Positano

Positano on the Amalfi Coast 9/23-25
Seen on a plate today: This morning we slept through breakfast at the hotel and stopped in for what passes for breakfast, at least according to Marie Antoinette. at the Foreigner's Club. Jane had a Lemon pie with cr�me fraise and I had a lemon and almond cake.... Lunch however was a marked improvement. While Janeio enjoyed an Italian version of a club sandwich, I "chowed" down on a salad with shrimp on a bed of arugula & white beans covered in fresh rough graded parmesan. Sprinkle a little exrtra virgin olive oil and some aged balsamic on it, top of the glass of Chianti and you can guess the rest.....
Tonight, well tonight there was way to much seen on a plate, or several plates.... After the storm we rolled down to the beachfront ristoranti Chez Black and were ushered to the finest table in the back of the town's most popular eatery. Their's was, by 10 fold, the largest wine list we've seen and their menu read like a gourmet magazine's top ten list... We decided to keep it simple. For the first course, the primi plati, Janeio had the Scaloppini Marsala again, with way better results, and I went for the crepes alla fromagio. It was a heart attack in an au gratin dish, 7 kinds of Italian cheeses sandwiched between two razor thin crepes; absolutely delicious, but ohmygod! For the second course Jane went with her traditional, and totally intelligent, Insalada Mista [the famous mixed salad] while I plunged into a light and delicious Scaloppini alla fungi [veal with mushrooms, I'm no fool, this is essentially the same as scaloppini alla marsala but they add the mushrooms]., it was great! We followed this with the classic option, Profiteroles, lemoncino, Grand Mariner, caff� and a Grande Bill, the one thing we never order but they always seem to bring us.

Went down to the piccolo harbor just in time for the hydrofoil to Positano and were told the that it was to rough, the boats weren't going to Positano today.... So we hailed the first cab to the train station to take a bus and before we cleared the first hill talked ourselves into using the taxi to drive us all the way. The road was awesome!	Janeio at an overlook some 500-600' above the Mediterranean Sea	On the beach in Positano. Would you believe that it is probably 600' to the top of the hill in the background?
Waiting to eat the lunch, discussed above, at a beachside ristorante....	After that big lunch it was time for Positano Style!	On our lanai....
View from our room looking down....	View from our room looking up....	View 5 minutes before the heavens opened up for a 6 pm shower....The show complete with thunder and lightening!
Leroy, author of "Werewolves of London" and our new best friend, was showing up everywhere in town. Here he was telling us that the history of Hotel Murat was that Carolina [Bonaparte's sister] and her husband once owned it as a summer retreat home. His last name was Murat.	Out hotel room.... Wall tile in the little alley leading to the hotel....	Our little bus stop at the Hotel Vittoria. The piccolo houses in the wall behind reminded me of the American Indian dwellings in New Mexico[?]
Entry to Music on the Rocks, one of several "disotecas" in Positano	This is the view from Music on the Rocks	Here is a better shot of Positano from the road. Again, this country is just resplendent with postcard material.....

Bella Amalfi in the background

Another Amalfi shot

Sorrento peppers, on sale everywhere, were shot here in an Amalfi shop

We met some "brilliant" Scots right next door in Hotel Vittoria and befriended them for the rest of our mutual trips to the Amalfi Coast.....

Amalfi's central church.... Santa Someone-or-Other....

The end draws near :(

Unseen on a plate tonight: In an exciting, and unexpected conclusion to tonight's dinning, the electricity went out in Positano. That left the crowd of perhaps a hundred diners with a hundred candles speechless just long enough for the waiter standing next to us and myself to initiate a "Bravo" and a thunderous applause... The 6 PM downpour had given up it's gusto long enough for us to make our way to the restaurant and for most of our time there, but when it came time to leave, she returned with a vengeance.... After dinner we ran towards home but got waylaid in the Ristoranti Pupetto at the bottom of our hill as the electricity went off again and again. Call it serendipity, were we in France we'd say C'est la Vie. Us? we just called it an excuse to stop into Pupetto and make new friends; but that is another story.........

Seen on a plate today: Lunch again at Buca Di Bacco [Mouth of Bacchus], this time I had a calzone the was probably 12" long an had mozzarella, cottage cheese & Parma ham and Jane had Salala tonno e pomodora with that good extra virgin oil and balsamic [tuna on tomato]. Later we were enticed into another little eatery for a cappuccino, a crema chantilly e lemone delizia [a little tit shaped thing] and a taramisu with fresh mascarpone