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| Positano, like most of the towns along the Amalfi coast, has many buildings built right into the cliffs |
| Erin's Positano Journals 5-19-02 Today we had to leave Positano. Our hotel was wonderful, which also meant it was reserved for the rest of the weekend. So we had to check out, and had called ahead to a small town just past Amalfi to book a room at the local hostel there. For the morning, we all got up, had breakfast, packed and left our stuff in the main room while we waited for the bus to Atrani and said our goodbyes to the romantic town of Positano. Each of us wanted to check internet, so we all headed down to the cafe by the beach and did a quick 15 minute stint on the net. I had had an unfortunate accident with my bikini top the day before (forgot to mention it; while on the boat, my top had suddenly snapped open, the plastic having broken at the clasp. I had to have my top tied on the rest of the day!!), and was searching for a new one. I didn't find anything that looked good in our price range, so we headed back up the long several flights of stairs to the grocery store of the day before and purchased sandwiches and snacks for lunch. We went back to the Pensione Maria Luisa for one last fond meal up on the terrace overlooking the bay, and took a short nap afterward on the comfy reclining chairs. The weather was a little iffy, with clouds rolling through overhead, so after an hour or so we decided to find the bus. We grabbed our bags, trudged over to the bus stop, and caught the orange bus to the town center, then hiked uphill with the bags to the intercity stop at the top of a hill. Marile and I waited with the bags while Dave and Glenn went back down to find a place to sell us bus tickets. What a pain! They got back in time though, and we made it through the even scarier ride to Amalfi with no troubles. One stop past Amalfi, we departed the bus for Atrani, and made our way down some stairs to the small town. After a bit of confused wandering (we had different addresses for the hostel in our two guidebooks), another couple came by and told us how to get to the hostel. Once arriving in the entry hall, we found that the phone to reach the caretakers was out of order, and nobody knew where to find someone to help us check in. It started to rain, so we simply sat down and started reading our books to wait for someone to show up. After about 40 minutes, someone located the owner, and he came rushing up from his barside meeting to let us all in. We splurged on a room to ourselves for this one night, and left our stuff there before heading out to the square. It was only 50 meters or so from our place, and another 10 or so from the beach, so we watched the increasingly violent waves for a bit until it began raining again, then headed under cover to a nice bar in the square. I ordered some wine to share with Dave & Marile, and Glenn had a hot chocolate. Dave & Marile read their books, while Glenn and I played Crazy 8's until dinner time. Our hostel price had included a spaghetti dinner, so at 8pm we went a few feet away to the hostel dining room and ate a plate of food. Nothing remarkable about it, except that it left me still hungry (big surprise - it was free, right???). After the meal, we went back to the bar and ordered some hot drinks, then set up for a rousing game of Shanghai Rummy. With only 4 people playing, the action was much faster, and I am pleased to say I did much better this time. We had a blast, and by the time we were done it was definitely bed time. So we went to the hostel and called it a night. Early day tomorrow, as we were leaving Dave & Marile and heading off to Pompeii. |