Descending from the Clouds to Positano

Thursday March 15 was a long travel day.  We took a taxi at 6:30 a.m. to the Valletta airport.  A number of flights were leaving at the same time and check-in was a bit chaotic.  Our route took us to Rome before heading back south to Naples.  Our Air Malta flight to Rome was operated by "GetJet", which we found out later was based in Vilnius, Lithuania and had a fleet of seven ancient Boeing 737s (average age of 26 years).

Alain noticed that the plane was unmarked!  Yikes!

Good thing we found this out after we landed in Rome or I might not have been a happy camper.

We had a four hour stop-over in Rome's Fiumicino airport, which was suprisingly quiet.  The airport had undergone a refurbishment which had been completed last year.

Had a good piece of pizza (made on site) at the Rome Airport

We then flew Alitalia to Naples.  The flight attendants had wonderful uniforms designed in 2016 by Italian designer Ettore Bilotta.  Apparently, they are being redesigned again by another Italian designer, even though the airline is in financial difficulty.

The green patterned pantsuit

In the cabin- red-patterned suit-- check out the hats!

We arrived at about 3:30 p.m. and caught a 4:30 p.m. bus to Sorrento.  Unfortunately, there was a major highway accident just outside Naples and instead of taking 80 minutes, it took two hours.  We then had to catch a second bus to Positano.   Luckily, we arrived in Sorrento with just enough time to buy our ticket at a nearby bar and hop on the last bus of the day (at 7:00 p.m.).  We arrived in Positano at 8:00 p.m.  We are actually stayed in an apartment in a small village called Montepertuso in the mountains above Positano. We had missed the last local bus from Positano to Montepertuso and there are no taxis at that time.  We had texted our host and luckily she was able to pick us up and bring us to the apartment high in the hills.   It is tucked into an alcove in a very small street.

The apartment is very large, clean and well-equipped.  We were glad to be able to crash after a very long day.

Entrance to the apartment

Bedroom 

Living room

Kitchen

Friday March 16 was cloudy and the high was about 15C.  It is unusually cool for this time of year.  We had been lucky in Malta to have such nice weather, but Naples and the Amalfi coast seem to be getting some of the cool weather that is affecting northern Europe.  However, it is still a lot warmer than Toronto and there is lots of green and flowers.  We headed out to walk the estimated 880 step stairway down from Montepertuso to Positano.  The walk was not as hard as it sounds-- the stairs are wide and there are railings in many places.  There is only one path, so it is easy to follow.  It took us about 40 minutes to walk down to the centre of Positano, which is located just up from the beach.

Walking from our apartment to the stairs

Starting out and looking back at the hills of Montepertuso.

View looking down- still a bit foggy

Legend of Montepertuso on one of the walls heading down the stairs

                                                                    Ode to Montepertuso

Lemon and cherry trees

Lemon trees are everywhere in Positano-- some are extra large

Alain walking down the stairs

View down the hill to the sea

Positano in sight

Building dating back to 1716

Stairs to a house on the hill

Getting closer to the bottom of the stairs

We finally made it down the stairs and starting to wander through the city centre.  We stopped at one store that was full of lemon related products.   I bought some limoncello as it had been made locally.  The store had wonderful ceramic heads like those we had seen in Sicily two years ago.

Lemoncello-- made in town!

The beach was quiet when we first took some photos from a higher level.

We then walked to the Church of Santa Maria Assunta.  The Church was founded in a second half of the 10th century as a Benedictine Abbey.  There in a 18th century bell tower and the interior dates from a restoration in the late 18th century.

Church of Santa Maria Assunta

Wonderful mosaics outside in square in front of church

Another wonderful mosaic

Very colourful mosaics

Inside of the Church

Beautiful stained glass windows

This was my favourite

Large church organ

We wandered down the streets- lots of activity preparing for the new season.  A few stores were closed but getting ready to open next week.

A number of handmade sandal stores

We had a late lunch at Chez Black, which faces the beach and has been open since 1949.  It was fairly crowded as a number of other restaurants still have not opened for the season.

At Chez Black 

They use wonderful ceramic plates with the restaurant name

View from the restaurant to the beach

We shared a Marinara pizza and green salad and I had a glass of white wine from the region

 After lunch, we walked to the sea and took these photos looking back up at Positano.

On the beach looking up to Positano-- fog was rolling in

Looking up to the left of the earlier picture

The sea

Selfie at the Beach!

View of Chez Black where we had just eaten

Walking back through town to the bus stop

We took a bus back to the apartment and then walked about 10 minutes up hill to check out the only restaurant in Montepertuso that has opened for the season.  We are going to go there for dinner on Saturday.  The view was amazing at around 6:00 p.m. as heavy fog rolled in.

The fog is rolling in over the sea towards town- looks like clouds

Very eerie watching the fog

Another view 

 As we looked up we saw the famous hole in the mountain just above Montepertuso.

Hole in the mountain

Another view-- as dusk approached

Positano truly is a magical place- even when it is cloudy--- a sunny day would be glorious, but we don't think that's in the cards for us as the forecast is cloudy with some rain during the next few days.

John Steinbeck visited Positano in 1953 and wrote in an article for Harper's Bazaar: "Positano bites deep.  It is a dream place that isn't quite real when you are there and becomes beckoningly real after you have gone."  How true, at least in the off-season when things are relatively quiet.  We are also glad we are staying off the beaten track in Montepertuso, where everyone seems to know each other and is very helpful.