Positano
I had had a difficult few months with a family bereavement, and 5 nights of relaxation in a beautiful place was just what I needed to clear my head and recharge my batteries. It didn’t start off too well with a four hour delay at Stansted, but once we arrived at the Hotel Poseidon (at 10.30pm) we were given such a warm welcome and insistence on bringing us something to eat even though the restaurant had closed for the evening, we soon shook off the cobwebs. We sat on the terrace in the fresh evening air with our late snack – and our friends Ginandtonic and Prosecco – and took in the beautiful view of the twinkling lights of Positano and the boats in the bay.
Next morning, refreshed and having had a great sleep in our quirky suite (it was called a Funny Suite – I think because to reach the (huge) terrace you went up three steps in the lounge area and exited through a large window instead of a “proper” door!), we sampled the very impressive hotel breakfast. Then we set off out to have a look around Positano. Just as we turned the corner we heard lots of car horns so we followed the sound and came across the annual Fiat 500 meeting. What a sight – about 100 of these iconic vehicles all starting up to cruise around town. Tiny, tiny cars, some of which had four very large people inside, it was such fun to watch. When they had all set off we wandered further down the hill to the beach area and bars and shops.
Positano is a small town cradling a bay at sea level and rising steeply on both sides with buildings clinging seemingly impossibly to the cliff face. Hotel Poseidon is about half way up the cliff and it’s an easy 10 minutes’ walk down to the beach area by either gently sloping road or steps. There are shops, bars and restaurants along the way, and even though the walk back is uphill it is still a relatively easy stroll.
The beach is the usual dark shingly sand full of sunbeds in high season and lined with restaurants. We particularly like L’Incanto with its little wooden terrace on the beach with the ubiquitous Lloyd Loom furniture – and resident cats!
We bought ferry tickets to go to Capri, but then when Tuesday came around we decided against travelling on a crowded ferry with the prospect of queues for taxis the other end – even in early October there were still hordes of tourists everywhere – and after all we had just as good views from the mainland - and opted for a lazy day around the pool instead.
The weather was mostly sunny, although a bit cloudy and cool the first couple of days, but our last two days were real sunbathing weather. The hotel pool was unheated and absolutely freezing, but I love swimming so I did venture in for a swim every day – and once in it was well worth the initial trepidation! And it was very amusing to watch others approach the pool not knowing quite how cold it was! The staff at the pool were very insistent that it was “rinfrescante” (refreshing) rather than freezing!.
We had a couple of lunches and a dinner at the hotel restaurant, Il Tridente, and all meals there were excellent. We also dined at Caffe Positano which is literally a minute’s walk from the Poseidon, and loved it so much we went back on another evening. For our last evening we did our usual Michelin research and booked a table at La Sponda (one Michelin star) at Hotel Le Sirenuse. Unfortunately this was rather disappointing – the food was certainly good but nothing spectacular – no wow factor - and there were wandering musicians who were playing touristy music to individual tables which I thought was quite intrusive and not in keeping with an elegant restaurant. When we visit Michelin restaurants I usually feel the urge to take photographs of the dishes, but to be honest the food we had at Il Tridente and Caffe Positano was just as good and possibly more attractively presented. Never mind, we went back to the hotel to join our friends Ginandtonic and Prosecco on the terrace again for a nightcap!
Hotel Poseidon is a lovely choice – it doesn’t have the five star “marbled luxury” feel but it is totally unpretentious, oozes charm, friendliness and quirkiness (full of interesting antiques and displays – including a very random glass cabinet full of model penguins!), and has the oldest (working!) lift in Positano dating back to the 1950s. The bathroom had old fashioned brightly patterned tiles which made me feel I was having a bath in a Spanish tapas bar!, but somehow the eclectic mix worked really well, and it has all the modern comforts you need – no tea & coffee making in the rooms which is a must for us, but when we asked if we could have a tray with kettle and cups etc this was immediately provided. It has been a family run hotel for generations and they really do care about their guests. We felt as if we were staying at a magnificent villa with friends rather than at a hotel with strangers. Somewhere I would love to return to – after perhaps exploring some other areas of Italy.
Arrivederci Positano – a presto spero!
