Day 16

Buongiorno,

Today we went to the island of Capri, which is a short way off the coast of Italy. We can’t see Capri from Sorrento, as it is around the corner of a headland.

First thing was to get some tickets. There are three companies running ferries to Capri, and they leave very often. Some even carry cars, and this is the ferry we took over in the morning.

The ferry was a lot bigger than we thought it would be, and it did not mess about. It came racing into the harbour, reversed up to the wharf, people off, people on, then raced off again to Capri. It only takes 20 minutes for the ferry crossing.

Just as we arrived at Capri the rain started. And that was when Koro discovered that he hadn’t actually packed his raincoat. Despite assurances to Grandma that yes, of course he had his raincoat in his backpack. Naughty Koro!

Due to the weather the famous Blue Grotto was closed today, so we were not able to see Capri’s most famous landmark. Never mind, we’ll just look at pictures on the internet.

At the harbour we bought two tickets for a boat ride around the island. The boat was covered, so we were sold. It was a bit of a rush,

because the boat was leaving in five minutes. Then the usual Italian chaos as no one seems to know what is going on, but we managed to get ourselves onto the right boat.

Just in time, as the rain really started coming down. While the rain was heavy, the sea was relatively calm, although the was the odd big wave to go over. It was quickly clear that il capitano was very experienced and knew the area well, as he expertly navigated around the island.

We also quickly discovered that a lot of the famous attractions - the green grotto, the white grotto, can only be seen from a boat, so we are glad we took the opportunity of a boat trip.

It only took an hour to get around the whole island. We went through the romantic hole in the rock, and it is said if two lovers kiss as they go through the hole, they will have a long and happy life together. Naturally Grandma & Koro kissed, but we don’t think anyone else did.

Some very famous and very wealthy people, so it is said, live or have holiday homes on Capri. Winston Churchill loved holidaying on Capri. We had Giorgio Armani’s house pointed out to us (Armani is a very famous Italian clothing brand). And the house of Sofia Loren, a very famous Italian actress.

Sofia Loren seems to be a national treasure in Italy. Particularly in Sorrento, where you see restaurants with signs out saying “Sofia Loren recently ate in this restaurant!”. According to one sign we read she has a house in the hills high above Sorrento, but the boat tour people said she lived on Capri.

As the boat tour ended, so did the rain, enabling us to explore the little port (souvenirs and restaurants), before taking the funicular up the hill to the township of Capri.

By this time it was time for some kai, so we looked for a place to have lunch. All we needed was a sandwich and a drink, but Koro was not at all happy with the prices at the first couple of places we looked at. By the third place Koro realised the prices were the same everywhere, and he’d just have to deal with it. We had lunch in a pretty little piazza, filled with people eating and shopping and taking selfies.

Miss Abigail, last year you and Koro had dinner together, and you still tease Koro about the cost of his $38 steak. Well, how about this? A Coke, a basic old glass of Coke Cola was €7.50. That is $13.25 in New Zealand dollars. Thirteen bucks for a Coke! Outrageous! And €6 for an Espresso; normally you’d pay €1.50. That makes Koro’s $38 steak look like it was a bargain!

Koro does not usually drink alcohol at lunch time, he doesn’t like the way it slows him down. But a beer was only €1 more than a soft drink, so he ordered a beer instead. The waiter suggested that Koro might like a draught beer instead of bottled, and recommended a Nastro Azzuro, which is just a basic, mass produced draught beer. What the waiter didn’t say was that the draught beer was an extra €1! Normally a draught beer is as cheap as, if not cheaper than bottled. Grrr.

It was fascinating watching the people in the Piazza over lunch. Capri markets itself as a home of many rich and famous people, and has a lot of designer boutiques. We watched one very well dressed lady walk through the crowd with an over sized Gucci shopping bag

prominently on display.

At one point a pair of very well dressed fashion models walked through the crowd. They walked, stopped, twirled, then walked on. They did this several times, not sure why or if this is a regular thing. Obviously an advertising stunt for some fashion label.

We went for a wander around the township of Capri, took some photos of the scenery from a lookout, then went back down to the port on the funicular.

After dirty and untidy Sorrento, we were impressed with how spotlessly clean Capri is.

Back at the port we decided we’d like to visit a little church we’d heard of that had an amazing mosaic floor. Google Maps told us that it was a leisurely half hour stroll. What Google Maps didn’t say was how many steps there were.

In the photos you can see a viaduct on the side of a mountain. If you look below the viaduct, you might just be able to see a little path working up to the viaduct, then again above it. That is the path Google Maps took us on. It went up and up and up.

It was a very still, humid day. Half way up, a puppy dog was leaning over the wall watching us. He was watching everyone who walked by his house, and it looked like he really wanted to jump down and come and have some fun with us as well.

We made it to the top, with a great feeling of satisfaction. It was actually a very pretty walk, and it was well away from the hoards of crowds and noise and scooters. At the top is the township of

Anacapri. Again very pretty, very clean. It felt a bit more upmarket and less busy than the port or Capri.

We found the church, and we were not allowed to walk on the floor. We had to walk around the edges on a wooden walkway. Quite amazing how much work had gone into it.

We did a bit of shopping (yes, we bought a souvenir T Shirt, as any good tourists should do). Then we decided we’d take the bus down. You can see the short little buses in the pictures. Despite being short buses, people are pushed and pushed onto them like sardines. We were all squashed in until no more people would fit.

The driver drove like he was Craig Lowndes making a last lap charge to win Bathurst, and the road was very much like Bathurst, except this road was narrower and steeper. Going around the hairpin bends it felt like we were on two wheels.

The bus ride was €2 each. The alternative (apart from walking down all those bloody steps) was a funky little stretched Ford Fiesta taxi. €25. Rip. Off.

We bought ferry tickets back to Sorrento, had a drink, and said goodbye to Capri.

Dinner was in Sorrento straight from the ferry as we were too tired to go up to our villa and then back down for dinner. All in all another great day in a different part of Italy.

We enjoyed our time on Capri, we can say we’ve been there. It cost us half as much as if we’d done a package tour, and given the weather, we probably saw just as much as we would have seen on a package tour. Not the sort of place we’d go out of our way to come back to.

Love to you all from Grandma & Koro and Buzzy Bee (Buzzy Bee didn’t get to go to Capri, he was enjoying Villa Oriana too much).