Capri June 8

                                                            June 8                                          Trip to Date

Miles Walked                                        12.1                                                    320.4

Feet Climbed                                         880                                                  35,630

Song of the Day: Isle of Capri by Frank Sinatra:

It was on the Isle of Capri that I found her

Beneath the shade of an old walnut tree

Oh, I can still see the flowers bloomin' 'round her

Where we met on the Isle of Capri

And though I sailed with the tide in the morning

Still, my heart's on the Isle of Capri

This was a very good day.  First, we slept in until 9 am!  After having to get up early everyday at cooking school for outings, it was a real luxury to sleep in.  Our hotel in Capri is very nice, and had by far the best breakfast so far on the trip.  That's a fairly low hurdle, but we appreciated it.  

We then took a bus to the town of Anacapri.  Anacapri is only located about 3 miles away, but it is straight up the side of a mountain, with a climb of over 1000 feet. We then toured around Anacapri for an hour or so.  One of the sites we visited was this church, where the entire floor is a tile representation of the book of Genisis.  By the way, I wasn't aware that there were Unicorns in this story, but note the Unicorn at the bottom of the tiles.

As you know, I have a particular fondness (Linda might say fetish...) for the obituary postings in the Italian towns.  Here is the posting for Anacapri.  Note the posting for the "Luxury Party House" just beneath the obituaries...

We then hiked a couple of paths around Anacapri before heading back to the town of Capri.  The walk back is exhilarating, straight down the mountain on a series of steps.  Here are some photos from this walk:

After walking back to the Capri Marina, we caught a boat to go to the famous Blue Grotto and boat tour around the Island.  I had anticipated that this was going to be a big tourist trap sort of thing, but it turned out to be quite an interesting outing.   The Blue Grotto is basically a cave in Capri, accessible through a small opening from the sea.  You enter via a small boat.  The unique part of the Blue Grotto is the way the sunlight enters the cave and lights up the water.  Here are a couple of photos from inside the blue grotto:

But for me, the most interesting thing about the Blue Grotto is the business model and operations.  First, you pay a company 14 euros each to take you to the area of the Blue Grotto.  Then, when you get to the Blue Grotto, small boats come and take 2-3 people at a time into the blue grotto.  But, before entering, you pass a small floating cashier stand, and pay another 13 euros each to enter the blue grotto.  Before you enter though, the guy rowing the boat reminds you that you should give him a tip as well.  It is a crazy, funny, set up.  But, they take lots and lots of people through there everyday.  The opening is quite small, and when there is high tide or choppy seas, they cannot enter.   Once inside, the boat guys sing a bad version of o solo mio, row around for a few minutes and then you leave.  Apparently the Blue Grotto used to be the private swimming pool of the Emperor Tiberius.  

There are two ways to get to the BluemGrotto.  The first is via a larger boat, where you are then put on these small boats to enter.  The second is that you can take a bus or cab, then wait in line for a small boat.  These are the people on the stairs.  You can see one of the boats entering the blue grotto here:

Here you can see the blue grotto from a distance, taken from our larger boat.  Note the boat on the left with the awning- this is the cashiers stand to pay the $13 to enter.  Each small boat pulls up to this before going through the hole: 

After we went into the blue grotto, we took a boat ride around the Island.  It was actually a great ride and Capri is truly a stunning place.  Here are a couple of big offshore rocks.  Our boat actually passed through the tunnel opening on the left rock, which was quite exciting.

Among other things, Capri is the home of the famous Caprese salad.  Linda had an excellent one at dinner:

Both days on Capri were very warm and clear in the daytime. Then  it started raining around 6:00.  Thunder, lightning, and  hard rain.  On Sunday night it hailed.  Reminded us of when we lived in Puerto Rico many years ago, and rained every afternoon in the summertime.  

By the end of the day, we had managed to walk over 12 miles and climb 900 feet.  So today was a perfect mix of hiking, touring, and eating.

Tomorrow morning, we are off to Amalfi.  We will take an early ferry to Sorrento, then catch a ferry or bus to Amalfi.  We have very much enjoyed our two days on Capri.