Day 7--Capri

Amalfi Coast

Capri

From left to right: Lori, Betty, some vagrant, and Barb

One thing I’ve discovered during my week here in the south of Italy: just trying to get to and from your destination can be an adventure in itself. For example, I wanted to visit Capri today. I figured I could catch a boat from Amalfi. But during the off season there are only two boats that go to Capri from Amalfi and back. So my only other choice was to take a SITA bus up to Sorrento, and from there get a hydrofoil to Capri. But first, I had to wait an extra half hour because there was a bicycle race up the Amalfi Coast. So I waited, watching the seemingly endless stream of cyclists glide by the hotel. The cyclists were pretty cool, but unfortunately, I couldn’t figure out the Spanish directions on Ferdinanda’s camera to shoot some video footage.
Eventually traffic resumed and the bus came. Once in Sorrento the bus dropped us off in the main piazza, and I had to figure out how to get to the harbor from there. I did eventually find the harbor but I had to walk down about four thousand steps and pursue a winding cobblestone street down to the water. I thought to myself, I am not walking up all those steps just to take a bus back. I was determined to take a boat, any boat, back to Amalfi later in the day.
I made the hydrofoil about five minutes before departure and found myself going to Capri. The water was pitchy but I had taken Dramamine, and was fine as long as I didn’t look down.
I arrived in the Capri harbor and found a tourist office. The lady behind the counter said that the sole boat to Amalfi would leave at 4:25. So I had about three hours.
One thought on the way had been to take the funicular railway (“funiculi funicula!”) up to the scenic paths and gardens at the top of the city. Instead I was so impressed with my body’s willingness to tolerate the sea that I decided to take one of the boat tours around the island. I think that all the flying I’ve done the last couple of years has given me sea legs!
The boat tour lasted about an hour and covered the whole circumvent of the island (see photos above). I sat up top and struggled with wind and waves to get pictures, which is why one of them is slightly tilted. The Blue Grotto was closed because the water was too pitchy to get in through the narrow entrance.
I would have loved to have visited the ruins of the Roman Emperor Tiberius’ villa and gardens, but I really wanted to get back to Amalfi, have dinner, and get back to the hotel to pack. So I made the 4:25 boat. But not before I suddenly ran into three cute Dead Head girls that I had met on the bus the night before. They are Lori, Betty and Barb. Lori is from New York, Barb and Betty from Miami. They are doing an entire tour of Italy. I gathered they were Dead Heads before they told me because of the tell-tale smell of patchouli.

When I arrived in Amalfi, all of the regular ristorantes were closed. I guess they close on Sundays for a few hours before the dinner hour. So my last full meal in Italy was ravioli stuffed with grouper at a side café. It was . . . okay.
Also had some more gelati today: mixed berry and strawberry in Capri, vanilla and chocolate in Amalfi. It is indeed the ice cream of the gods.
All in all, a pretty darn good day.

Ciao,
John