Nancy's Travel Adventures!

September 8 - Pasta, Wine, more pasta, Italian adventures, and more pasta

Well I now know that Atkins is not Italian. There meals consist of croissants, pasta, pizza, beer, Gelati and red wine. But more about that later!

Our time in Positano was great. We ventured out around the town and to a restaurant the hotel recommended called Max. The town itself is made of windy streets with busy sidewalks (if you can call them sidewalks), random dogs and cats running around where I am convinced here in Italy, dogs and cats adopt people rather than the other way around. I was really perplexed of this because they would just cruise in and out of shops but they were well fed and had collars (some even sported very Euro handkerchiefs). At any rate, the town itself is lively and crowded and the people very friendly.

We arrived at Max (www.ristorantemax.it) and while waiting for our table, I noticed that the back of their menu said "Positano - Newport Beach, CA" --- ??? So, I asked our host about it and he said they just opened up a restaurant on 17th St.!! They took the place of Capri Blue. We compared notes and I was pleasantly suprised that our Italian host had been to the Quiet Woman (ah, the memories), Cannery, Blue Beet, etc. So, we were given 'special' treatment due to our common grounds in Newport Beach. The dinner was very very good (more pasta!) and the wine was excellent. We had a very ceremonious wine presentation. The Sommelier recommended a very good and inexpensive bottle of wine. They decanted it, then brought a very odd tasting cup that had "dimples" -- one on the bottom and one in the center. You then insert your middle finger in the bottom and your thumb in the midldle and then swirl the wine around. Viola! You experience an exquisite taste of wine. At any rate, he made a big deal about pouring the wine and swishing it around our glasses.

We had a very long dinner and found ourselves the only ones left at the restaurant, so the waiters hung out with us and allowed us check out their wine cellar. After dinner we hit Music on the Rocks where we met up with some people we saw at Max's. They were from Texas and just had got engaged. They were very fun and we danced the night away with them, the Italians and the many tourists. (www.musicontherocks.it)

After staying out till the wee hours of the morning, we slept in, got some food and rented a "Smart Car".... and boy is this a smart car!! It is a little two-seater that had a sunroof, air conditioning, and a stereo. There is no room for other people but we zipped off to Amalfi, Rovello and Praino. The street were very windy and the drivers a bit crazy (esp. the moped drivers)! But we made it in one piece to Rovello. A very charming, sleepy town that is fun to expore. We then hit the Palazzo Sasso (a Preferred Hotel Group Property) and ran into our friends from NYC that we met in Capri! We sat down with them and got a tour of the property from the new GM who couldn't have been more of a gentleman. It is gorgeous and the service (we are told) is excellent. I would highly recommend Rovello (esp. for couples) but beware of the parking if you are renting a car, we got a parking ticket! We couldn't read the Italian that said we had to pay for our parking space.

After a very tiring journey back (manuevering the windy streets of the coast, the drivers and it getting dark), we made it back to the hotel very tired. We wearily got ready for dinner and were on a mission to find something other than pasta. As much as I love Italian food, my body was craving something other than pasta, so when we asked the gentleman at the front desk if there were any other restaurants besides Italian.....he said no. I jokingluy asked if there was Sushi and he said that there was at the Hotel Seranuse at the Champagne Bar. So, we headed off and struck gold!

After dinner, we were pretty tired, so we pretty much headed back and called it a night, early standards for the Italians, about 12:30a.

We packed up, yet again, hit some shops and headed to Riato. A small sleepy town just outside Salerno. We are now in the hotel and getting ready to head out for dinner. Tomorrow we are off to Roma, then Africa!! Looking forward to both.

Ciao!

posted by Nancy Chapman @ 10:28 AM