Italy and Hong Kong Sep 2013: Positano 21-24 Sep 2013

Hotel Palazzo Murat, Positano
After some time with family, Nick and I were delighted to have some alone time and make our way to one of our favourite towns on the Amalfi Coast, Positano. Although we could only allow ourselves another very short stay here of 3 nights (compared to our usual longer stays). We were however blessed to stay in the sanctuary of Hotel Palazzo Murat http://www.palazzomurat.it/ - the summer Palace of the King of Naples and his wife (Napoleon's sister, Caroline). As you may have noticed in an earlier page on this blog, we stayed in their main Palace in Naples, and now we found ourselves in their summer residence. The most beautiful hotel in Positano by far, with huge private gardens (including a 100 year old bougainvillea wrapped around the main building), a market garden to keep their 2 Michelin Star restaurant in stock, and a beautiful pool with a view of the beach.

We stayed in the new wing of the Palace (given the original wing was very expensive), but we still adored this hotel's attention to detail. The huge (tiled) garden room with private terrace had fittings that felt old (although in very good condition and VERY clean); we're not sure when this area was built. We had a beautiful king size bed that was firm (as Italian beds seem to be), but still luxurious enough to sleep very well. The linen was Damask and the colours all matched to a pale green... everything was unique to the hotel (named Palazzo Murat) and our view through the gardens to the main palace were amazing... See the hotel's photo gallery (it's well worth a visit) http://www.palazzomurat.it/centre-hotel-positano-photogallery

Photo courtesy of the official Hotel Palazzo Murat website

Hotel name on the beautiful soft sheets

Damask linen on the bed

Goodies that come with coffee in the room

View from our private terrace to the old Palace

On our first walk down to the beach from the hotel, we came across the local church (very close to the hotel) where a full Catholic wedding was taking place... Nick managed to take one photo inside the church, the others are from a distance with the bride and groom coming out into the crowds where rice was being thrown... the service must have gone on for more than 3 hours... the wedding party were staying at our hotel (as Palazzo Murat is well known for organising weddings) and thus the party had their reception that night in the outdoor gardens in the breakfast area and main restaurant :) We could hear the music and the singing most of the night in our room... very enchanting...

The first morning, we made our way out to the top area of the garden, near the reception, to have our breakfast included in the room cost. This was the most magical place to enjoy the early morning with warm sun, beautiful views, friendly staff, and an incredible European buffet breakfast with hot food, fruits, cereals, juices, coffee, and a mountain of cakes and other sweets (my idea of HEAVEN!)... here were some of the best views of the main (old) Palace and the houses of Positano from the breakfast area...

Down a few stairs from the breakfast area is the huge oasis of the hotel gardens including a market garden grown to supply the 2 star Michelin restaurant at the hotel....

Near the bottom of the garden is the emerald green pool with views down to the beach and up to the mountains in Positano...

In the town of Positano, on our first day we indulged in bruschetta and gelati...

One night we had dinner at the local hotel restaurant - this 2 star Michelin restaurant wasn't quite as wonderful as we expected (given the amazing local food), but the atmosphere was beautiful (candlelit garden setting), it was a very popular spot with lots of people... and the service was impeccable... we had a free starter from the chef (a cold ravioli with tomato sauce), I had a prawn-based spaghetti, Nick had the fish, and for dessert we shared crème caramel, followed by coffee and muscat from the enormous wine cellar the hotel was also very famous for...

Another night we had dinner a Chez Black (a restaurant along the beach front, next to Le Tre Sorelle, our favourite place to eat). This was also a pretty good restaurant, although slightly more touristy than the others... we had eggplant parmigiana to share, Nick had a T-bone steak, I had my favourite gnocchi with tomato sauce and mozzarella, and finally we had tiramisu, coffee, and a free lemoncello granite :)

On our final night in Positano, we went up the hill (rather down toward to the beach) to a local restaurant, quite difficult to notice, down a few lots of stairs to a homey atmospheric, outside garden dining area with large outdoor bar. They also ran a cooking school... it was cheap but the food was fantastic... we shared mozzarella on lemon leaves, we both had pasta for mains, and again, tiramisu for dessert... Nick had a local red wine in a half bottle and I had freshly squeezed orange juice...