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Capri, Italy

Our bed is a bit hard, wait no the two singles pushed together are very hard and it took a while to fall asleep and then we were woken with loud knocking on the wall at our head end. It got louder and more insistent. I thought it was someone hammering then I thought it may be a horrible poltergeist or something because who would be hammering at 2:56am in the morning?

Then the door buzzer down stairs (we were on 1st floor) was getting pressed repeatedly, followed by yelling in Italian with male and female going for it. That only lasted about 5 minutes then things settled before more buzzer pressing, doors clanging and then noise and activity outside. An hour later we managed to get to sleep again. We found out at breakfast that everyone heard it and the banging was an anxious tenant who should have left the wine in the bottle as it was put.

Breakfast provided by the husband and wife team was nice and included cereals, fresh fruit, assortment of home baking and pastries, ham, mortadella and cheese with crusty breads.They also did coffee to order and fresh pancakes which smeared with Nutella Italian style were mighty fine.

As we were finishing breakfast low and behold in walk the San Diego couple which was so funny. Amid hey and hi we found that they were booked in for the same period in the same hotel, on the same floor a couple of doors down. We made a date for dinner and departed for the bus to the Amalfi Coast. By the way they realised after two stops that they were on the wrong train and exited and got into Sorrento a bit later.

The queue for the bus was long and it was very warm standing in the side of a valley next to a large stone wall. When the bus finally arrived we saw it was a little one and Vernon counted how many seats and came up with 48. He then counted the people in front of us left after the bus had loaded and there were still another 56 in front of us so that translated to an hour waiting on our feet in the sun which was not appealing having already done 30 minutes of it. We made a quick decision to boost it and do Capri instead as we could use our Amalfi tickets tomorrow, we also needed to buy hats as the weather has warmed up quite a bit down south and we were feeling the need of a bit of cover!

Whilst we were out shopping for hats we bought a lovely picnic roll of prosciutto, mozzarella and tomato, juices and a bacchi chocolate as we knew prices in Capri are ridiculous before catching the fast ferry 20 minute ride to Capri. There was a shower of rain while were travelling but as we docked the sun came out on the lovely blue water.

There is little information and not so friendly service on the island of the rich, but with tips from others who were in the morning Amalfi line we found the right bus to take us up the cliff to the chair lift launching point. The ride up was very scenic and entertaining, as like many roads it is what I consider 1 lane but of course they have two way traffic. It really is skilled and practiced driving how they negotiate each other, not to mention the cliff walls and faces without too much disaster. Also hair raising or entertaining are the scooters that zip in-between any gaps; the riders are sheer dare devils or lunatics.

The chair ride was nice if not a little uncomfortable trying to keep my jandles on as my feet dangled freely below in the breeze. One has to place a lot of faith in the single bar in front and the wires above but with a few calming breaths and thinking nice thoughts I managed to enjoy it. Clearly not as much a billy goat as Vernon, but worthwhile none the less and it was scenic viewing a toy land of little terrace gardens and views right across to the mainland.

The top is fairly narrow and the sea a jolly long way down so much so I couldn’t go too near to the edge but managed to get the photos prior to our decent. We were on a fairly tight schedule to make our ferry back, but made the chair-bus-ferry connections ok which is always a big relief. The weather packed in a bit on the way home so we were very lucky with the way it panned out for us.

The island is not cheap to visit but it is scenic and we had a nice afternoon. I wouldn’t say its the prettiest place around and the beaches are small and because the cliffs are so sheer you wouldn’t go there for island relax on the beach holiday. If you are very wealthy you could stay in a posh hotel on the hill with a small pool though ….

Our hosts also have a restaurant in town to which they offer guests a free bottle of wine and a good deal so with our new acquaintances – Fred and Flo we enjoyed a great evening out. As it happens Fred is a hot rod enthusiast and he and Vern got on like a house on fire. Flo is a bubbly warm lady and we enjoyed learning about each other, sharing travel tips and of course family chats. Fred is also a musician and involved in two bands so there was a lot of commonality.

We went separate ways after dinner and Vernon and I enjoyed a late night gelato as we strolled back to the hotel, a nice habit we have picked up in Italy.

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