Had a great night’s sleep (helped along by functioning air conditioning!) so we woke up feeling fairly rested and ready for our first full day of adventuring on the Amalfi coast! Our room has a private terrace with a nice view out across the valley and the sea (if you crane your head round) and each morning breakfast and coffee was laid out for us. A very civilized way to start the day! The place is family run and we met and chatted with the owner last night – very nice lady and the place has been owned by her family for a couple of generations, so it feels good to be staying somewhere more local and supporting a family business. Although I suspect that pretty much all the businesses here in Positano are family-run and have been for generations – this is absolutely the kind of place where everyone knows everyone else’s business! (rather much like growing up in rural Cornwall!)
Today’s adventure was a cruise along the Amalfi coastline, departing from Positano and cruising along the coast before stopping off in Amalfi for 3hrs. (I thought I’d booked a cruise that was actually going to Capri, but ah well!). We left the hotel around 9.15am, as we’d been instructed to be at the harbor by 9.45am, in advance of meeting the boat at 10am. According to Google maps, the harbor was only a 15min walk away, the majority of which it said was “level surface”. AHEM Google! What were you thinking?!!! The only level thing about our walk down to the harbor that approaching anything close to “level” was my heartrate as it threatened to flat line due to exertion!! So. Many. Stairs. For a landscape that was obviously trying to kill you, it was all very lovely and picturesque – lots of winding narrow streets, cute little shops and plazas and a charming harbor. It took us a solid 25mins to make our way down to the harbor front – so it was a good job we’d left with a bit of time to spare. As expected, it was a bit chaotic as all the boat tours and ferries gathered there so there were a ton of people milling about. But we actually found our tour company’s little turquoise-roofed shack pretty easily and got checked in, then waited around for 10mins before hopping onto the little shuttle dinghy that took us out to our boat. It wasn’t particularly fancy – but it was nice enough and we managed to bag a spot in the shade. It had only just gone past 10am and already it was as hot as balls, so there was no way I was going to fry myself out on the front on the boat. I’d deliberately chosen one of the boat tours that served smaller groups, so there were about 12 of us in total, all couples. There was one older couple that had great energy between them which was very sweet to see and another couple that barely spoke or looked at each other the whole time. Yikes.
Of course, the scenery as we chugged along the coast was spectacular – how could you be anything other than impressed by the crazy way the villas and hotels are carved into the rocky cliffs? Our captain was kinda dialing it in, though, as it related to his tour guide duties – he’d occasionally step away from the helm, point to a random building or villa on the cliffside and shout out its name. No additional useful information – just the name. It reminded me of the terrible tour ManpanionTM and I had on our (1st) honeymoon in Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic where our (private – and expensive!) tour guide could barely speak English (grr) and would just point at buildings and bark out phrases such as “Cristopher Colombe – I live here”. It was a real bummer as we were keen to learn about the history of this incredible old city and instead we got nothing of value. Not that I’m still annoyed about it a year later, of course….
Anyway, en route to Amalfi, we stopped off for a couple of swims – I skipped the first swim as the water looked a bit grubby – call me an aquatic snob, but I prefer my oceans to be non-foamy. The second swim stop, I figured I should probably stop being a wimp and take the plunge. It was pretty warm and not too unpleasant and bizarrely, I soon found myself swimming alongside multiple champagne corks. Now THAT’S my kinda ocean! It was a bit baffling until I noticed a number of nearby yachts infested with “influencers” who were popping and posing like there was no tomorrow! Mystery solved! I did feel slightly bad for the captain who looked somewhat weary as if he was in the process of questioning all his life choices that had brought him to that particular moment. The highlight of the second swim was the “Emerald Grotto” – a singularly unimpressive and weirdly stinky cave that you were able to swim to from the boat. Maybe I just missed what all the fuss was about – I couldn’t see the water was any different color than you’d expect and it was just dark and scuzzy. So a bit of a swizz really. We didn’t actually visit the more impressive cave, the “blue grotto” – but that one is a bit more of a pain in the arse to get to apparently, so c’est la vie.
After the second swim, the captain cracked open a bottle of prosecco so I guess that marked the swimming portion of the trip as over. Safety first everybody! Actually, I do appreciate the fairly lackadaisical approach to health and safety that seems to be the norm in Italy – basically the onus seems to be pretty much on you not to be an idiot and do something dangerous and stupid – for example, we were not made to wear lifejackets while on the boat (in fact, the captain hasn’t even told us where they are – which might be pushing it a little too far!). And for our swim, he didn’t ask or check whether everyone was a good swimmer or if anyone needed any floatation devices for assistance – its was “here’s the ocean – go do your thang”. I’m not the world’s strongest swimmer and it was a bit further to the stinky cave than it looked, so I was rather envious of another boat’s pool noodles as I slowly flapped my way back to the boat. After about 90mins, we arrived in Amalfi (not Capri – oops) and it does look very pretty from the shoreline. We disembarked and then had 3hrs at leisure to go explore.
So I know this may be somewhat controversial opinion, but I have to say that I think that Amalfi is *gasp* overrated. OK – it has a pretty church up some steps – but that was kinda it as far as we could tell. Churches are not really my thing, so neither of us had any particular interest in visiting so instead we went to get some lunch and simply tried to stay cool!! One thing I have discovered already since arriving here – the ubiquitous Limoncello spritz. Limoncello, prosecco and soda water. Delicious and refreshing – and slips down way too easily! After lunch we schlepped around the tourist stores for a bit, and then found a beach bar where we could sit in the shade as we waited for our boat to return. All it all, it was a fun enough day – but the boat trip did get a little dull on the way back plus it was SOOOO hot!!
Anyway, finally back to Positano harbor – and time to make the long arduous climb back up to the hotel. I started counting the steps as a way to try and take my mind off what was happening to my lower extremities but stopped counting after 500 steps as it was just too much effort! Positano is incredibly pretty and full of charm – but man, is it hard on the legs!!! Coming down first thing in the morning to meet our boat was bad enough, with legs and knees shaking like jelly by the time we got to the bottom. This time round, it was a complete calf muscle work-out – holy cow! I know I’m out of shape at the moment, but that was something else! As an aside, the next day as we were checking out of the hotel, we got chatting to the owner and she said that her 85yr mother makes the trek down to the harbor Every Single Day. You have all my respect, ma’am! We did make life a little harder for ourselves as we took a wrong turn/staircase and found ourselves on the wrong side of the valley (doh!), so we had to go back down and round – but it actually wasn’t too bad and, through the sweat and heat exhaustion, we did get to see a different part of town so I guess that was something.
After all those excursions, there was nothing left but to take a shower and have a killer nap, before heading out for a very special anniversary dinner. THIS was the Michelin star restaurant (not the one the night before) and it was located in one of the best hotels in Positano, the Il San Pietro de Positano https://www.ilsanpietro.com/. We took a cab there (30 euros!) and were shown to the terrace first for drinks. The sun had almost set by the time we arrived, so our view was a little impaired but man – it was still pretty amazing! The terrace out the back was huge and lined with curving stone benches that were painted beautifully, accented by some artful looking trees perfectly silhouetted against the evening sky. The restaurant itself was lovely – very tasteful with terrific service. The people-watching was outstanding (ManpanionTM and I made up all kinds of stories about the provenance of our dining companions) and we splurged and picked the tasting menu with wine pairing. Everything was absolutely delicious and by the end of the evening we were absolutely stuffed!! We rolled home via another taxi (35 euros!) and a short walk before flopping into bed.
Goodnight everybody!
