The Isle of Capri

Dinner in the hotel was nice and so was breakfast, but a bit basic. our driver arrived to pick us up at 9am and there about 8 of us off to Sorrennto to meet the hydrofoil for our trip to the isle of Capri.

When we arrived in Sorento we met out guide Lavinia. she is a local from Capri, and was a realy good guide for our day on the Island.

the hydrofoils trip was pretty quick and then we transferred to a smaller boat with about 18 people most of whom were familiar to us either from the day before in Pompei or those we had met at the Hotel.

so we motored for about 15 minutes to the east of the island to the grotto. we started to figure out that we were in a que of boats waiting to enter the blue grotto. from here what happens is you are transferred to a small row boat with 4 or 5 poeple and then you rowed over to join the entrance to the grotto. it was difficult to tell which boat was next but the skippers all seemed to know and just like of other things in Italy like passing traffic and crossing the road it all seemed to work out.

any way after about an hour, which we were told was pretty good for waiting at the grotto, we manouvred into a small boat and were told to keep our hands inside and our heads down as we entered thru  a 2m diameter hole in the rock into the dark cave to view the shining blue water inside the grotto. even the guys in charge of the small row boats had to pull themselves through and duck under a steel chain to get inside, in time with the rise and fall of the water.

we were only inside for about a minute or two and it was quite unique to see the glowing blue water underneath. but it was a lot like a Disney ride with the experience heightened by the actual effort to get in and safely out, then back onto a real boat.

Next we retuned to the marina and transferred to.small buses for the drive up the narrow and winding road to the main shopping area of Capri, about 10 minute ride. Once there we had some free time to shop and get cold drink. It has been really hot and by this time it was about 12 noon.

Next stop was Ana Capri on the top of the island, another 10 minutes of narrow winding road and this time Ves could not look down. It was very steep and not a lot of barrier protection along the edge of the road.

We had our lunch stop here and a bit more free time for shopping, but nothing much on offer that we had not seen before. Back to the hydrofoil and then back to the hotel just in time for late swim in the pool before dinner.

The view from our room was great and as the sun set at about 9pm the twinkling lights of Naples added the scene from our vantage point high above town on the upper slopes of Sorento. We even had fireworks at 11pm that went for about 20 minutes. A lovely show and topped off a couple of great days in Sorento.

Tomorrow we are off to Amalfi.