Positano, land of many stairs

September 20, 2011

After a night of heavy wind and torrential downpour, we were greeted by the beautiful Italian sun when we woke up. Following a delicious breakfast of eggs and cappuccino on the terrace, we decided to venture down the hill to the center of town. One of the staff at the hostel informed us that the best way to the center of town is to take any steps you see going down. He also mentioned that Positano is known for dress making. Is it possible for me to love this place anymore??

As we made our way down, we stopped every 30 seconds to admire the magnificent views. Around every bend in the steps, we were greeted with more beautiful houses, gingerly stacked on one another, overlooking the glistening sea. I was in heaven and began weeping. We stopped in a few of the stores to see their beautiful clothes and slowly made our way down to the main beach. I can't resist Italian anything and my pack is quickly getting ridiculously heavy. If I look like the hulk when I get home, you now know why.

The beach was very nice and was comprised of smaller pebbles than the beaches in Croatia. A few pieces of painted tile showed up on the shore and we found tons of sea glass. And this is yet another reason my pack is so heavy! I'm literally filling it with stones. I'm a glutton for punishment.

We walked along the coast and all of the sudden heard someone yell "girls!" We looked ahead of us and, low and behold, Diana was sitting in a restaurant with the friend she is visiting. Diana is so kind and I'm so glad that we got to see her again! (P.s. Diana, if you're reading this, come see us in New York sometime!!) Her friend Lisa has been renting an apartment in Positano for the past few months and then she will be renting one in Firenze. I am ridiculously jealous and tried my best to hide my green eyes of jealousy for her amazing lifestyle!

After a wonderful lunch on the coast, we decide to make our way back to the hostel and check out the other Positano beach. And this is when we realized our mistake. The steps were so nice to go down but oh so painful to go back up. We were exhausted!

After a bit of a rest back the hostel (which is very close to the top of this coastal town) our curiosity surpassed our exhaustion and we headed back down the hundreds of steps to see the other beach. The views were stunning.

Hunger struck and we decided to return to the reasonably priced and delicious restaurant across the street from our hostel again. As we started to make our way up again, I thought I would just die on the steps. We counted and came up with about 600 steep steps to make it to the top. So both ways, two times that day (and the other way being a bit longer even), we totaled about 2,500 steps in one day. My butt better be so perky that it is halfway up my back.

After another satisfying meal we returned to our hostel completely exhausted.