Who Needs a Funiculare?

June 23 We were back on schedule with an early start this morning, which really does pay off here. When you're in places frequented by mobs of tourists, the best plan is to get in early, enjoy, and get out. We had a taxi pick us up at 7:45 for the ten-minute ride to Marina Piccolo in Sorrento, from which we were taking a jet boat to Capri. All went smoothly except we were slightly bummed that the open top part of the boat was chiuso (closed). I was enjoying the ride, which was pretty bouncy until Sam tapped me and pointed to Claire, who was positively green and looked as though she was about to throw up. I jumped up to try to get her to a bathroom and almost ran into a crew member who was wisely holding a handful of plastic bags. I grabbed one and headed back to Claire, who was in bad shape, but thankfully never actually lost her breakfast. She does occasionally get car sick, but she had been fine on the jet boat, so we didn't think to give her any meds. By this time, Syd was feeling queasy too but we were thankfully pulling into Capri's Marina Grande.

Capri - beautiful views everywhere you look.

What can I say about Capri? I can't think of many places that compare in terms of beauty except perhaps parts of Maui. We arrived by about 8:45 so it was still fairly foggy and made the mountains look like something out of Jurassic Park. Our first activity was supposed to have been to jump on an early boat to the Blue Grotto, but with two girls down, that clearly wasn't going to happen. So, we went with the flow and decided to walk up (straight up) to the actual town of Capri. We have done some serious climbing since we got here, but this one took the prize. I think we climbed for at least 45 minutes before reaching the top. I can report, however, that it was well worth it. We explored the town a bit (lots do ultra high-end shops) and then set out for Villa Jovis. Of course we took the wrong path, but we wound up at the Natural Bridge, which was pretty spectacular.

Natural Arch on Capri.

After walking back to town, we made out way aback down to the Marina for lunch at a surprisingly good waterfront "snackbar" where Tony was served the largest mug of beer I have ever seen. The people, as almost always, were wonderful - generous and funny and hellbent on giving phenomenal service. Next, per Syd's request, we tried out the small beach on Capri. The girls had a blast despite the zillions of rocks, playing in the water while Sam read, Tony slept, and I stared at the gorgeous water.

After taking the jet boat back to Capri, we climbed once again up to Sorrento from the Marina and made our way to the train station and back to Sant'Agnello. We stopped for some food to take home and found a great little market with a very sweet man where we found pasta (which he gave a thumbs up to), fresh fruit and fresh bread. We are looking forward to a feast later. We walked up the giant hill to our apartment and it nearly finished us all off. We have had too many climbs the past few days. But we made it and are now enjoying a relaxing afternoon at "home" on our terrace overlooking the Bay. Loving life!