Getting to know Positano

I have made a note where there is a good supermarket/ deli in Praiano and our first mission for the morning is to find it and stock up on breakfast and some lunch food with snacks for the hikes. Our first attempt draws a blank and we have to retrace our steps back home and try the other way to get back to the top of the road.

It is a pleasant coastal stroll lined with cute resting benches finished with colorful ceramic tiles. We scale the winding path to the main road and start walking back to the centre of town. Although the map indicates streets, we only see narrow, vertically challenged steps leading up the hill. In the end I try a bit of my Italian with some mechanics on the road and sure enough we are meant to take the steps.

We pass two men taking turns along the steps passing buckets of soil as they manually excavate for a home Reno. There are fun ceramic tiles incorporated into the walls as we go up, up.

The market proves to be small be extremely well stocked. We get fresh strawberries, avocado, peach, banana and some yummy cheeses and freshly baked bread. We are set for a few days now. As we look down from where we came it is a feat deserving of a Big breakfast.

On the way home we check out the local ceramic store, there are  some amazing pieces there. It will just be hard to choose what will survive the journey back home. We get a number of tickets for the local SITA bus to get us around the Amalfi Coast and decide that today it’s Positano.

The few kms to Positano proves challenging for Tanya as the bus is really overcrowded and hot, not a good combination for a sensitive tummy. When we arrive it is picture perfect with just the right amount of cloud and blue sky. We have a wander exploring the little streets that steeply head towards the water.

The beach is black sand and private, so today we do not get to dip a toe in the water. After a brief shower it’s back to the perfect blue and we wind our way back up to the top of the hill after a yummy home made lunch.

It is quite the engineering feat all these houses layered into the rocks with the odd one having quite an extensive garden. We decide to try a different bus company and experience our first grumpy and unfriendly Italian bus driver. Through some turn of fate we get him when I initially ask about the bus in town, then when we get to the top when he is taking his bus somewhere else and finally when he is going where we want to go.  We feel sad for him that he doesn’t seem to like his job much.

After an interesting route home which tested our orientational abilities we get off right where we started and we just have the final descent home.

We do feel welcome in this little town.

Dinner is delicious, fresh, gigantic cappellaci with ricotta and spinach with a wild porcini mushroom tomato sauce , a big serving of melted butter over the cappellaci and finished with a generous sprinkle of freshly grated pecorino, Yummy!