Monday - Assisi to Positano

We set the alarm and had the earliest possible breakfast (7:30) so we could get away by 8:30am. We even had hot water for our showers.

We had decided to drive to Naples and return the car to Avis today instead of driving it all the way to Positano and then to Rome.

Most of the trip was on freeways (like the A1) and so the trip was smooth sailing most of the way. The Italians drive very fast on the freeways. We saw a few accidents along the way. Considering the way they drive, it is surprising that we did not see more accidents.

With one accident, we must have gone past soon after it happened. The side of one of the cars had been torn off and a man was still sitting in the car with blood flowing down his face.

Another incident was a brief worry. The couple in the car next to us started punching each other and their car drifted towards us. After we passed them, I could see in the rear view mirror that they were still fighting as they drove along.

We reached the Avis depot at Naples airport at 1:15pm. The Avis people took delivery of the car in no time flat.

Ralf had organised with our hotel at Positano for someone to pick us up from the Avis depot to drive us to Positano. The driver was waiting for us in his nice big Mercedes taxi. He had no problems with the windy narrow roads leading to Positano and stopped a couple of times so we could take photos.

We had heard that the road to Positano was a nightmare but it was better than we had anticipated. We had seen roads that were much worse elsewhere in France and Italy.

We reached Positano at about 2:45pm. Positano is on the side of a very steep hill. The roads and lanes are narrow and windy. We decided it was worth paying porters 20 euros to transport our bags down the lane and down the steps to our hotel.

We hadn't had any lunch as yet and so we went down to the bar underneath our hotel. Like several other cafes, it has tables that spill out onto the pavement next to the beach. Lunch hit the spot, washed down with a bottle of wine.

We wandered around the beach front and checked out the tours that were available. In the evening, we had dinner at the hotel's restaurant.

Positano is a fabulous place. The setting is beautiful. It sits in a narrow valley with houses all the way down the hill. The hill decends straight down to the sea except for a beach at the bottom of the valley. Our hotel is located right next to the beach. The view is amazing from any angle. The sea is a beautiful blue colour and you can see a few small islands off the coast.

I tried to think of what it reminds me of but I concluded that Positano is like nowhere else on earth.