With a good night's sleep for Laureen (partly due to the coma-like sleep after a cup of Vick's Night Time Cold medicine), she felt a little better. She was really sleeping as she slept through her phone alarm going off for about 30 minutes. Normally, at home, the sound the phone makes before it actually starts to play the music alarm is enough to wake her up. But not today. We were not late – just a little rushed. Fortunately, we were not leaving today – so the morning routine is less stringent.
Down for breakfast we only had something small as the pizza and all the other amazing food from the night before was still resident! Pacing one’s self is important on a trip like this. We hopped on a smaller bus today, as our coach was far too big to be able to negotiate the roads (I hesitate to call them roads – they were more like cart paths as it related to their width) on which we would travel.
Stop one was at the harbor where we boarded a rather large ferry and headed over to the isle of Capri. It is about a 20-minute jaunt to get there, and once we had arrived we immediately boarded a smaller boat for a tour around about half of the island. The scenery is unbelievable. The towering limestone rock cliffs loom high over the water creating a castle like appearance. The crystal blue water was so inviting, there was a point I almost decided to just jump overboard and go for a swim. At one point, the captain of the craft pulled the boat into a grotto (cave in the rocks) and we were looking backwards at the water from inside the island. There were also a number of yachts anchored off the island itself. Our guide indicated that in August, there will be so many yachts anchored out there that it would be hard to navigate them.
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| Isle of Capri |
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| Mount Vesuvius |
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| Grotto on the coast of Capri |
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| Exclusive hotel on the isle of Capri |
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| Example of a Yacht that is anchored in the area around the isle of Capri |
We returned to the shore and immediately took the funicular up the rock face to the village at the top of the island. It was a bout a 10 minute ride up – and the views from up there were amazing! We were escorted up to a garden park that was built by a German family (the name escapes me now, but they were known for the steel work that they did). The views from here were nothing short of magazine cover quality.
After this we had a bit of free time, so we wandered a little with Steve and Margaret and eventually sat down for lunch together. As we were eating lunch, we all just looked at each other and said something to the effect of, “I can’t believe we are sitting on the island of Capri in Italy, watching all the people walk by and enjoying the amazing sights. I pinch myself every night.
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| Me, Laureen, Margaret & Steve |
We walked down to the pre-arranged meeting point to wait for the group to all arrive (after the free time) and then join those who were doing the optional excursion to Positano (another little village on the island). We boarded a small bus, and began the trek. I’ve never driven on roads that narrow, that high up and with hairpin turns that required the traffic coming the other direction to stop so that our bus could make the corner. I honestly don’t think I could drive a vehicle here. It’s just that crazy!
We stopped at a lookout point over Positano and just took a few pictures. The place is one of the most picturesque places I have ever seen. It’s un…believable.
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| Went for a swim on this beach later in the day |
We jumped back on the bus and he took us closer to the village. From there we walked all the way down to the beach level (and I use the term ‘beach’ lightly). The very narrow streets (cars, mopeds, bicycles and pedestrians) all share the single one-way lane trough the town. Like I said – there is no way I would drive here. Once we arrived at the bottom, I had brought my swim suit to change into so that I could go for another swim in the Mediterranean. I had no towel, so I bought a wrap that women typically wear, and used that to dry off when I came out. I also had to go find a public washroom (you pay about 50 cents each time you want to use a public toilet here in Europe) so that I could change.
Now that I’m changed, I have to get to the water. I start walking on the very dark sand and realized quite quickly that I would not make it that far before my bare feet burst into flames. So I headed for a wooden walkway that went that direction, hoping it was a little cooler. It was – but not by much. I made my way near the water and saw Kathy standing there – as Mark was just coming out of the water. By the way, the ‘beach’ is packed with people. Closer to the water the ‘beach’ is actually smooth, black rocks. Not only are they hard to walk on – they are wicked hot from the sun. Mark points to a roped off area and indicates that inside there is the swimming area – outside of that is for the boats. So I walk another 30 yards on the hot rocks to get to the water. I finally reach the water (and it’s all little rocks now) which is quite a bit harder to walk in than sand. Although cooler, I still gingerly wade into the water until I’m deep enough to dive forward and take the weight off of my feet. Ahhhhhhh. The Mediterranean is an excellent temperature for the hot sticky day. I swim for a while and then feel guilty that Laureen (who did not bring her swim stuff) was sitting in the shade with all of our belongings.
So, I swim back to the shore – not really looking forward to the trek back to where she was. This time, when I got closer to shore, I walked along the waterline – stepping around the people who had beached themselves there. I went as far as a dock that was there which I hopped up on and then walked toward the location of Laureen and our belongings. This dock joined the wood planks that I walked on earlier, except this time, my feet were cooler from the water – so I didn’t notice how warm they were.
After drying off, we began to make our way up the hill back to the meeting point. About ¾ of the way up, we stopped at a small restaurant for a drink. Did I mention that it was hot out there? Completing the cool liquids, we joined the rest of the crew and hopped back into the bus for the perilous journey out of Positano. It was stunningly beautiful. Picturesque. But too busy, crowded and closed in. I have no desire to go back – but am very glad I went.
Trip to the hotel was uneventful. We had a few hours before dinner so we did a little bit of laundry and hung it on the balcony to dry. Then went to the pool where both Laureen and I could cool off. It was quite nice there and a few of the Tour Family were there as well.
Back to the room, we changed, organized a little and then went to the hotel restaurant for the included dinner. Loved the white wine at the table tonight – it had a slight hint of peach and it was not too dry. The red had a little more tannin in it than I personally preferred.
Went back to the room so that we could get things a little more organized for tomorrows departure and then blog time.
Because the internet in this hotel is quite bad – I’m going to post this without pictures. It will take too long to load them, given the poor connection, and I’m still super tired so I’m going to bed. I’ll update this post from Rome tomorrow night in hopes that the connection from there is better.
Curt & Laureen in Sorrento, Italy.
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