Aug 29 WED – Capri – Day 1 [… in progress …]

 […in progress…]

We are planning to visit Capri, Pompei and Amalfi coast over the next 3 days and 3 nights.  Overnight stay at Capri is not even planned.  Buy we are very limb and flexible.

Today is Wednesday. We woke up in a spacious villa in Sorrento. Internet still doesn’t work?  Today we might take a trip to Capri.  Today we should find a place to park our car (€20 per day), find a hotel here in Sorrento for nights of Thursday and Friday, and yes – collect out things for a overnight trip to Capri.

After breakfast I confirmed that they will have a room for us right here at B&B Relais Diana for TH and FR nights.  And we can leave our car right here – do not have to search for a parking in the town.  And they have bus service from here to the center.  Next bus is leaving conveniently at 10:55 for €1.  Wow!  All the problems are solved in one conversation.  They love us here, or something?

[Events of Thursday, August 29 are in the notebook – pages 113-114.  Car odometer reading – 10,764 km]

The main square in Sorrento is Piazza Tasso, and the bus dropped us here 20 minutes later.  Now a short walk to the elevator (€1×2), and a 20 seconds ride down to the port (11:20).  Yesterday I collected all the schedules for the ferries, and out next available option was 11:45 on a speed boat from a company Gescab (€18×2).

Around 12:15 we arrived without a glitch to the island of Capri.  Grand marina is a main port, but the town of Capri is a good 20 to 30 min. walk up.  So we took a swim, and began climbing up the road.  10-15 minutes into the walk we noticed a very emphatic signs – dead end, no pass, but B&B something.  We made a turn, and start walking a little down toward hidden B&B.

They turned out to be sold out, but the hostess made several calls for us to various logging places, and found a spot for us in Agriturismo in Anacapri – the second town on Capri.  And that is not all.  She said that she can drive us there later, when she is done with her kinds and chores.  She wants to show all the farm animals to her 3 daughters.  We set to met here again at 15:45.  We had 2 hours to explore and get food.

Using “secret” pass (for local only) we went down to the port (5 min), took a funicular up from port to the town of Capri (€1.80 x 2), quickly found Villa Krupp, where Gorki spent 3 years.  Today it is unimaginative hotel with plain boring rooms for €140 per night.  Walls are painted green.  Signs of aging and decay are visible everywhere.  And they refuse to show us the famous Gorki desk, where “The Mother” – a compulsory reading in USSR in the last school year (as recently as 1983 and later) – was written.  They apparently get kickbacks from Russian tours that visit them several times a year.

Around 14:45 we finally had a minute to sit down and quickly ate our lunch at Ristorante il Geranio, (15:14 – €32.20).  This place perfectly located on the slopes of the hills, with Krupp above and sea bellow.

What is unusual about Capri is that there is no flat surface. Streets are well maintained trails.  Closer to the center these street or trails are lined with shops, restaurants and hotels.  Further away from the center, they are just like paths in a park with views in many directions.  And everything that seem far is very close, but something that seem very close can be separated by  hundreds of feet in vertical distance.

The center is completely taken by tourist.  There is no spot for apple to land.  Tourist are everywhere.

We walk back up first to the center of Capri, and then down another 15 minutes to the B&B.

She drove us and her 3 daughters up all the way to Anacapri, to a farm with agriturismo.  We’ve got a coldish reception, and we learned that we HAVE to check out at 10AM.  For a €100 per night we were getting a cottage with table and chair outside and all normal conveniences.  And even breakfast in the morning.

We took a bus down to Faro.  All busses and funicular rides on the island are €1.80.  On the bus we’ve met a young couple from Romania. They spoke very good English, and a rapid-fire conversation was about jobs, and middle class status, and travel.

Faro is a very interesting place for swimming.  I was planning to start a hiking trip from here all the way to Blue Grotto (5.5 km), but we decided to take it slow. There is no beach here, but there is a cement platform with metal stairs going down into the water.  It is immediately very deep.

Busses are going very often and very regular between the points.  We took 19:15 bus back.  Do not worry.  You can buy the ticket right from the driver. Driver will take the money and will make the change.  But you might either pack tight inside the bus, or wait another 15 for the seat on the next bus.

Back in Anacapri we walked to several restaurants until we Trattoria Il Solitario.  This place is a well hidden restaurant with a long passage behind a intricate garden. Perfect meal after a perfect swim (20:54 – €36.50).  They even had a Wi-Fi.  And they accept American Express.

The town of Anacapri is a small collection of several streets high on top of the hills.  And they organize evening events and concerts on the streets to attract and entertain tourists.  We even encountered an unusual game on a gated and lighted court.  Game was among 2 teams of boys with a fare attendance of spectators.  The purpose of the game seemed to hit the player on the other side with several balls flying back and forth, and the person who got hit would leave the court.  Very quick, very exciting and very unusual.

For my 10 o’clock tea we bought a pastry at Pasticceria San Nicola (Via San Nicola, 7, Anacapri – 21:15 – €1.20), and our 13 minutes walk back up to the farm was pleasant and uneventful.

Navigate through the List

1. Italy 2012 August - Roma, Firenze, Napoli and between (2023/11/24)
2. Aug 10-11 FRI-SAT - A two-day flight to Rome (2023/11/28)
3. Aug 12 SUN - First steps in Rome - Pantheon (2023/12/04)
4. Aug 13 MON - Vatican (2023/12/08)
5. Aug 14 TUE - Colosseum (2023/12/12)
6. Aug 15 WED - Getting the car - Starting North - Viterbo (2023/12/16)
7. Aug 16 THU - Bagnoregio in Lazio, Orvieto in Umbria (2023/12/20)
8. Aug 17 FRI - Orvieto - Montepulciano - Siena (2023/12/24)
9. Aug 18 SAT - Siena - Villa Galileo - Firenze - Day 1 (2023/12/28)
10. Aug 19 SUN - Firenze - Day 2 - Uffizi Gallery (2024/01/04)
11. Aug 20 MON - Firenze (Day 3) - Collodi (2024/01/08)
12. Aug 21 TUE - From Pescia to Lucca (2024/01/12)
13. Aug 22 WED - Lucca (Toscana) - La Spezia (Liguria) (2024/01/16)
14. Aug 23 THU - Cinque Terra [... in progress ...] (2024/01/20)
15. Aug 24 FRI - Torre del Lago Puccini - Pisa and Agriturismo (2024/01/24)
16. Aug 25 SAT - Agriturismo in Pitigliano [... in progress ...] (2024/01/28)
17. Aug 26 SUN - Road to Napoli [... in progress ...] (2024/02/04)
18. Aug 27 MON - Napoli - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/08)
19. Aug 28 TUE - From focused Napoli to heavenly Sorrento (2024/02/12)
20. Aug 29 WED - Capri - Day 1 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/16)
21. Aug 30 THU - Capri - Day 2 [... in progress ...] (2024/02/20)
22. Aug 31 FRI - La Dolce Far Niente [... in progress ...] (2024/02/24)
23. Sep 1 SAT - Mount Vesuvius [... in progress ...] (2024/02/28)
24. Sep 2 SUN - Last day in Rome [... in progress ...] (2024/03/04)
25. Sep 3 MON - From Rome back to Boston (2024/03/08)
26. Italy 2012 - Final Summary - Rules to Adopt and Follow <br> (2024/03/12)