Gorgeous, Gorgeous, Gorgeous

A very short blog because we were only here less than a day, but it was so good I decided it deserved its own blog.

Only about an hours drive from where we were staying in Pompei was the beautiful and drop-dead gorgeous Amalfi coast. High on Kristi’s bucket list of places go, we had to allow at least a day to check it out but where was the best place to go?

Talking to our Air BnB host that day over a couple of glasses of Limoncello we asked him in our broken Italian where would he suggest going just for a day? In true Italian style, he put his middle finger to his thumb, put both closed fingers to his lips, kissed them and spoke one name with a smile……..Positano

Famous for its fashion design and nearly vertical setting with colorful villas stacked one on top of another up the cliff side we couldn’t wait to see it.

The drive to the coast was relatively simple and ordinary. When we hit the coast road to follow it along the cliff tops to Positano the feeling instantly hit me. I was in a scene from the brilliant English movie “The Italian Job”, not the lastest American remake, but the classic “your only supposed to blow the bloody doors off” one from 1969. Here I was Michael Cane driving around the tight coast roads of The Amalfi coast trying to be incognito to the Italian mafia. Any minute now I would drive around the next tight curve, through the tunnel and hit the roadblock where Kristi would be snatched and my Alfa Romeo Spider would be sent rolling down the cliff by their JCB.

Famous for its lemons the size of rugby balls we passed a dozen roadside stalls selling dozens of them along with their homemade Limoncello. We avoided the tourist coaches around the tight corners, found the one way feed road down into Positano and decided to try and find a car park in the tiny streets. We found a suitable place for about Euro 30 for 6 hours, bit the bullet and took off to explore the town and beach area. The one thing that Kristi wanted to do was to sit high on the cliff, overlooking the town and coastline and sip on an Italian cappucino. I was able to fulfill this dream and the boys ate the most expensive waffles they will ever eat and everyone was enjoying the surroundings. Forecast to rain, we came unprepared because we had yet another glorious day from start to finish.

The streets are all one way because they are only about 3 meters wide in some spots. Full of cafe’s, gelato shops, tourist shops and old churches we were heading for the popular beach area.

The clientele were very chic and in their moment, private art exhibitions laid out in courtyards with champagne receptions the area oozed rich.

Of course Ashton’s only stop again was to look inside the church, this one, the Church of Santa Maria Assunta is an important part of Positano’s cultural, religious and architectural landscape. Dating back to the 15th century and started as an Abbey the church is one of the town’s most prominent and photographed sights, as it is located right in the center of Positano just a few steps from our destination, the lovely Marina Grande Beach. 

Holding his lips to be silent we had a quick look around before heading to the beach.

We spent quite a few hours here, enjoying the weather, the chic people watching and letting the boys enjoy a bit of freedom from the car and put their toes in the water.

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We grabbed a gelato for everyone, ate our picnic lunch on the beach and wished we had come for a few days. It was stunning.

If you do go to Pompeii for a visit make sure you tag on at least a day to see this beautiful coastline and towns that seem to stick to the cliff face at every angle.

Like I said it was well worth a blog of its own, check out the rest of the small gallery of images here.

Did we mention in this blog it was gorgeous? We only wish we had stayed here longer.

Next blog………….. Cavtat and Dubrovnic, Croatia