Good Morning Positano!

It's hard to believe we're finally here. 2 hours in a car, 8 hours on a plane, 1 hour on another plane, and one more hour in a car. It actually wasn't bad and we traveled with ease. The excitement of our final destination surely helped.

What a view!

It's an odd experience when you see something in photographs and then see it in real life for the first time. Positano, however, did not disappoint.

The first glimpse we got of the classic Positano postcard shot was from our hotel room. During the long drive along the Amalfi coast I kept thinking I'd see it around the next bend. Even when we arrived in Positano and began our way down the narrow streets I was looking for it around every corner. It was not until we found our room, dropped our bags, and stepped back outside that we finally saw the postcard shot.

The hillside rises up dramatically from the sea and is checkered with houses, hotels, and restaurants all jostling for space. It makes you wonder why someone would attempt to build a city on a cliff. Positano is a mysterious place with lots of history. A history I hope to explore during my next week here.

There's also the people. I was told September is a low month for tourism but the town is bubbling over with families, couples, locals, and others looking for a good time. If you took Times Square and stretched it across a cliffside and ran a one-way street zigzagging from top to bottom you'd have a close approximation. As our driver took us deeper and deeper into Positano it seemed a crazed moped rider with a death wish would come hurtling around each turn directly into our lane of traffic. 

After a long exchange in Italian between the cab driver and his boss it was determined that we couldn't actually park at the hotel and we'd have to walk the final few blocks through narrow passageways and down many stone steps. But we finally found it.

We made it!

Our room is beautiful. It has a shuttered door that opens to the ocean and I can hear the waves lapping while I write these words. It also has a bidet. If Max was here I'd dare him to use it. He'd probably do it. And enjoy it.

The streets of Positano feel like King Minos's Labyrinth or maybe like the woods of Hansel and Gretel. I need to tie a string to the hotel or drop a trail of bread crumbs so I can find my way back. 

After settling into our room we set out to find somewhere to eat. It was not difficult given the generous ratio of restaurants to pretty much everything else in Positano. We strolled along the Spiaggia Grande while the lights of Positano lit up the cliffside like a Christmas tree. At every twist and turn of the alleyways a new shop beckoned with nautical-themed sandals, linen shirts, or shiny yellow bottles of Limoncello.

For washing small dogs.

We had dinner at Chez Black, opting to stay close to the beach until we get a better lay of the land. Despite our spotty Italian skills we managed to order drinks and I had my first taste of Grappa which is an Italian brandy and filled me with warmth from head to toe. Jenna ordered Penne with eggplant and mozzarella and I had that old Italian staple spaghetti and meatballs.

After dinner we took a walk down the now darkened beach. The top of the beach started off smooth and sandy but our expectations were quickly lowered as we neared the water and the sand turned to small and then large pebbles. We'd heard there isn't much of a beach here which is fine with me. I'm here for the ocean.

On our way back two dark figures slumped again a fence yelled out to ask where we were from. It turned out to be a nice young couple from Vancouver swigging from a nearly empty bottle of red wine.

Dining along the Spiaggia Grande. 

They were finishing up a 2 week tour and passed on some tips. They told us we had to tour the Amalfi coast by scooter, not to pay more than €60 for a dress shirt, the best places to find pizza, and that only lame tourists pronounce thanks as "grazi" when it should be "grazia" (I tried to research this one on Google and still haven't found a good explanation of the distinction). We said our goodbyes and headed back to the room. Luckily, we managed to find our hotel through the twists and turns.

But I guess that's part of the adventure. Not knowing exactly where you're going or how you're going to get back.

Tomorrow will be our first productive day.