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Published: July 12th 2006
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Positano
A view of Positano from the ferry The Amalfi Coast is one of those places in Italy, like Cinque Terre, that I have always heard people raving about. Rather than taking the winding mountain side road through the town of Amalfi to Positano, I took a ferry straight from Salerno. As we approached the porto at the base of the hillside town, I immediately understood what all the buzz was about. The town was stunning. And continuing with my south Italian theme, there was pretty much nothing to do but eat, go to the beaches and relax.
My activity for the day was to hop on this little boat that takes people to a restaurant up the coast called Da Adolfo that is only accessible via the water. They have a small beach in front of the open air restaurant, where I relaxed for most of the afternoon before grabbing a seafood lunch. As you might have guessed, after pretty much repeating this routine for over a week, I had accumulated a nice tan at that point (along with about 50 mosquito bites).
At night, I headed to the Hotel Le Sirenuse, named for the nearby rocks said to be where mythological Sirens lived. The hotel
was super swanky, and it's restaurant and champagne lounge had breathtaking views of the duomo near the sea and back up at the town. I took some killer night time photos from the balcony, with a near full moon in the background. I looked at tables and tables of couples around me and chuckled to myself as I considered that likelihood of anyone else in the restaurant sleeping in a bunk bed, as I would be that night. The restaurant was pretty expensive, but I did have some good food. Wish I had known that scorpion fish was monk fish, which typically I do not like. I would absolutely recommend stopping in for a drink at the lounge, if you go to Positano, especially if you are there with a significant other.
After dinner I met up with a couple people from the hostel and headed to the one club in town (and really the only place to go out), Music on the Rocks. The place was fairly empty before 1am, and peaking at 2.30, just 30 minutes before our hostel curfew. The three of us decided to stay out, even though we know the club closed at 4.30
Positano at night
A view form the Hotel Le Sirenuse restaurant and that we would have 2.5 hours before the hostel doors would open back up. Somehow at the end of the night, I couldn't find the other two and ended up sleeping by myself on the beach. Luckily the beach chairs that they rent out during the day were still out. It actually starting getting cold around 5.30, and by 6.30 I made my way back up the hundreds of steps to the hostel at the top of the town.
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I was inticed to do one, low key, tourist activity on my second day in Positano--a visit to the Emarald Gotto. I made my way down to the ticket office at the port and bought a ticket for the 2pm tour. I returned to the dock at 1.45 as instructed and patiently waited for the boat. When the boat had not come by 2.10, I went to the ticket booth to find out what was going on. Apparently, I was supposed to take my reservation slip to the ticket booth to get my ticket, and since they didn't know I was there waiting, the boat had left without me. As you might imagine, the port is not
particularly big, so I am not sure from where this alleged boat came and went. I am also a little confused as to why they wouldn't have just given me my ticket since I had paid only two hours before. Mostly I was just extremely frustrated because I was leaving first thing in the morning and that was my last opportunity to visit the grotto. Quickly thinking, I made my way to the bus stop, where I would have my last possibility of getting to the grotto. I didn't have to wait long for the bus, but as soon as boarding began, I realized that I was supposed to have bought a ticket from a tobacco shop, since the driver does not take cash directly. This is also slightly confusing because the bus that drives through town does accept cash onboard. If I were to have waited for the next bus, I would not have made it to the grotto before it closed. Luckily, the driver was nice enough to let me on, and he told me to just buy a second ticket when I get off.
The grotto was definitely worth a visit. From the main road, you
The Town at Night
From Hotel Sirenuse take an elevator down to the grotto, where big row boats are waiting to take groups around inside. The reason it is called the Emarald grotto is because of the way the light comes into the cave through a small hole at the top and also through and underwater cave, the water itself appears to be emerald. Looks pretty cool when you splash water up with the oar. The cave itself have stalagtites and stalagmites coming from all sides (ok, I admit, I can't remember which ones come from the top and which come from the bottom). There is also a strange rock formation that somewhat resembles the profile of Ronald Regan. The guide actually pointed this out himself. Wasn't me that made it up. Along with the rest of my bad luck for the day, somehow my camera was not working. I seem to remember it accidentally turning on in my pocket earlier that morning and hearing a funny noise but initially thought nothing of it. Immediately, I began to consider what I would have to do once I get home this weekend if I needed to get a new camera on the fly before heading off to Asia.
Music on the Rocks
The only club in town When I confirmed through Canon online support that the error message corresponded to a problem with the lens and found useful advice to "be careful not to turn the camera on while its in the case" and not to "put your finger on the lens when trying to take a picture," I gave the outside of the lens a little tug as it was opening and I was back in business. Finally my luck had taken a change for the better.
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Fortunately for Italy, that good luck would continue. I made it through the whole the World Cup tournament with the home team winning each game they played while I was in their country. I thought that I was a good luck charm until I met an Australian guy at the hostel who in addition to the World Cup (like me), he was present in Barcelona when they won the European Premier league earlier this year. Of course, our group of 9 people from the hostel could not find a table to watch the game 10 minutes before kickoff, so we ended up being the only people in a restaurant with a tiny TV at the end
of the port. I don't think the cook was particularly happy with our arrival as he had to move from his seat and back into the kitchen. At halftime, the group migrated to the main piazza of the town where there had a big screen set up. When Italy won the game in overtime, the place went nuts. There were fireworks all over the place, and of course, the White Stripes theme song. We made our way down to the beach, where we expected more celebration, but were somewhat surprised to find a relatively calm scene. Guess that's what happens when you get a bunch of tourists who want to be part of the celebration but don't want to lead the celebration. On our way back to the hostel, there was still a sizeable crowd gathered in the piazza celebrating, but overall, I thought the place would have been a little crazier. I can only imagine what it was like in Rome.
Travel tidbits: *
Brikette Hostel was at the top of town, but really the only budget place around. Very friendly staff.
*
Hotel Sirenuse this is a must stop for a swanky lounge with amazing views of the town and chillout music.
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Janet
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Lucky you~!
Josh and I were talking about you during the final... Must have been amazing, being in Italia for the world cup final! Can't believe it's over now. I think we're suffering from withdrawal...