Travel Diary: Positano + Capri
After wrapping up in Florence, we headed to Positano, which was the perfect break between cities. No agendas or plans, just four days on the coast to recharge our batteries and eat loooots of seafood! And not to mention lemon everything – limoncello, sorbet, soufflé...!
Positano is hard to put into words — when our driver started winding around the cliffs toward the town, we were glued to the window, totally stunned with the views. John Steinbeck summed it up perfectly; "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."
This was outside our hotel, Eden Roc, which I will NEVER forget because the staff were so friendly and full of personality. We had some awesome conversations with them and they were on hand for our every need. We had the best experience there and if we're lucky enough to go back, we wouldn't stay anywhere else.
Positano is almost entirely vertical, built onto the side of a cliff overlooking the Mediterranean. Getting anywhere requires lots of steps, walking up narrow paths, and all of it is worth it for the views and the experience along the way. We spent our days exploring and hanging at the beach, and always wrapped up with drinks and dinner. There's not much to "do" here and that's one of the reasons we loved it. On our first night we stopped for drinks at the famous Franco's Bar — which Jim proclaimed to have the best olives of the entire trip (agreed)! We had a few cocktails and watched the sunset, and finished with dinner at La Sponda, the neighboring restaurant inside Le Sireneuse.
Our dinner at La Sponda was nothing short of fantastic — from the wait staff in their nautical uniforms, to the many palate cleansers between courses, and the musicians meandering among tables — it was so romantic and beautiful. For dessert, I had a lemon soufflé that came out hot from the oven, then the server hand-scooped a dollop of lemon sorbet into the middle of it, allowing it to melt right in like a volcano. It was heaven.
The next day, we took a boat trip to Capri and spent the day on the island. The ride there was slow and enjoyable, we stopped at all the grottos along the way and paused for a swim. It was amazing to see so much of the Amalfi coast from the water — like the old guard towers, the grottos, and the famous Faraglioni rocks of Capri.
We covered a lot of ground during on time on Capri — we walked all the way up to the top, hit the town center for gelato and lemon slushies, enjoyed a caprese salad and lunch with the most amazing view. We did some shopping as well and I couldn't stop myself from getting a pair of handmade sandals — choosing my leather and watching them come together was so cool and I'll treasure those shoes forever!
We spent the rest of our time in Positano at the beach, wandering around, and eating (constantly)! We had so many great meals; one of our favorites was our dinner at Chez Black on a night when it poured buckets of rain. We were seated at a table right along the beach, just barely under the awning, and had the most delicious seafood spaghetti and wine. I was super excited to get a heart shaped pizza, since they don't always do it — Jim claimed it was because I was flirting with our server but really, guys, Antonio was cute! Haha. I'd also recommend not missing out on any opportunity to have grilled mozzarella on lemon leaves — we enjoyed some at Caffé Positano and it was ridiculously good.
Our time in Positano holds so many memories for us already, we can't wait to go back. It was really, really hard to leave. I stood on our balcony for a long time on our last morning and said the slowest goodbye before we headed off to Rome. The good news is we loved Rome and I'm excited to share our experience there, coming up next!
