up. 

Our room was bright and cheery, with white and blue tile floors, twin beds and a full size bathroom. A balcony with two chairs and a small table looked out toward the sea and a city view of homes clinging to the hillside. 

After a brief walk about we ended down by a beach passing many colorful shops, outdoor cafes and restaurants. On the beach, small boats were stacked up and blue beach chairs were lined up in the sand. With many shops and restaurants it was very active, and colorful. 

Our long day of traveling ended near the beach area at Le Tre Sorelle (The Three Sisters) restaurant where we enjoyed a dinner of salad and a mozzarella, ham, pepperoni and mushrooms pizza. 

Yes, we ate pizza several times in Italy!

The following day I was up early and savored a cup of coffee on the balcony witnessing the little city come alive on this brand new morning.

Sounds of the city awakening were steadily increasing: traffic flowing by below me, deliveries being made to shops, a street cleaner, people up and about. From my seat on the balcony, I caught glimpses of traffic up on the higher streets and people coming out onto balconies high above me. To complete the scene the golden light of morning bathed the hillside homes in light. It was a good day.

After breakfast we set out discovering Positano. It is quite lovely, lots of color and scenic views around every bend in the road.  Whether out toward the sea or up onto the cliffside homes, it is totally picturesque.

We walked a fair distance to the upper streets and then found a stairway, tucked between buildings, that led down to a smaller secluded beach. There I grabbed the opportunity to dip my feet into the Mediterranean Sea while also combing for sea glass along the beach. The water was cold, but bearable. 

Finding a less strenuous route back toward our hotel we ended up in the piazza near the larger beach and shopped amongst the multitude of shops. One thing that Positano is noted for is their lemons and limoncello, an tart alcoholic drink made of lemons. Limoncello was seemingly sold everywhere and we did have a taste or two while in Italy.

Mark and I found limoncello bottled in uniquely shaped bottles, and in one shop window were displayed two of those bottles, one shaped as a little scooter and another one in the shape of the small trucks that were on Positano’s streets. At that time, however, Mark wasn’t quite ready to buy one and so we walked on, bypassing a purchase. Later the next day Mark had decided he did want to buy that little truck style limoncello bottle, but neither of us could ever find it though we knew it was along a particular area of shops. We searched up and down the street but all in vain. The shop had either changed its window displays or had closed overnight. Nowhere else in the coming days could we find one like it.

Having seen a linen shirt several times along the way that I fancied, light blue with yellow lemons (in keeping with the limoncello theme), I looked in several shops and decided to buy one at a very colorful shop where a lovely, flamboyant lady (Lucia) greeted us in Italian. In her fringed cowgirl boots, flower print dress, blue cape, headband, curly blond hair and million dollar smile, I told her she looked like a flower child, which I’m not sure she understood, but with her colorful outfit and gregarious manner, she was a ray of sunshine and happiness. After some discussion and friendly banter I bought the shirt. It certainly is unique and one I’ll probably only wear on special occasions and a nice reminder of our time in Positano.

Back at the hotel, Imma and her boss made travel arrangements for us to go to Amalfi, which we looked forward to visiting the next afternoon. Mark had made plans to take a boat from Positano to Amalfi, but upon arrival we found that a reconstruction of the dock in Positano had halted all those boat trips. Imma and her boss let us know that the forecast for the next day called for rough seas, so it was fortunate that we would not be taking a boat ride after all. 

The next afternoon the taxi arrived on time to drive us to Amalfi. From the start it was slow going with heavy traffic on the two lane coast road. It was supposed to take 30 minutes to and the same from with about 3 hours in Amalfi. Not so.

On a number of occasions, traffic stopped or was slowed as large tour busses held up progress. At times, those buses being so large, cars barely squeezed by each other. At one tunnel a large bus held up traffic as it tried to come out of the tunnel onto an immediate curve in the road. Cars were backing up and moving aside as best as they could to give the bus leeway.   

It took longer than 30 minutes to reach Amalfi. 

Instead of stopping at the town of Amalfi first we went a little further up to the little town of Ravello, where we did a brief walkabout in the town square and then drove back to Amalfi. It is a pretty town, but other than the crowded plaza with broad steep stairway to a church and many shops, there was not much to hold our attention. 

Returning to Positano was slow. The 14 kilometers between Positano and Amalfi should have taken about ½ hour, but extended to 1 hour, one way.

Still, not having to drive ourselves, the pressure was off of us and we did enjoy the little side excursion along the coast. I do not believe, under any circumstance, would I ever think of driving there. Taking a taxi was the best decision and then we understood why our driver had taken us from Solerno to Positano on the highways, not on the slow moving, congested coast road.

Thoughts on Positano, what I’ll remember: The day awakening, buildings stacked like blocks one upon another up the sides of the steep cliffs, laundry hanging out to dry and gently swaying in the the morning breeze, joggers in brightly colored togs out on early morning runs, other people on their balconies waking to the dawning day, traffic picking up, motorbikes and vehicles accelerating up the steep hillside streets, billowy white clouds set against bright blue skies, sea gulls flying high above the cliffs.

It was a warm and charming stop on our Italian holiday.

Click on photos below to open full size and for slideshow.