In the Harper's Bazaar May, 1953, issue John Steinbeck wrote, "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."  I'd have to say I agree.  We spent a mere two and a half hours there, and the whole time my mind kept saying, "Am I really here?  I'm not here, I can't be here, places like this don't exist."  Steinbeck talks about his drive to Positano from Rome, quite funny, and he paints great word pictures to really give you a nice visual of the environment.  It's a very nice essay, you can read it here, but I'll give you these photos and our story of Positano too. I often have problems taking landscape pictures because it's so hard to really do any landscape justice, many times you have to experience these sites yourself to feel the ocean breeze, smell the cappuccinos, see the entire view that no photo can capture.

On to our story...

The kids and I had been in town for about 10 days, somewhat locked on base and I was dying to see some beautiful Italian country.  I went into the USO office to see what they had to offer.  Every Saturday in the summer, they have a mini-cruise of the Amalfi Coast with either a stop in Positano or Amalfi.  Without talking to Sean, I bought our tickets hoping he wouldn't be too upset getting up at 5:00am on a Saturday to catch a bus then a ferry. I was excited, but really had no idea what we were walking into. I knew it was going to be beautiful, but this is a beauty beyond my imagination.  We caught the ferry in Castellamare di Stabia on the Bay of Naples.  I'm pretty certain we were the only English speaking tour group with the rest being Italians going to Positano or Amalfi for lunch or dinner or just for some beach time.  The ferry took quite a while, but it was very relaxing.

On the bus we talked to the kids about things that may happen on the ferry.  I have to note that I grew up around a fair amount of Italians, and my cheeks were very often pinched, my head often patted.  So, I mentioned this to Emma and Adin and told them to not be fearful of it, Italians just really love children and if they see pinchable cheeks..they're gonna pinch them.  Well, right before we got off at Positano, an older Italian gentleman was walking passed the kids stopped, talked to them in Italian and patted their heads and pinched their cheeks.  They both looked at me in amazement, like how could I know such things would happen??  I just laughed.

By the time we got to Positano, it was time for lunch.  We stopped at the first place we saw right on the beach, Buca di Bacco.  We sat in their patio with beautiful wisteria as our shelter from the intense sun.  

We knew we wanted something very light because of the heat and the following walk uphill.  So for our antipasta we had mozzarella wrapped in lemon leaf and grilled with a tomato salad, and for our main we had O'cuoppo-a traditional Neapolitan fried fish that is served in a paper cone so people can munch on it while walking around.  I normally am not as adventurous as Sean when it comes to seafood, but I thought, "there's no time like the present" and went out on a limb.  The menu said "catch of the day".  Sean and I interpreted this incorrectly because this is what was put in front of us.  Sean said, "I really think they dropped a net, scooped them up and fried up whatever they caught."  It was good, I'd just never eaten fish heads or an entire needlefish or an entire crab (shells and all, it was small though).

After lunch we ventured up and up and up.  There are no streets down by the water only sidewalks that weave their way through the art galleries and shops.   We didn't have enough time to go all the way up, though.On our way down we stopped at Santa Maria Assunto of Positano.  

Once back at sea level we prepared for our ferry home with some gelato, strawberry and peach for me, chocolate and vanilla for Emma and Adin and stracciatella for Sean (no pictures, but it was the most delicious gelato EVER).  Our ferry home was still hot on the top deck, but we were able to catch a lot of that ocean breeze and get unobstructed views of the cliffs, watchtowers and huge homes along the way.  

It was a memorable day spent together having tons of new experiences.  

Grazie e salute amiche!!

Mackenzie