Hello everyone. After Capri Island, we headed towards Positano. This is one of the most photographed towns in Italy and also one of the most expensive and luxurious places. Let me put it this way. This is the beach you see here, famous for its white umbrellas. A spot with one of these umbrellas here can cost between 500 and 1300 euros. The average hotel prices, especially for five star hotels, are around 1200 euros per night. Since it is high season right now, that figure can go up to 2000-3000, even 5000 euros. The main reason for this is that there is very little space here. Yes, this is a small town dating back to the Middle Ages, but it only became popular relatively recently. Until the 1980s this was an ordinary fishing village.
The houses here were built for fishermen. The ground floor was a garage, the upper floor was the living area and the third floor was used to dry and store fishing nets. Now everything here feels luxurious. Positano is also one of the capitals of beach fashion. It is said that men's beach shorts first appeared here. This is also one of the places where these wide brimmed hats became fashionable. Most of the beaches are paid. Only a tiny section is free. So staying here and going swimming can be quite difficult. You either have to rent a boat and go to the surrounding beaches or choose the private beaches in the neighboring coves. Of course these are not cheap either.
In short Positano and the Amalfi Coast are not really suitable for budget travelers.
The small medieval church we visited is naturally dedicated to Madonna, the patron saint of fishermen. There is also an icon inside. This icon is believed to be miraculous. Once pirates tried to steal it. But the sea would not let them leave. Such huge waves and such strong winds came up that they could not leave the cove until they returned the icon to its place.
It is also said that the town got its name from this church. According to the legend, when sailors were bringing this Byzantine style icon here, the sea sudenly stopped them and they heard a voice saying posa, posa, meaning leave it, leave it. So they came ashore, left the icon here and built this church. Another legend says that Positano got its name from Poseidon.
Positano is also a city of stairs. There are around 1700 steps connecting the sea to the mountain itself, creating one of the most beautiful views in Italy. These 1700 steps are actually part of the character of the town. There is also an ancient Roman villa here. The foundations of the amphitheater like architecture were probably laid in ancient times.
Many of the rooms in these houses are carved directly into the rock. The roof of one house is used as the terrace of another house above it. In fact the roofs of these houses are living spaces in their own right. People have their morning coffee here, enjoy evening aperitifs here and have family dinners here.
The owners of this souvenir shop are really brilliant. They allow tourists to take photos or videos here in exchange for money. At least now I understand where all those social media photos are taken.
Yes, I know, I am a little crazy. I had enough time to visit museums. I also made a reservation to visit the museum where the ancient Roman villa is located. There are incredible frescoes and mosaics there. So I thought we should take a look at how everything started in Positano. After all sacred places are never left empty.
The villa itself is enormous and is still hidden beneath Positano today. But the dining room has been excavated. Apparently a high ranking official moved here to live closer to the emperor. The emperor was staying on the island of Capri, just across from here, at the time. All the colors in the villa have been preserved. These are the original colors. They used semiprecious stones. They brought materials from Egypt to create these vivid shades of blue. And of course there are also 2000 year old kitchen utensils. These were also found here.
Later the villa collapsed and during the Middle Ages a rather unusual place, a crypt or burial chamber, was built over its remains. Here beneath the church, the bodies of the dead were seated so that they could be naturally mummified. This practice continued until the fifteenth century. The priests used a type of seat called sedari to allow excess fluids to drain from the body. Of course, not everyone could do this. It was a privilege reserved for high ranking clergy, monks and noble benefactors, in other words, aristocrats. Once natural mummification was complete, the bodies were either buried in the monk's communal graves or in the private chapels of the aristocrats.
How can you come to a place this hot without having a lemon granita? It was so hot that the granita was turning into lemon juice before I could even eat it. I think it was more delicious than ice cream. By the way in most countries and most cities, granita is prepared using only lemon syrup. Here they use real lemon juice.
We saw the famous Hotel Sirenuse. Apparently all the celebrities come here. This building actually dates back to the fifteenth century. It originally belonged to a private family as a palace and was later converted into a hotel. Today it is one of the best hotels in Positano. Naturally, you also see the most luxurious cars here. I can tell you this. If you come here just for one day, you will probably see little more than stairs, shops and crowds of people. The real beauty of Positano is that despite the crowds around you, some hotels, restaurants and iconic places such as Hotel Sirenuse and Franco's Bar give you a sense of privacy and solitude. That was also why celebrities loved this place in the postwar period. They came here simply to lie on the sand, swim in the sea, sunbathe and feel like ordinary people rather than celebrities. Although today people may be coming here for exactly the opposite reason, to feel like someone special.
Our adventure did not end here. They were saying that there would be a hurricane the next day and huge waves during the night. That day, they were not even allowing boats to be moored in Positano. So we could not tie our boat to the pier with ropes. Because of this, we had to return to the port one day earlier than planned. There was no other port nearby, so we had to go to Salerno. We had to leave imediately to make it there before the port closed.
The journey itself is beautiful too. For example, you can see around thirty Saracen towers. But they were not built by the Saracens. They were built for defense against the pirate attacks carried out by the Saracens. These towers were part of a real communication system. Each tower could see the two neighboring towers. When enemy ships appeared, they sent signals using smoke during the day and fire at night. They could even fire a cannon if necessary. Now these towers have been turned into luxury hotels and restaurants. Eight hundred years ago, they were saving lives. Today they are saving beauty.
Of course, firefighters are saving beauty too. We saw a major rescue operation while we were on our way. And that was when I realized how comfortable it is to travel by yacht.
Because if we had been traveling by car, they would have closed the road and traffic on the Amalfi coast can often come to a complete standstill because of fires like this.
And in the morning we really saw that there was a hurricane over us. In neighboring areas the wind had reached up to 50 knots and there had been thunderstorms and hail. But we were lucky. In the morning even though the sky was cloudy, we went swimming. We found a beach that could only be reached by boat. We swam as much as we could and finally returned to the port when we saw the approaching clouds.
We visited the town of Vietri sul Mare and there is really a certain style here too. This is the city of ceramics. The majolica decorations on the huge dome of the church can be seen from a distance. This is the first thing passengers arriving from the sea see. It is like an explosion of colors. It is an art with a history of 2500 years. Its production dates back to the Etruscans in the fifth century BCE. However, it developed greatly during the Middle Ages and in the 20th century, the famous yellow Vietri ceramics and the ceramic donkeys that became a symbol of the town emerged. Each piece is made by hand using traditional techniques. Earth, fire, air and water. The four elements of ceramics. All the paints are water based and non toxic. This makes them especially suitable for dinnerware. The secrets of production have been passed down through families in shops and factories for five or six generations.
My friend Anna lives here in Vietri. She showed me really hidden gems, places that only a local would know. For example, we saw a magnificent Baroque style chapel. Exactly the kind of place I love. Although the building dates back to the 15th century. It belongs to the late Baroque period. They say it is very rarely open and we were incredibly lucky to be able to see it. My friend also showed me a very interesting shop. Here, you can look inside a real cave. She says that many homes still have rooms like this inside their buildings.
Our last day was a little complicated. There was a storm warning. Despite that, the weather was very hot and sunny. We still managed to swim a little. Our yacht rental company wanted us to enter the port around noon because winds of around 30-40 knots were expected. In the end, everything was calm and peaceful. We already had to return the boat at 8 am. the next morning. So our last day seemed to fly by. Actually this is how all charter companies work. You leave late at night and return early in the morning. So when you go out to sea for a week, you actually have six days. Despite all the problems we encountered, we decided that we would definitely have this experience again.
