Italian Vacation...Day 8...A Beautiful Day At Sea

Today we had planned a boat tour on a different part of the coast than before...

this time was

The Amalfi Coast.

And here comes our Captain to pick us up

Alexander

It was a nice day...sometimes sun and sometimes cloud but never no rain....at times a little windy but beautiful...it did rain some in Positano while we were gone.

 we saw smaller towns along the way to Amalfi and beyond...all just breath taking, especially along the water...the view from the water is beyond words and the pictures just don't do it justice.

 I believe this is the town of Atrani...beautiful.

There are more pictures in this post as it is hard to choose which pictures to share....I wish I could share them all with you...you would never tire of looking at them.

While out on the boat we took a couple hundred pictures...each!

 and as any good sail out on the water should be...relaxing...enjoying the beauty that surrounds you while sipping on wine...at this moment in time

Life Is Good!

 If you were to click on the picture below to enlarge you would see the road above where cars drive to get from town to town...That would be The Amalfi Coast drive...which we did...by sea is much better.

 an old part of a castle that is used as a hotel and the white part above has been an added addition.

It's a private resort with their private beach.

Owned by Americans.

 This white house the hugs the cliffs and looks out into The Mediterranean Sea use to belong to Sophia Loren...she had for many many years and recently sold it a few years ago.

 The town of Amalfi

 It was nice to see the towns being sunny and then also with overcast...gave you two different beautiful perspectives. This is what would make me want to live on the sea.

 A small inlet area that you can pull in from the sea and have a little private beach.

Beautiful.

 I forget the name of the cave at the moment but it was big enough to enter by boat...it was gorgeous...and the way it lit up when inside.

 Once we were done going down the coast it was time to go back up and stop at a little place for lunch....we were shown places along the way...we could of gotten off in Amalfi...but Amalfi is so busy ...that this place was highly recommended and as a local spot...I love the restaurants that you can reach by boat.

We wanted to be a little adventurous and eat something that was more the way the Italians ate... which by the way is a lot of seafood...I was a little more adventurous than Lonnie which surprised me (my inner Fonda must be coming out in me)...but we decided to give it a try and go off the recommendation of our Captain and waiter.

If you want to have fish they will show you the fish and you can choose how it is cooked and prepared...I know...it's hard to be adventurous when your food looks like that.

So, the fish you choose is the one they cook, if you don't choose your fish then you get a fish that is already cut and prepared and not what you see.

Can you tell what fish we chose?

 And here we are with our Captain, a selection of fish and a beautiful view...

I could of stayed here all day...it is very relaxing and for about half our time here we were the only ones.

 Another view from our table...what a way to spend the day sipping wine.

 This is the fish we chose...the red ugly one...head still on...but it was fabulous...so good...before the main meal we even had a little appetizers....octopus (second time to try) a little mussels, a seaweed potato and a fried anchoive with a cream cheese filling...my first time to try those...it was all good...

the anchoive was a little fishy but not as fishy if it would have not been fried with all the other ingredients.

 While I ate I couldn't help telling the stories of how adventurous with food my friend Fonda is and how she let's her guides and waiters order for her when she is somewhere new, and how proud she would be that I was stepping out of my comfort zone with food and how I was experiencing this without her and if only she was here and if I would have enough nerve to try this back in The States.

Once our meal was done they brought us Limencello...we ended up with 2 each....this by far was the best Limencello...it's made in this region of Italy but everyone makes it a little different...some real sweet, some real tart some a mixture of sweet and tart but this was smooth and good....no face afterwards.

Salute!

 Lonnie liked the Limencello so much she bought a bottle.

 Our time aboard has come to an end...so sad...we are now back in Positano.

It was a great day at sea...enjoyed our Captain Alexander so much.

It was nice to meet someone and have conversation with and learn a little bit of their way of life.

He works 6 months in busy season and then in the winter he travels for 4 months.

I seriously need to travel more!

 Once back on land we headed to Chez Black...a restaurant on the beach...I had wanted to try this place since planning our trip to Positano...it had great reviews in all the places I had read...it also is apparently where stars come to eat when here, etc....

Let me say...I was NOT impressed...they were slow and unattentive as the other restaurants I have been in not that way...and with that being said...most Italians are slow, they are in no hurry but they were less than standard...the food okay but our restaurant we had been too on 3 different occasions was much better...it was lacking charm...it was just different...

So we enjoyed our wine...watched the rain and then headed up 187 steps to our Villa

It was a good day in Positano!

And for those wondering...Alexander is the Digit man...lol

As any good American rule...

What Happens In Positano .... Stays In Positano!

LOL

Italian Vacation...Day 7...A View Around The Corner

Just so we know what day it is within this post....

this day is May 30, 2014.

It started out a very leisurely day.

We chilled, relaxed and tanned on the terrace this morning with a most wonderful view.

It was a nice sunny morning.

Afterwards we cleaned up and decided to do some more walking to see what we could see.

There is a great view from every corner you turn in this beautiful city called Positano.

Below is one of my favorite shots.

 Normally I see this church everyday from the terrace but I really like this view as well.

 A view from the other side looking towards our Villa....Villa in the middle.

 And another view looking towards our Villa further up on the other side, closer towards the water.

 While walking we spotted a gas station.

We spent the day walking...stopped for a dessert...looked in some shops...

stopped at the store and got some cheese and olives and rum and headed back to the villa where we had drinks on the terrace.

It was a beautiful peaceful day.

Tomorrow we set out another boat ride...this time of The Amalfi Coast....

Digits... (wink wink)

Italian Vacation...Day 6...A Stroll Around Positano

Today we set out for a walk around the winding roads of Positano.

Which in itself is a challenge as you have to share the road with the drivers....

Scary concept as you can see by the below picture...most times you have to share a road like this with another car coming from the other direction....and if your a bus....

Momma Mia!

 He had beautiful views from higher advantage points.

 Cute shops...lots of women's clothing and ceramics...I'm having such a hard time finding something for the boys in my life.

 While on our walk we ran into a "Shark"...this is what an Italian man is called who is trying to always pick up women...he was actually trying to pick up Lonnie (they all seem to be doing that...not Sharks, just men in general) but he was almost aggressive about it... then when you tried to walk away he just kept following along.

It started to rain a little so that helped us to get away...

Swim away shark, swim away.

 We decided to get out of the rain and stopped at this little wine bar for a glass of Vino while we waited for the rain to pass and then we were on our way.

We walked back down near the pier area as we wanted to book another day on the water and spend that time seeing the other part of the coast.

Afterwards we decided to walk a different direction and see what we could see.

It was absolutely beautiful....have I mentioned I love it here.

While on our journey we saw this cute little place on the cliff and decided to stop and have some wine, have a potty break and just relax.

The view was breath taking and the breeze from the sea was wonderful.

 While drinking we had a little snack.

 This place here is the place I have enjoyed the most while eating or drinking (besides our terrace)...

it's just beautiful...and peaceful.

 We continued to walk and just look at the beauty that surrounded us.

Once we were done it was either stay below and find something to do or climb those 187 steps back to the villa....as we made a pack, we only go up and down one time a day...we decided to go to the place on the beach we had been to twice before and end the evening with some wine...

 Three bottles later we were still happy campers.

We decided since it was late we would head over to a place on the beach called

Music On The Rocks.

It's a night club built inside a cave with cave rocked walls around you.

They weren't really open yet...they opened at 11...so we went upstairs to the restaurant lounge and had a drink...11 o'clock rolled around but when we went downstairs to the club nothing was happening and we couldn't stay up any longer...remember....

we had wine.

So we left and walked across the beach to our stairs to reach the villa....

Momma Mia that sure was an interesting climb.

Fun day for sure!

****Oh, and by the way...got my digits back ....saw the digits near the pier (wink wink)****

Italian Vacation...Day Five...Cooking, Italian Style

Wednesday we went up higher up the cliffs to Montepertuso to a restaurant called La Tagliata

www.latagliata.com

 where we had a cooking lesson.

 The place was beautiful...the family that owns the restaurant also lives on property and has there own garden and animals.

 The lesson was fun, they taught us how to make traditional Italian food...

sorry my peeps, don't expect dinner...maybe you can ask Lonnie.

 While cooking our lunch we had wine....this is the first red wine I have had that wasn't too strong tasting and that I could actually drink...

it is made with grapes from their garden but the wine is made from someone else for them for the restaurant.

 The kitchen we used was an outdoor kitchen beside the rocks...it was very cool looking and feeling with a wonderful hillside view behind us.

We had a husband and a wife from Washington taking the class with us.

 All that food above was cooked for us, the 4 of us.

Once done cooking we took a small tour of the grounds and then went into the restaurant where our meal we cooked was served to us with wine and limencello and an excellent view.

 The picture above is from their lemon garden and below a beautiful picture of Positano where we are staying.

 I must say our drive here was very interesting...we were picked up by a driver the restaurant got for us, he really spoke no English, he drove like a crazy man like we were on a race track... going around all the curves on a road that barely fits one car let alone two with people walking on the streets...

CRAZY!!! 

I think I held on to the back seat door the whole time.

On the way down we had a better driver but we had to pay this time.

They suggested we take bus but after seeing the buses and the stops I knew I wanted a driver though it cost me 30 Euro...most expensive thing I have paid for so far. 

Our lesson and lunch took most of the day that by 3pm we were back at the villa calling it a day and enjoying another fabulous evening on the terrace.

Italian Vacation...Day Four...A Day On the Mediterranean Sea

Today we were going to spend our time at sea...

we rented a boat with a driver and did a private tour along the coast to Capri and back.

We just wanted to do a tour on the boat and stop and do lunch...we would save a visit to Capri for another day

Today was all about the sea.

Positano looks amazing from the water.

I swear you can't take a bad picture of this town.

Our Captain was Alexandor ....Couldn't of gotten a better Captain..he showed us lots of caves and pointed out points of interest...

plus not too bad on the eyes either

 The day was amazing...perfect weather...the sea is so blue and the rock formations are unbelievable.

 The marina at Capri...most tours will let you off in Capri and do lunch or shop...they give you about 2 hours but we wanted to save Capri for another day where we would not feel so rushed.

We would have lunch today at another location.

 The above picture (a far away picture) and the picture below are of a statue of man waving good-bye as you leave the island of Capri

On our way back to Positano we stopped at a small seaside town and had lunch.

The restaurant has a small boat that they come out and get you and take you to the restaurant while the boat anchors in the water.

 We had Alexandor join us for lunch...which was so much fun.

He helped us order local favorites...one of them being Octopus which he really encouraged us to try and to make it easier for us he had them cut it up in small pieces as not to scare us away from trying it. I will say it was actually pretty good. I didn't eat much of it and probably won't order it again but it wasn't bad and glad I tried it.

While at the restaurant it started to rain but it was over and the sun was out by the time we were ready to leave. We drank wine and had limoncello on the house.

 Once we were back on the water we had fun taking pictures and telling stories...we even ran upon a boat that had a captain and a husband and wife on board doing things that maybe they shouldn't of been doing...lol...made for a nice laugh.

And here we are arriving back in Positano..

Leaving the town by water and returning by water is absolutely breath taking.

So far this has been my best day in Positano.

I'm also thinking about another boat tour and with the same Captain (wink wink) but up a different part of the coast to Amalfi.

 Once back on land we decided we would stop and end the evening with wine before hiking up almost 200 stairs to the Villa.

We went to a place along the beach where we had already had lunch before and the waiters remembered us...we drank wine and since we were there for awhile we ordered spaghetti and baby clams and shared...

So that means today I tried 2 new things...octopus and calms...and I was very surprised with the clams....I loved them! I will have to have them again before leaving here.

(Aren't you surprised Fonda?)

So it was time to head back up to the villa...after having 2 bottles of wine and limencello...

it was a very interesting climb....

But a GREAT day!

*****Oh....did I forget to mention that Lonnie lost my digits?*****