To Positano
In the early morning packing the final items, hugging our cats (Maja&Loeki), giving them a lot of food and off to Bruxelles. At the airport all goes quite smooth, parking checking in, etc. Only eating is an issue, not much of our liking (we end up at Pizza Hut ... ).
Short, quick flight, which can't be said for the bagage handeling. It took forever. As the shuttle was late this actually didn't matter in the end (we quickly check with the B&B where we are staying - Villa Mary: "the will arrive at 16:30". Aha, they still had our initial flight details). On time it arrived. We were joined by a couple that headed for Sorento.
"To the left Vesuvio". "To the right Capri". Man, what a view!
After about one and a half hours we arrive in Positano, at B&B Villa Mary. A warm welcome and a beautiful room where waiting for us. We walk on the balcony to take in the view. Despite of it being late May it is cold in the South of Italy, and windy: did we bring the right clothes? Tiziana, the owner, arrives to give us a detailed explanation on Positano. Too much info, but all helpfull.
We are hungry, so we take the Positano "Highway" down to the center. The footpath brings us there in about 5 minutes. What a cute little town this is! After a nice salad and a pizza we return to our B&B.
At the local (in town stops only) busstops we see that it will take another 15 minutes before the bus arrives. We decide to walk (the ~300 steps up) back. Not bad, not bad at all, a good 10 minutes and we are back at B&B Villa Mary.
The 1st day has come to an end .... time to sleep.
Rain
The weather forecasts are bad, still the start of the day is quite fair. During our delicious breakfast the sun even tries to show her face. We decide to have a lazy first day, just strolling the streats of Positano.
After having browsed a few shops it starts to drip. During lunch, again at Caprice, we cuddle up under a nice and warm gas heater. Later, on our way back to the B&B the 'on the spot' purchased umbrella comes at handy. The jacuzzi in the room is a nice and warm welcome! Let's hope the rain will leave soon (wheather forecast say it will).
Just after six in the afternoon the rain stops and the sky clears up. We slowly stroll back to to the town center, explore another bit to left and right. Dinner we have again at Caprice (we know it sounds boring, and we normally also like to sample, but the food is good, the view is good, the atmosphere is good, the price is good ... and they have terras heaters!).
Tomorrow we will go to Amalfi or Capri - final decission at breakfast. Maja & Loeki both show up on our webcam, we can sleep w/o worry.
Capri
We decide to go to Capri. So we better hurry, as the boat is leaving in an hour. The weather is great, hopefully it stays like this! Despite of my running back to the room to get the sunlotion, we, just, catch the boat in time. The boat ride to Capri is nice, smooth with a beautiful view.
On arrival we ..... yes, what to do now? Hmmm ... La Grotta Azzurra is advertised as the main attracktion, so let's give it a go. To bad the harbour has just been floaded by Chinese (?) tourist .. all heading for the same Grotto. Anyway ... we go. On our boat we are joined by Japanese tourist we learn: and they are soo quiet. After having spent 26 euro to get to the Grotto, and another 25 to get in - on a little row boat - we feel a 'bit' ripped off when after 3 minutes we already depard the Grotto. It is blue, beautiful blue ..... but that (25.50 euro's a person) beautiful? Not really!
But the sun shines, the sky is blue, we're in Italy .. so who cares :-)
We take the funicolare to Capri and find it to be lovely and relaxed, with cute alleys, nice shops and breath taking views.
For lunch we decide to go to small restauran called "Aurora", an affordable good choice according our tour guide. When Petra returns from the toilet, and having seen the foto's of all the rich and famous that visited this restaurant on the walls, she asks: "Are you sure we can afford this?". We could, but just. So it was far from cheap. But okay, this is Capri, so what would you expect.
We stroll the nice little streets for an other few hours and take in many more breathtaking views before we return to Positano. Dinner at Caprice is the end of another lovely day!
Relax
About today there is not so much to tell as actually didn't do anything. Just relaxing at Positano beach and enjoying the nice weather. We didn't enter the sea as it was full of jellyfish. Another simple and good dinner at Caprice.
"We declined the suggestion from our B&B to try free pick-up to a restaurant up the hill. It is much too nice to be in Positano down town at the harbour and sit out side, rather than inside somewhere far away".
Ravello
What a nice thing to do: cruise the Amalfi Coast in a Smart. Conclusion: Positano is the loveliest town, but also Ravello is a 'must do' town, with nice parcs, gardens and - again - breathtaking views. It is unbelievable, but there isn't corner in the road nor a town along the coast that disappoints with respect to scenery. This corner of the world is truely a very beautiful corner!
"Half way stop at the Grotto Emeraldo. 2 x 5 euro, and again a small colourfull cave on a boat. At least this time the boatsmen made a show of it! The same boats man surprised us big time! "Where are you from?" "Maastricht, aha ... MVV" Where did he know such a small soccer club from? "I bed on them all the time, but always loose" Well, so do they"
Positano - Little beach
Today we plan to discover the other side of Positano. Just again a relaxed day strolling the streets and ending up at a beach bar on the other - small - beach of Positano. The prosciutto e melone is very good!
Petra finally made up her mind and bought a beautiful pair of earrings. We end the day with a lovely simple dinner .... by now you knowe where.
Back home
The last delicious breakfast. A quick stroll trough town. And off we go .... but we'll be back, some day.
