Buongiorno from Positano! Dad has kindly offered to let me write an 'honorary blog', so it's Alex writing this one today.

On Tuesday, before leaving Ravello, we walked up to Villa Cimbrone, an estate renowned for its beautiful gardens. They were truly stunning, with stone stairs leading down to bronze sculptures, and a particularly impressive terrace lined with marble busts which overlooked the Mediterranean. Dad waited very patiently for a heap of tourists to clear out before he could get his 'money shot', a process which was made more frustrating by Auntie Tona inadvertently wandering into the frame just as the last of the tourists cleared off. This obviously then led to Dad attempting to ruin some of her photos throughout the rest of our garden excursion.

We then set off for Positano, a drive which should have taken 50 minutes but took double that time due to the crazy traffic. The roads are winding and precipitous, with cars coming to a grinding halt in order to let enormous coaches pass by. There doesn't seem to be any road rules, or certainly no regard for them, and we are just so grateful that Dad is doing the driving - he's doing a marvellous job, but not without the occasional curse.

Upon reaching Positano, we ate a pasta lunch in a restaurant right next to the beach, and after some exploration - involving stops for gelati and spritzes right on the beach - we retired for the night to research what we might do for the rest of our time here.

The next day, Dad and I made the (perhaps) foolhardy decision to undertake a hike. The hike went from Positano up to a place called Montepertuso, then to Nocelle and back down to Positano. The view from Montepertuso is characterised by a huge oval-shaped hole in a stone mountain, which apparently was caused when the Virgin Mary fought the devil, and then blasted a hole in the rock with her index finger. It was the first I'd ever heard of the Virgin Mary fighting the devil, and I also wasn't aware of just how very large her index finger must have been, or that she had magical powers. You learn something new every day!

The hike was hard going. Dad was cursing me, as there were tons of stairs going up, and an additional 437 which we didn't need to ascend (it led to a lookout I wanted to go to which ended up being mighty underwhelming). But he forgot all about his discomfort when we arrived in Nocelle an hour or so later and found a tiny lemon slush stand in the middle of the main square. The people there juiced fresh lemons from the area right in front of your eyes and sold you iced lemon juice in a cup. They were so refreshing that Dad simply had to have two. After refreshing ourselves, we hiked 1,650 steps back down to Positano and walked a huge stretch on the road (a harrowing experience), and when we got back to the hotel (after 3.5 hours) we were absolutely stuffed. While we were gone, Mum and Auntie Tona were living it up at the shops and on the beach, an experience which was marred somewhat by Mum getting stung by a red jellyfish. Anything that swims or flies automatically searches her out.

Yesterday, we went on a guided hike along The Path of the Gods, an experience Dad and I have been looking forward to for a long time. When we woke up in the morning, Mum informed us that she wasn't sure she wanted to come, because she had only had 2 hours' sleep. Auntie Tona decided that she didn't want to come, and instead spent a very relaxing morning on a rented lounge chair on the beach, reading, swimming and generally loving life, taking a couple of breaks to get an ice-cream and go shopping. Her only negative experience was when she tried to take a photo of the scenery from inside a shop and was told off aggressively by the saleswoman who kicked her out and closed the door after her.

In the meantime, the rest of us were slogging it along The Path of the Gods. I was proud of Mum for coming with us, but was on edge expecting a crank attack of Vesuvian proportions at any moment. She was fine though, especially considering the heat (apparently the hottest the guide has ever experienced at 37 degrees), the lack of shade and the fact that we had to wait half an hour for a couple of girls who were running late. We were up so high, and the views were spectacular. The 3-hour hike ended in Nocelle where we partook of the lemon slushes once more.

Then came the fun part: getting back to Positano. We had expected to get a transfer but were informed that we had to take the local bus. Well. There was a school trip which had decided that they, too, had to take public transport and there were so many of us at the bus stop when the bus arrived that the poor driver threw his hands in the air as soon as he saw us. When the bus - which was barely bigger than a damn minivan - stopped, so many people had their noses pressed right up against the door, and when it opened, it was on. Humanity at its absolute worst. People yelling, shoving, scared that they would be left behind to wait another hour in the heat for the next bus. In the end the driver was yelling, too. We all crushed on and I had to sit on my parents' laps for the trip home - 30 minutes down the winding roads. We were certainly happy to get off that bus. Our tour guide said he had never seen it so crowded. (So: the hottest day and the most crowded bus in the history of our guide's career…we chose a good day to do that hike!)

Once we had lunch, Auntie Tona said she needed to go take a nap, and proceeded to sleep for two hours. Mum was in disbelief that she was the one napping when - and I quote - she had 'spent the day sitting on her butt on the beach and dipped her toe in the Mediterranean while we were hiking for 16 hours.' Relaxing can be so fatiguing!

Our final experience in Positano was a sunset cruise, a 2-hour boat ride along the coast to see the beautiful little towns from the sea. We were chilling on the front of the boat, Mum and Dad with their legs dangling in the water, sipping Prosecco (not me) and lapping up the scenery. Auntie Tona was so excited it was like watching a kid in a candy store. About halfway through, the driver pulled up near a grotto and we were allowed to swim for a few minutes off the side of the boat. The water was so warm it was like swimming in a bath.

When I got back onto the boat, I wasn't feeling so good. Without going into much detail, let's just say I spent most of the rest of the trip prostrate and fed a few fish while the rest of my fam were living it up on the prow. Boats and I don't mix well.

Today we had a quiet morning - which included eating lemon sorbet directly out of a frozen lemon - before catching our ferry to Capri. Overall it was a great stay in Positano!