Positano

There is no easy way to describe Positano.
I'm not talking about the town itself, although I have run out of adjectives for the town ...charming, gorgeous, steep....gorgeous (see?).
I'm talking about what Positano has come to mean to us. That is sort of hard to describe.
When we went there two years ago we had all kinds of plans. Seeing Paola was just one of the things we were going to do. I had met her before but we didn't have a relationship with her or her family. We had planned to do all the things one does in Positano: boat trips, beach visits, restaurant dining, a little shopping - perhaps a trip out of town. But you know what happened with that trip. (If you don't and want to know, shoot me an email.)
For this trip, K and Paola made a plan, and though I now see that Paola worked very hard to make everything perfect and wonderful about our visit (and she succeeded in every way) K and I did no planning at all - beyond getting ourselves there.
Once we arrived, we were swept up in Life In Positano and we gave ourselves up to it. We hurried to do a lot on the first day because, as I think I explained, we felt like there might be a chance that history would repeat itself.
But we settled down and, in the end, we were so relaxed and happy that I actually witnessed K on the beach doing nothing. This, my friends, is a great accomplishment.

Now we are home.
Now I have dozens of pictures to upload (fewer than you'd think - I also took time to just be in Positano).
Now I have stories of our trip...




So.
We found ourselves here.
Just breathe and look at it and try to remember that it is real.
It's impossibly beautiful.
Down below you can hear the scooters and the bus and the children and a dog barking. All around you see people walking and chatting and eating.

What do you do with yourself?
Fortunately, it was only ten in the morning.
Coffee.



It's important to sample all the possibilities, don't you think, Eurolush?
(Eurolush was just steps ahead of me on this trip and left us a lovely and very welcome bottle of wine!)

After a breakfast like that, one really should have a walk and take in the sights...



Tiny houses, in the rock, at the bus stop.
On the road to Ravello there is a huge version of this as a nativity. I need to find it in all the pictures...but that's all right - I have much more to post.



Here is K with a Fiat 500. Not Fabio's Fiat 500 - I'll show you that one later.
I am in love with this little car. K likes the Fiat 500 too - but he was in love with this boat:



and when it left the harbor, after a couple of days, he would look mournfully out to sea and say softly: my boat...?

As for me, I like scenes of daily life.



I could easily have purchased a broom like this and brought it home. I love this broom. It would have thrilled me. There is a lot of sweeping up done in Positano and Brizio made a great show of it, every once in a while, so we'd know how busy he can be.



We met this boat at the dock and went to Da Adolfo one day.



Crazy beautiful. And crazy AND beautiful.



We pulled in on the boat - thinking: this is nothing special a small shack close to the water... but we knew it had quite a reputation.



You skibble up the sturdy yet wonky-looking little dock and get yourself a chair. You gaze at the view. You swim. You slowly realize that the staff has just a wee snarky attitude (and I say it in the nicest way as everyone who works at Adolfo is funny and fun - and also because a certain little boy I know is very well known there, and goes, by himself, on the boat and swims and has carpaccio for lunch ALL THE TIME - so I don't wish to insult, but just to describe that people are fun and having fun ALL THE TIME at Adolfo) and we wanted to join in.
We ordered white wine and the waiter asked us if we would like it with a peach - in his accent we thought he was saying with a beach and assumed he was joking with us as the mood is very casual and fun....but NO - he really said PEACH and I smacked my forehead when I realized that local people, OF COURSE, have wine with a peach. (Which I will now try at home.)

K had the carpaccio - and now we see why that little boy likes it so much...



I had grilled mozzarella in lemon leaves. We had the nicest day there and, by the end, we were very comfortable and so happy we had gone.

We took the boat back and I watched as K grew more and more relaxed (which makes him even more good looking) and we arrived in town just as church had let out.
Let me tell you: there were so many wonderful people to spy on, outfits to see, conversations to overhear. For my first day or so in Positano, my incredible observational skills were worked to weariness there was so much to see.
But, that day, there was one group of ladies I spotted, sitting on a bench having their Sunday conversation.
K is very fast and knows that I must take pictures, hopefully stealthily, so as not to upset, and volunteered to pose for me.



Are they not lovely?
I am absolutely sure that had I introduced myself to them I could have gotten wonderful hugs and stories from each of them.
But I didn't need to meet these ladies to have time with a Nona. I had Paola's mom just down the stairs to hug me and feed me. And I will tell you about that tomorrow.

I have so much more to share - but, before I forget:
FOR BADGER, WHO MIGHT CUT ME, YO.



Paola's lemon tree covers one end of her terrace and has hundreds of lemons on it.



Very LARGE lemons.

In the end, what I've meant to say - and, see? I haven't really been able to put it into words, is that Positano will now be incredibly special for us - and not just two of us, but for four of us as we were fortunate enough to spend such an extraordinary time with such extraordinary friends.
I cannot begin to tell you what Paola did to make our trip special - that's it in fact: she made our trip what it was and we can only hope that we will be lucky enough to host the same kind of trip for her.