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| Positano cliff carving decorating a bus stop |
| Erin's Positano Journals 5-16-02 This day started in Sorrento, where we awakened refreshed and ready to go. We started with breakfast with Dave and Marile, and outlined our goals for the day. They wanted to use the internet really quickly to update their site (good people - we are getting so behind!!!), and we knew we wouldn't have time in the short half day before we'd catch a bus to Positano. We agreed to meet up for lunch around 1pm and split up. Glenn and I wandered around town, first heading for the cliffside views of Sorrento. Go see our photo page of Sorrento - it was gorgeous!!! After snapping some pics, we looked at some of the really fun shops in town. It was a more high-end town, with clothing being mostly more than I wanted to spend, but I was also looking for some more summery items and something different after wearing the same set of 4 pants for 2 months, so I finally found some great loose tie-on pants and a backless tank top to buy to supplement my wardrobe. Ah, the luxury! And they don't weigh much, so my shoulders won't kill me for this purchase! We also found some great art pieces in this one gallery - it was a series of bronze frogs with the colors melted in, and the poses were really fabulous. But of course they were expensive and heavy, so we passed them up with reluctance. The artist is called 'Frogman' (big surprise), so I'll be looking his website up when I get a chance! We met Dave & Marile for some pizzas at a restaurant in a large square, and ended up chatting with the folks at the table next to us. They were a very young at heart retired couple, who ended up inviting us to go sailing with us from their Marina Del Rey slip this summer. Who knows, maybe we'll find time for that when we're home in July! After lunch, we each wandered a bit more, but quickly decided it was time to move on to Positano. Window shopping is fun, till you realize that you're not going to get anything out of it! So we grabbed our bags and hit the bus stop for Positano. As soon as it arrived, we found seats on the right side of the bus to catch the harrowing views we had been promised. Sure enough, the road became more and more narrow as we went along in this huge touring-style bus, and the driver must have felt he was late because he kept speeding up as the turns got nastier! The only warning opposing traffic got was a blast from the horn, and I had a death grip on my seat while I stared down a cliff at the waves crashing below. It was gorgeous. After arriving in Positano (obviously alive), we found the hostel, which was amazingly nice in comparison with many we have stayed at. We checked in and left our bags, then went to find the beach. Straight down about 40 flights of stairs. Down a cliff face. You'll see. The beach area was nice, and there were lots of shops with some very cool, breezy, romantic clothing in them. All the restaurants by the water were overpriced, of course, but had some very nice decor. Lots of flowers everywhere, and everyone capitalized on the views. We also looked for internet, and found it to be very expensive. We wanted to update our site like good little travelers, as we knew our website would be down for server maintenance this weekend, but we ended up opting not to, as it would have cost more than it was worth. We'd wait until the next stop. Of course, we only determined this after walking about 8 km along the winding roads leading uphill, which actually took us much further out of town than we'd planned on going. After finally reaching our limits, breaking down and catching the city bus for .77 each, we were chagrined to be dropped off not 100 yards around the next couple of curves from where we'd picked the bus up! At this point, we were grouchy and exhausted, so we quickly found dinner (which turned out to be very good), then went back to the hostel to relax. I went to bed early, and Glenn stayed up to chat with other travelers until later. He is quite the social butterfly this trip! |