My Favorite Childhood Place on Earth
The bus brought us to a ferry and supplied us with tickets to cross what that day was rather rough waters. We could see many islands on the horizon, and kept guessing which was Capri. I had been when I was very young and had such wonderful memories of the trip. It had changed a lot, but it still held a lot of its beauty. The day ended up being rather cloudy and the place was more touristy than it was decades ago. It was no longer its separate world onto itself. We still did have a nice day and do not regret the visit for a second.
The Blue Grotto
The first thing we did when we got to the island was to board a set of tiny motor boats that took us around the side to the Blue Grotto. There was a long line of boats waiting for their turn to load their passengers on to a row boat. Enjoy your life while this wait lasts, because the next step is to row over to the cliff wall and wait for the swell to be low enough, and then everyone lays down as the "captain" pulls us through with a rope into a huge cavern. The entrance hole is immediately swallowed up by the waves, then reappears, sometimes with a boat filled with panicked and excited tourists.
Back on Land
We then went back to the main pier via the motorboats and boarded a set of little busses that would bring us to the top of the island. We enjoyed a nice lunch that was included with the trip. There were a few choices for pastas and we both went with the fresh seafood option. From there we rode a chairlift to the very top and saw beautiful views all around. We also saw a lot of strange things below us. Some of the people on the island have an artistic flair for the unusual, and it is laid out beneath the lift. We are including a few photos to share the enjoyment.
Upon returning to the base of the chairlift, there were many shops along the edge of the cliff and the walk along this way was lovely. There is a Limoncello shop sporting the famous Italian liqueur from the Naples region. It is very basic - sugar, water, lemon zest, and alcohol. Traditionally, it is served as a single serving in a small glass, chilled, after dinner. One of our tour guides stayed around and offered group members tiny sips of the liqueur out of tiny plastic cups. The store also sold pretty ceramics with lemons, candies in lemon, and lots of other cute things besides just Limoncello.
Having more than one day at Capri would have been OK by me, but it was time to return. The bus trip was long, and we did stop along the way at a shop somehow related to a monastery, where we could get snacks, pastries, tourist things, and alcohol from the region. We bought pastries soda, hoping we could make it back to our hotel awake, though the driver made sure to drop us off as close as they could to our hotel. What a day!