Italy 2010 - Day 5 - Rome - Positano

[deathpixie]

By our third day in Rome, we were old hands at public transport and managed to get into Termini Station and onto the train to Naples with no fuss at all. Only an hour's travel on the Very Fast Train this time, and once again, I managed to fall asleep and so there are no pictures. Humidity kills me, I tell you. The countryside, before the nap monster took me, was very picturesque and bucolic - farms and vinyards and little towns against the fuzzy blue backdrop of the Alps, all baking under the brilliant sun. We discovered it had been 38 degrees Celsius in Rome the day before, and due to the sunburn I'd gotten on my scalp, I resolved to dig my hat out of my bag as soon as we reached Positano. Yes, I'm a dope who wasn't already wearing it.

Our stop in Naples was very brief, just the train station. We switched to the Circumvesuviana system (which D. kept calling the Circumcision systeam) and boarded the train for Sorrento. Definitely a holiday makers' trip - there were lots of tourists (again, mostly Australians), people with beach bags and oh, mustn't forget the random musicians. A small band, playing lively Italian and Spanish folk music got on, played a couple of songs, passed around the hat and got off again. As we continued along, I noticed other bands hanging out at the startions, embarking and disembarking whenever they felt like it. Mobile busking was profitable, it seems.

Sorrento is actually a bit like its Aussie namesake, a coastal town en route to the other coastal towns. The bus to Positano was crowded and stuffy, the road windy and steep - never a good combination for me. By the time we got to Positano I was green, closing my eyes and praying we'd get there before my breakfast resurfaced. We did, but then there was another bus ride to where our hotels were. Needless to say, I was a less than happy camper - I left D and E at their hotel and worked my way down the hill to my pensione, agreeing to meet them later for dinner when I was less cranky. Getting to my room cheered me up hugely - it was large and sunny, with a colourful tiled floor and an ample balcony that looked out onto the Mediterranean. A cold shower and a nap later and I was ready to rejoin the human race.

Another aside - towels in Positano are linen, like large dishtowels. After several days, the reason became clear - terry towelling would never dry in the humidity. The other benefit is they're really comfotable to lounge around in after a shower.

Hungry once the motion sickness had passed, I worked my way down the huill to a cafe, for a litre of water and a truly awesome octopus salad, taking in the truly amazing scenery around me (see here for some of the shots I took).

Positano is spectacular. Built on the sides of the steep Amalfi Coastline, every view is a postcard; white buildings covered in purple-flowering bougainvilla, tiled in terracotta; rocky cliffs tumbling down into the sea; olive and lemon groves clusted along the winding roads; the blue-green of the sea, water clear to the bottom along the shore, rows of coloured umbrellas set up on the grey pebbled beaches. I already had a crush on the place looking at the view from my balcony - over lunch I fell in love.

No amount of love, however, can overcome a mild case of sun stroke, so after lunch I went back to the pensione and read for a while, drinking as much water as I could. By dinner I was ready to face the humidity again.

E had a list of restaurants to try in Positano and the first was Saraceno D'Oro, one I'd passed by on my brief lunchtime explorations. It proved to be a great choice, a family owned place without a lot of the trappings of the other tourist places and some truly amazing food - D and I shared the appetiser of sardines in lemon juice and vinegar, and then I had ricotta manicotta in a tomato sauce. Dessert was lemon sorbet - served in a lemon, of course, given lemons are famous in the region. The staff were friendly - mama and papa oversaw things while a troupe of young male waiters kept our glasses full and answered our questions, such as: "What are those intermittent explosions we can hear?"

It turned out that week was the festival of Positano's patron saint and part of the celebrations included fireworks, both day and night, the sound dopplering around the cliffs. We actually got used to it by the end - and my last night I had a great view from my balcony of the final display.

We retired early - we had to meet by 715 a.m. outside D adn E's hotel for the bus to Pompeii. Air-conditioning costs an extra 1,000 Euros ($10) a night in most Positano hotels, so I decided to tough it out with open balcony doors instead. Apparently there were mosquitoes - I didn't notice.