Positano

Positano.  The jewel of the Amalfi Coast and the playground for the rich and famous.  The little village made popular in North America by the 2003 blockbuster film "Under The Tuscan Sun", this is a bucket list stop for many visiting Italy.  But is it really THAT good, and do you have to spend a fortune to enjoy it?

Today our idea was to visit the ruins of Pompeii now that we have been to both the National Archaeological Museum in Naples and the ruins of Herculaneum.  But when we woke up and checked the weather app on my phone, it looked like rain to the North of Sorrento, and sun to the South. Soooo...quick change of plans was in order and we were heading South, to the Amalfi coast!

After breakfast of fresh bread from the Deco Market, we walked up to the train station in Sorrento. This is where you can catch all the buses that connect Sorrento with the other towns in the area; called the SITA bus. You can purchase your bus tickets from the "TICKET POINT" kiosk on the street level of the Sorrento train station.   The SITA BUS one-way fare from Sorrento to Positano costs ONLY €1.80 and takes about one hour. Since it was not tourist season in Sorrento, we only had to arrive 15 minutes early to get a good seat on the bus. We scored front row seats!!  During the busier summer months, you will have to queue up at least 45 minutes before the departure time to make sure you get a window seat.

TIP #1: SIT ON THE RIGHT-HAND SIDE OF THE BUS TO GET THE BEST VIEWS AS YOU HEAD SOUTH DOWN THE AMALFI COASTLINE. 

900 Year Old Amalfi Road

I have to admit I have a special place in my heart for Positano. After the town was featured in the movie "Under The Tuscan Sun" having lunch on the beach in Positano (like Francesca and Marcelo did in the film) has been on my wish list for decades.  If you are a true "Under The Tuscan Sun" fan,  the Hotel California in Positano is where a gorgeous balcony scene was filmed.  Ask for room #62 if you want the exact location of "Marcelo's apartment" in the film!

View Of The Sparkling Bay Of Salerno From The SITA Bus

Once we departed, the bus worked it's way down the Corso Italia all the way through the next town of Piano di Sorrento. The bus then lumbers upwards over the top of the mountains of the Sorrento peninsula.   You pass by terraces of olive trees, lemon groves and past some spectacular B&B's, until you reach the coast and the sparkling Bay of Salerno far, FAR below.  This is where things start to get interesting and I was glad to be sitting up front, otherwise, I would suffer some serious motion sickness.  TIP #2: IF YOU SUFFER FROM MOTION SICKNESS TAKE YOUR PILLS BEFORE YOU GET ON THIS BUS.  The Amalfi Coast road is 900 years old and is a stunning feat of engineering. Steep cliffs on one side, and sheer drops into the ocean on the other.  It reminded me of the "Sea To Sky Highway" from Vancouver to Squamish...but imagine people constantly overtaking you on their little scooters, cars pulled over randomly on the side of the road (blocking the narrow two-lane road to one lane), and a large bus coaches trying to squeeze through all this mayhem! 
More cool features of the Amalfi drive are the many tunnels carved through the limestone cliffs and lots of ancient stone watchtowers along the coast. The giant watchtowers served as alarms to warn people along the Amalfi coast of approaching Saracen pirate who would attack often.  

Majolica Covered Dome

Finally, we came around the corner, and there was Positano in front of us; spilling down the ravine into the sea.  There are two SITA bus stops in Positano: Chiesa Nuova and Sponda. We decided to get off at the Sponda stop and wander our way down through the village to the beach.  The views from the main road looking down on Positano were so incredibly beautiful. Little whitewashed or pastel coloured houses piled up on top of each other, old ironwork fences and gates keeping out the nosy tourists, flowers everywhere...and of course the sea far below calling to us.  We followed the wandering pedestrian lane Via Cristoforo Colombo downwards past clothing stores full of gorgeous linens and artisan boutiques full of all things handmade:  ceramics, jewellery and lots of leather sandals. In fact, the Amalfi coast is renowned for its handmade leather sandals.

Down To The Beach

We followed the path underneath a huge wisteria trellis; (too bad it was not yet blooming) making our way to the beautiful church of Santa Maria Assunta, with its gorgeous majolica tile dome. There seemed to be restorations going on around the church so we did not go inside as we had hoped to.  Later we found out the church WAS still accessible, and that it houses a 12th-century painting of the Black Madonna...and an intriguing legend of how Positano earned its name.  Modern Positano is built on Roman ruins and was just as much a retreat for the wealthy Romans 2000 years ago, as it is today.  In fact, a Roman villa is being excavated in the town by archaeologists currently.

View of  Positano From Spiaggia Grande

Positano Life

We finally arrived at the main beach:  Spiaggia Grande.  There were nice restaurants lining the beach in both directions. At this time of year, the only things that seemed to be sunning on the pebbly beach are the fishing boats instead of tourists. It seemed Positano was still asleep from Winter.  We passed by grocery stores, hotels and shops that were closed until mid-April and everyone was out scrubbing, painting and preening their properties to get ready for the upcoming tourist season in a few weeks.  Positano was a sleepy, uncaring village at this point and even though my general rule of thumb for travel destinations is: "it's never as good as in the movies"  I was still a bit disappointed. Let's vow to return in the height of summer one day to compare notes ✎



We explored the beachfront a bit, petting cats and taking photos until our stomachs could no longer take the smells of the delicious food wafting out of the restaurant kitchens!  I wanted a fancy lunch out.  We had been cooking at home all week, taking public transit, packing snacks along, and I wanted to splurge.  I chose restaurant "La Pergola".  It covered our family needs; pizza for the teen and the most beautiful view of Positano's beach.  They also had a local dish I had been dreaming of trying for months: Impepata di cozze freshly steamed mussels with cracked black pepper. We ordered the mussels to share, a mixed seafood pasta for Luke and gnocchi Alla Sorrentina for me. Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina should not be missed in the Sorrento area: light fluffy potato dumplings with a creamy tomato sauce and buffalo mozzarella.  We ordered a small bottle of the house white that went so well with our mussels-everything was just perfect: the excellent service, the wine, the ambience.   Also, all the little touches; like olives delivered to the table to snack on with the bread.  It was a most memorable meal on the Amalfi coast-eat your heart out Francis & Marcelo!

After that glorious meal, we needed to lie on the beach for a while; there was no way we were going to climb up to the top of town in a food coma.  The little round pebbles of Spiaggia Grande were warm from the sun, and the sound of the waves so soothing we were asleep on the beach before we knew it!   Liam woke us up after he had been exploring down the beach and back.  He checked out some cool caves in the limestone cliffs at the far end of the main beach.  It was time to start heading back up-hill to Chiesa Nuova where we could catch the SITA bus back home to Marina Grande in Sorrento. 
On the way up the staircase serving as a street, Luke noticed a shop selling handmade sandals. We stopped into "La Botteguccia" for a peek and we were impressed by all the styles of handmade leather sandals for men and women.  Luke tried on a pair of dark brown leather sandals constructed by a cobbler, Giovanni, who had been making sandals in Positano for over 40 years!  SOLD!  These sandals were an expertly hand-crafted treasure Luke will have for years to come.

Continuing our ever upwards climb, past the tempting wine bars and linen shops; we decide to use our Maps.Me app to duck into a small twisting staircase that led us up through a labyrinth of residential corridors.  Here is where we met the "real" Positano.  Faded paint on old doors in Mediterranean colours, cacti growing out of tiny cracks in walls and many "Madonnelle" or shrines to the Virgin Mary built into niches. Eventually, we popped out at the top of town and the highway.  We found a little store that sold SITA bus tickets and took the coach back home to Sorrento in time to watch the sun tuck itself into the Bay of Salerno.  



Back at Marina Grande, we told our new friend Simone all about our adventures that day.  He introduced us to his Mother and Sister who also were working in the store.  We bought our dinner supplies on the recommendation of Simone's Mama and headed home to cook dinner. After dinner, we went out for our "passeggiata" or evening stroll around Sorrento. Gelato was in order for the night, and I felt something sophisticated. Luke still had yet to try his first ever gelato; declined again.  ???
I ducked into Raki gelateria on the main tourist street Via San Cesario.   Raki is known for creative gourmet gelato flavours.  This is serious gelato, my friends! I got a local walnut and honey gelato that was to die for! Sorrento is known for its walnuts, so any chance I can get to try some-I'm in!  

Today had turned into one of those days you realized that your travel dreams can come true, and you don't have to break the bank to do it.   I came to the conclusion years ago that travelling like the "Rich and Famous" does more to isolate you, then to integrate you into the local scene in my humble opinion.  We travel frugally so that we can make the occasional splurge of say, a beachside lunch on the Amalfi Coast's poshest town🍷