Positano: A Day at the Beach

After a leisurely breakfast at the hotel, we'd head back up to the room, lather on the SPF, gather the essentials (hat, shades, books, beverages), and head out for our day at the beach. The town of Positano (and most of the towns along the Amalfi Coast) are very steep towns with many narrow stairwells that lead down to the water. The stairwell across the street from our hotel directs us right to the beach:

Almost there:



After a 10 minute walk down about 550 (Brian actually counted one day) stairs, we'd reach the beach ready for some sun and relaxation. There are two beaches in Positano, Spiaggia Grande (the main beach) and Fornillo. We split our time between the two beaches. The Spiaggia Grande is fun because it's in the heart of Positano and quite crowded with other people. Fornillo is nice because it is more secluded and a bit more laid back.

Here's a glimpse of looking down the coast at Spiaggia Grande:

And that's right, the beaches in Positano are pebble/stone beaches.



Nice since you don't wind up with sand all over, but actually a little painful to walk on due to the heat (we'd walk on hot sand any day over walking on hot stones) and they're just plain hard. We ended up wearing our flip-flops in the water as well. We actually saw a lot of people rocking the aqua-socks.

Once we arrive at the beach we'd pay for our chairs and umbrella and then let the relaxation begin.




Between dips in the crystal clear Mediterranean, we'd both read a ton and enjoy our new favorite summer drink. We bought a bottle of Absolut Tropics (supposedly a limited edition of Absolut very lightly flavored with mango, passionfruit, and papaya) at the Duty-Free shop in Milan on our layover and paired that with blood orange juice. Delightfully delicious and refreshing!

One morning there was a little marine life-related excitement at Spiaggia Grande. This (dead) guy was floating along the shore so an Italian man pulled him out and buried him, but not before I snapped a picture:



We'd never seen a jellyfish that was so thick. E - any idea what kind this is?

No marine life-related excitement here, but take a peek at the more quiet Fornillo beach:

After a bunch of reading and a few cocktails we'd usually work up a good appetite. Along both beaches there are plenty of restaurants and take-away cafés to choose from. More often than not, this is what our lunch consisted of:

After lunch we'd spend a few more hours under the umbrella letting the hot Mediterranean air lull us into a sleepy beach haze. Six out of our seven days in Positano were spent at the beach and we absolutely loved it!

Up Next: Gelato