ravello

Our hotel in Ravello was so beautiful there was really no need to leave the grounds. We decided to have a low key day there. We ate a nice breakfast (complete with fruits, pastries, fresh squeezed apple ginger juice and the most delicious herbal tea from vervain leaves). Then we got some work done in the room, explored the gardens, and worked out in the exercise room. I took lots of photos. 

Eventually in the late afternoon we left the hotel and walked around Ravello. We decided to return to the same restaurant for dinner. The elderly woman owner was there again. We found out her name -- Netta. When she saw we were repeat guests she warmed up to us and we even got a smile out of her.  Later she insisted we have the lemon cake for desert on the house. I left after giving her a personal thank you for her hospitality and she gave me a kiss goodbye. Ah Italy! 

to ravello

We bid Positano and our favorite waiter goodbye and got ready for our next stop. Travel days were really fun because we had guides to help us. This day our guide was a sweet young woman named Ornella. She helped us to the ferry and purchased tickets for us while we got a cold drink. On the way to Ravello she showed us a beautiful church with many steps. She walked us up the back way to the front door of the church and on the door was the image of Saint Francis. Ornella explained that the locals always touch his face before they enter the church, rand after so many years the patina surface has been rubbed off to show the gold underneath.

We arrived by ferry and then were driven up a mountain on windy roads until we reached our hotel. We were so high up that the weather was cooler, the air quieter. 

That night we had dinner in the small town of Ravello. We went to a little restaurant owned by an old woman named Netta who was dressed in an apron, dress and a big fake red flower in her hair. She had run the restaurant since she was young. Newspaper articles on the wall showed a younger version of this sparky Italian woman. She waited on us herself...and was all business with us, but the food was incredible. We had bean soup, pasta with red sauce, and penne with fish and potatoes. It tasted like something your grandmother would make for you. 

our last couple days in positano

Involved walking through the charming town, shopping, eating meals, resting, working out, and relaxing. 

One of my fond memories of Positano was the conversation we had with our favorite waiter Michael at the hotel during breakfast. This quiet and humble man told Gary and me about his ninety-year-old grandfather, who greatly enjoyed tinkering in the garden. They were growing all sorts of vegetables and fruits. It was so obvious how much this man loved his grandfather. I didn't have to go to Italy to find this kind of family love and closeness, but this is what struck me most about the people in this small town environment. 

Gary and I had been on the road for some time and so one day in Positano we decided to stay at the hotel and relax. We met a sweet newly married couple at the hotel pool and chatted with them for some time. We went to the work out room and exercised together, which was so much fun. We used to do this before we had kids. We took naps. Then that night we took the shuttle down the winding mountain into the town. We shopped around and I found some pretty clothes, including a one-of-a kind handmade jacket. That evening I thought about how lucky I was to have beautiful clothes and such a blessed life to be able to buy a dress or jacket if I liked it.

We ate dinner at a restaurant right on the beach, and afterwards I looked for beach glass until it was too dark to see anything. It was a perfect day.