Day 2 - the first full day in Positano

Can't believe I am waking up to this view!

I forgot to mention some of the niceties they gave us at check in. A little journal which was perfect to make trip report notes in. A book with Steinbecks's "Positano", map of Italy, stationary (nice, heavy stuff), sightseeing booklet, calendar of hotel activities and a tour of all the hotel furniture and art. Nice touch!

Breakfast buffet awaits us and it is so good. They have everything you can think of and I loved the buffalo mozzarella and pomodorini everyday. Those tomatoes slay anything we have in the US...so sweet. The yogurt in Europe is awesome and goes with all that fresh fruit! croissants with honey. You can order eggs or omelettes and bacon. There is a table of pastries, cakes, lemon tarts, cheese, bread, cereals, smoked meats and all kinds of juice and wine. i can never get myself to drink at 8:30am but I always want a little Champagne. The bacon here is soooo good. It doesn't look good but looks ARE deceiving! I could eat about 5 orders of the stuff but only had the nerve to ask for one additional order. The perfect amount of salty goodness. Another thing here....Chaz challenged me not to get diet coke at breakfast (you will remember that Chaz finally gave up Starbucks in Paris). So, i got cappuccino but it will never have the pull for me in the AM that a frosty, cold DC has. Chaz probably drank about 5 cups of coffee, which he always raves about in Italy. The service is so good here....they take care of everything.

We decided to try to make a reservation for the hotel boat sunset champagne cruise on our way out. All full so we booked an afternoon cruise instead. You need to leave the key here...they are massive sirens made of brass so ya don't want to tote that puppy around all day!

Time to step out and check out a bit of Positano. First, the ATM. Now, I always get so nervous trying to get euros from an ATM. Maybe it's some kind of psycosis but I guess I have this fear of not being able to get cash. But, as always, we got our cash and on to the next thing.

Now, there is no Chanel in Positano....but there is a Missoni just down from LS. It is small and another couple was in the store trying on things (well, she was). Now, I am lucky because Chaz will always encourage me to shop! Yep, it's true. The sales man in the store was fun and directed me to some sales stuff. Although, they only had one dressing room and I had to try the dress on in the stock room, it worked. A great dress to wear on vacation and on sale. They said they could alter the straps and deliver it to my room the next day. Perfect.

On to look for wine for happy hour on our terrace. I also saw the little shop where they make shoes on the spot but it was busy, so we decided to come back. It gets quite crowded the closer you get to the beach (especially after the ferries release their "cargo". We passed the Palazzo Murat, which looks very lush (but I don't like the location so close to the beach and the crowds).

We stopped into the church and saw a couple talking to the priest about their wedding.

We wandered past Le Tre Sorelle and made a dinner reservation (can't dine at La Sponda every night).

We climbed back up past LS and marveled at the views and checked out the area above our hotel. Chaz picked up a linen shirt in Positano blues, for the pool. And that's what we did next.

They take care of everything at the pool. We got chairs and water and hung out. It was hot so you needed some umbrella shade and we had fun people watching. There were 2 couples we noticed ....the first, gorgeous girl and all done up but always looked miserable (I think she was starving). The second, they rarely talked and often he would sit somewhere else but would watch her like a hawk. odd.

The pool is nice but not huge. A bit chilly but you warm up.

Time for lunch and I like that you can order and they set up a table for you, then call you when it is ready.

I had the penette con pomodorini again and chaz had liguine puttanesca. Both good! Luigi is the main server at the pool and he is terrific. A second glass of Rose? Sure, why not (another trip theme....why not?)
More pool after lunch before heading back to the room.

We always take our wireless speaker and make a playlist for the trip to listen to in the room. We got cleaned up and I love the shower gel and lotions (citrus/fresh scent...very nice). We never got the hang of the shower...always too hot. We might be dumb...I dunno but neither of us could get the water cooler and I love hot showers.

Champagne bar again but tonight sancerre for me (and the olives,chips and almonds). Chaz tried to get a table for dinner but they were booked. I was OK with that and kind of looking forward to something more casual. More great views and another pretty sunset.

Le Tre Sorrelle was up next. The guy seated us but just walked away mid-sentence from the table next to us...kinda rude and I felt bad that he did that. i apologized to them for interrupting them and they later asked me where I was from. They laughed and were not surprised to hear the south. Nice couple from Toronto and they convinced us that Quebec city over Christmas would be cold and miserable. OK, as no travel funds left after this trip!!!

Dinner was gnocchi Sorrentino and grilled fish. Really good. The only downer was the server at the end. Brought the check showing a service charge and then showing it removed...think the idea was to get us to leave an "American" tip. Hate that kind of thing and we left nothing.

Up the stairs again and off to bed. A very good day.

I like your taste in Champagnes and wines....pretty much like mime...love Sancerre but am a Champagne girl.
Enjoy

OMG! I want this buffet breakfast now! Great report so far . More please!

Oh, I'd much rather celebrate a milestone birthday with a trip rather than a cake with many candles! What a special & memorable way to celebrate yours, denisea! I look forward to reading more!

Always love your style!

I don't think Champagne is really drinking....LOL

OMG, custom shoes. Did you get a chance to see the prices of those?!

Thanks....I know we look at we have a severa alcohol problem. The shoes were not very expensive. It depends on the style and embellishments. I think I paid less than $100 for both.

Denise...

So glad I found your TR...I have to admit someone tipped me off it was posted, since I haven't been a "regular" lately. Anyway, loving your report (no surprise there!). I'm off to Italy in 2.5 weeks and your report should satisfy my intense yearning for Italy until I get there myself!

LCI...

You and Denise are the masters of great reports so we will be expecting one from you as well....

Have a great trip!

Your trip sounds incredible.. I will be following it for sure! We are planning our first trip to the Amalfi Coast next year so this is great timing. Enjoy!

Thanks my Fodors friends and fam! Weekender, you came up on our trip a few times, believe it or not? LCI---your trip will be excellent I am sure.

Next post is day 3 and coming up.

Day 3 – Just another day in Paradise

We started our day with the fab breakfast buffet on the terrace with that great view to drool over. And, the food is always drool worthy and I had that BACON (double portion, of course) and an omelette with mozzarella and pomodorini (yum). And, no diet coke. We would just hang out, chat with Pepe…fun waiter and Chaz will down as much coffee as possible.

We could see the ferry headed in so we quickly ran down the back way to the little sandal store. This is so fun….different heel heights and almost anything you could want to build the shoe. As, I was getting the first pair made (metallic pewter braided leather, 1 inch mule), I decided I need a flat pair just like one of the samples. A group of 3 women came in and were looking around and we started chatting about how cool it is to just get whatever you want MADE RIGHT THERE!! A girl’s Paradise for sure. The guy waiting on us at first was a bit indifferent but he was smiling and laughing at us all by the end. This is extra exciting for me because I have very small feet and shoes are tough for me to find (size 4.5 US). The 35s at this store worked for me and they are pretty inexpensive.

As fate would have it, the smarmy waiter from the night before happened to come in. He definitely recognized us and was all friendly and nice (I was thinking, “jerk”).
We got our shoes and said our goodbyes to the guys in the shop and our shopper girlfriends. Back up the stairs to Shangri La and then to Bar Bruno to book a table for dinner (another Fodorite rec).

Chaz decided he wanted to take advantage of the spa and the steam room. It was hot and steam was not sounding great to me, so I passed. We got to use the private sun deck that is upstairs. So, I got some water and a Vanity Fair and just hung out, of course, until lunch time (see a pattern here)?

And another pattern, same lunch as they day before. Penette pomodorini and Linguine puttanesca (Sancerre for me, Rose for him). We decided to get out of the sun a bit earlier and had asked about Franco’s bar at the desk. Franco’s is outside the hotel (essentially next door, on the street). It looks very chic and modern and has a great view. We heard about it a few weeks before our trip when it opened, thanks to Twitter. No reservations. We decided we wanted to be there when it opened since so many people would see it as they walked by. So, we did our usual playlist while cleaning up and I decided to wear my new Missoni and be there at 6pm sharp. Which we did. They had a little rope across the door and the bartender was running around a bit and doing his best not to look at us. He walked over to take boxes out and told us they weren’t open (and not nicely). We told him we were told they open at 6pm and indicated 6:15 instead. Hmmm. Not very Le Sirenuse-y.

Here’s how it could have been so different…

“I’m sorry, we are running behind. Please go ahead and have a seat and someone will come over as soon as we can.” See the difference?

We slunk back to the hotel after being shooed and went back to the more friendly Champagne bar for a glass of Charles Heidseck rose. Yummy and no mean bald guy.

We did drop back by Franco’s but did not get a great table. They don’t have it together yet. Took a while to get our order. Then the franciacorta we chose was sold out. Then, the prosecco ordered sat on the bar forever. I could see the waitress kind of panic when she saw it…she completely forgot about us. Then, barely a chill on the prosecco but she did bring an ice bucket. It was probably a mistake to move from Heidseck to a regular prosecco or maybe I was just still pissed at baldy, but it didn’t taste that great. I did love their modern coupe style glasses. It’s nice but the service at the hotel is better and the view at the hotel is a little better, to me. I am thinking maybe the plan is to attract visitors off the street rather than hotel guests but they should provide the same level of service, IMO.

We walked across the street to Bar Bruno and into an Italian cyclone. To me, this is so Italian. Reservation – check. On time – check. Host or hostess – nope. Servers running around – check. People with tables looking around for servers – check. Servers accomplishing anything – no. We stood there for about 10 minutes when Chaz smartly realized that if people WITH tables couldn’t get any service, maybe we were far less likely to get any. Good point.

We ended up at the restaurant at L’Ancora. Gnocchi, Grilled lemon fish….see a pattern? God, we’re boring!! So, predictably we went back to the ‘Nuse for a nightcap glass of Heidseck Rose to end the night on an up note. Baldy did not join us. Night everyone!

We've stayed twice at L'Ancora and always wondered how the people lived next door...now I know!

Well, would love to tell you all about our day in Tramonti with Swirl the Glass but something is wrong and I (and others) are having a hard time posting. Wish they would get this fixed.

denisea...have you checked out the jewelry stores Feludei and Felu? Same owners as Missoni.

OMG, no...have not even heard of them but will research it Happy Trvlr!

Hope the posting problem gets addressed!

What a wonderful way to celebrate your two milestones. Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary! Looking forward to reading more - once the posting issue is fixed!

Feludei is near Hotel Palazzo Murat. Keep on having a wonderful time.

So excited to read this! Love, love your trip reports Denise.


Lisa