Our outing for today is a ferry trip over to the Isle of Capri (pronounced CAP-ree by the locals, not Kuh-PREE like most Americans refer to it), where we are planning on doing some hiking and shopping. The boat ride over was pretty fast, only about 25 minutes. We sat away from the crowds who all seemed to rush up the stairs to secure a spot on the upper back deck of the boat, but we found a quiet, cozy spot in the very front of the pilot room, where two small teak benches flanked either side of the bow with room for only about 4 of us, and you had to watch that your feet didn’t get caught up in the anchor line. Surprisingly, there was wait-service out there – a deckhand came out and offered us beer, wine, or sodas during the ride over. With the wind in our face, and the boat riding up and down on mild swells, we had a spirited ride over, complemented by great vistas to the front, of the Faraglioni – large rock spires shooting up from the sea near the west end of Capri, and to the back, of the coastline of Praeno and Positano.
Arriving at the island, we checked ferry times for returning to either Positano or Sorrento, then we visited the TI (Tourist Information) office to get a map of the island’s hiking trails. The agent recommended we skip the hike along the western edge of the island and up to the top of the 1900-foot peak since it was our first visit to Capri, and he felt we could get in some very good hiking while also seeing some of the island’s more well visited sites such as an old palace/fortress used by both Augustus and Tiberius during their reigns, a beautiful natural rock arch, and a challenging trail along the southern edge of the island over to the Faraglioni and back to Capri town.
We bought tickets for the Funicula and rode it up from the port to Capri town, where we were surprised to see what is called the Rodeo Drive of Italy. Fendi, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, and a host of other high end Italian designers all had beautiful shops there, and it was hard to pass by all the shoe stores.
Once out of town, we started walking down narrow streets and up hills past incredibly charming homes. The gardens were so lovely, full of flowers, lemon, orange, fig and walnut trees, grapevines, and loads of vegetables including various types of sweet peppers, tomatoes (of course!), various lettuces, and summer squashes like zucchini. Each home was typically surrounded by a stone wall, with pretty painted tile signs showing little Italian scenes and announcing the name of the family living there, or sometimes the romantic name of the home. The entrance to the home was usually an ornate wrought iron gate which opened to an artistically tiled path flanked by beautiful gardens on either side.
 |
| Faraglioni off the island of Capri |
 |
| Snow White and the 7 Dwarfs Garden |
We bought tickets for the Funicula and rode it up from the port to Capri town, where we were surprised to see what is called the Rodeo Drive of Italy. Fendi, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Ferragamo, and a host of other high end Italian designers all had beautiful shops there, and it was hard to pass by all the shoe stores.
 |
| These are all men's pants - I thought golf pants were bad. Here men can buy a pair of pants in any color! |
 |
| Store where we purchased a pair of Enrico Esposito flats for Marie |
Once out of town, we started walking down narrow streets and up hills past incredibly charming homes. The gardens were so lovely, full of flowers, lemon, orange, fig and walnut trees, grapevines, and loads of vegetables including various types of sweet peppers, tomatoes (of course!), various lettuces, and summer squashes like zucchini. Each home was typically surrounded by a stone wall, with pretty painted tile signs showing little Italian scenes and announcing the name of the family living there, or sometimes the romantic name of the home. The entrance to the home was usually an ornate wrought iron gate which opened to an artistically tiled path flanked by beautiful gardens on either side.
The hike up to the palace ruins was challenging as usual for Italy, consisting of steep paths and lots of uneven stairs. We stopped at the spot where Tiberius used to throw his less-favored visitors off the cliff to the rocks and sea below and I kept my distance from Bob, just in case he got any ideas.
Backtracking down the path, we turned off to see the next site – a large natural arch overlooking the sea, with lots of seagulls flying around and singing in voices that sounded like little babies crying. We found a scenic, private bench to take in the view, and made a picnic of some ciabbata bread, sun-dried tomatoes and eggplant, and artichoke spread, along with some cookies and spicy, crispy, roasted fava beans we’d saved from Alberobello. Lunch was delicious, except we’d forgotten to pack drinks so back up the stairs we went to a little café at the top where we ordered beers and lemon granita.
Taking in the sights we had to laugh at a threesome of 20-something American tourists – friends from college, who were travelling with their two Chihuahuas in a pompous little dog stroller. It had three wheels and looked like a baby jogging stroller, except it was fitted with a little dog bed and a zippered screen door to keep the pets from escaping. We pretended to think it was cute so I could take a picture, but it seemed ridiculous to tote those dogs all over, especially in a place like this which was all stairs. They were complaining about how difficult it had been to get around – especially since they had just climbed up an exceedingly long and steep set of stairs. What did they expect in Europe? Smooth sidewalks and handicap ramps on every corner? Working elevators? We took those same stairs down to the cliffs along the water, and they were torturous and never-ending going down, so I can only imagine the horror of trying to lug Pepe and Don Juan in their canine chariot up the path. If it were me, I would have found a way to “accidentally” release the parking brake, sending the annoying, yippity little pooches hurtling over the edge of Tiberius’ jump. Ok, I wouldn’t really try to kill them, but at least I would have made them walk for themselves and carry their own things in little packs on their back. And maybe a bit of my own luggage, too. Sort of like Chihuahua sherpas.
 |
| View over the edge of Tiberius' leap |
Taking in the sights we had to laugh at a threesome of 20-something American tourists – friends from college, who were travelling with their two Chihuahuas in a pompous little dog stroller. It had three wheels and looked like a baby jogging stroller, except it was fitted with a little dog bed and a zippered screen door to keep the pets from escaping. We pretended to think it was cute so I could take a picture, but it seemed ridiculous to tote those dogs all over, especially in a place like this which was all stairs. They were complaining about how difficult it had been to get around – especially since they had just climbed up an exceedingly long and steep set of stairs. What did they expect in Europe? Smooth sidewalks and handicap ramps on every corner? Working elevators? We took those same stairs down to the cliffs along the water, and they were torturous and never-ending going down, so I can only imagine the horror of trying to lug Pepe and Don Juan in their canine chariot up the path. If it were me, I would have found a way to “accidentally” release the parking brake, sending the annoying, yippity little pooches hurtling over the edge of Tiberius’ jump. Ok, I wouldn’t really try to kill them, but at least I would have made them walk for themselves and carry their own things in little packs on their back. And maybe a bit of my own luggage, too. Sort of like Chihuahua sherpas.
 |
| Stairs, never ending stairs |
 |
No comments:
Post a Comment