June 7 Trip to Date
Miles Walked 9.4 308.3
Feet Climbed 380 34,750
Song of the Day: Homeward Bound by Simon and Garfunkel
I'm sitting in the railway station.
Got a ticket to my destination.
We awoke early this morning to catch our 7:03 train from Castro dei Volsci to Naples. If all went well, we would arrive at Naples at 10:00, then take a ferry to Capri, arriving before noon. One of the guys at the cooking school had bought the train ticket for us on Saturday. So, there we were Sunday morning, at the train station bright and early, our ticket for our destination in hand, all ready to go! Only...that particular train doesn't run on Sunday's in Italy...ah yes, there is a different train schedule on Sunday's than the rest of the week...
We made a series of adjustments that ended up: a. Putting us into Naples 3 1/2 hours late b. giving us 1 hour layovers in two Italian towns. We took advantage of these layovers to walk around these towns and do a little exploring. Not all that much going on, but Italian towns can be fun on Sunday mornings. Here is a photo from Caserta. There was some sort of small parade happening.
I want to call out the Barcelona football (soccer) club. On Saturday night, Barcelona beat Juventus 3-1 for the European club championship. Juventus is an Italian team from Turin. On Sunday morning, everywhere we went, people were talking about Barcelona beating Juventus. And not quietly....
Barca is a fantastic team, and it has been a pleasure to follow that team over the years. When we lived in Barcelona, we had the pleasure of attending several games at Camp Nou, Barca's stadium that holds 120,000 people (and sells out every game). There is nothing like Spanish league soccer games.
Congratulations to Barcaon for a terrific victory.
Meanwhile, back in southern Italy. After we finally arrived in Naples around 1:30, we caught a subway to the marina area. After much discussion with locals, we figured out the location of the ferries to Capri. It was very warm in Naples, almost 90 degrees, but when we finally got out to sea, the air was very refreshing. It's about a 45 minute ferry ride into Capri across the bay of Naples. Here are a couple of photos from the ferry ride. The first is as we are first departing, with Naples in the background:
The second is as we are approaching Capri:
More of Capri from the sea:
When we finally arrived at Capri, we took a funicular up the steep hills of Capri city to get to our hotel. Shortly after we checked into the hotel (a very beautiful hotel by the way, probably the best we have stayed on the trip so far), it began thundering and lightening. This was soon followed by torrential rain and then hail. The temperature probably dropped 25 degree in very short period of time. It was rather shocking to go from 90 degree weather to hail and chilling weather in such a short period of time.
We went out for a good walk and a terrific dinner at a nearby restaurant. The wonderful evening helped us to forget the travel frustrations of the day.
One thing I can report is that the prices in Capri are significantly higher than anywhere else we have been in Italy.
Capri is a very beautiful place, and we are looking forward to exploring it on Monday. Our plan is to do a little hiking and also visit the famous Blue Grotto. On Tuesday morning, we will travel to Amalfi. Will need to figure out the logistics of getting from Capri to Amalfi. Some sort of combination of ferries, busses, feet, etc. more to do's for Monday....
One last point: this hotel has CNN. This is the first English TV we have watched since we have been here. After watching Andersen Cooper and the others, we really don't miss it that much! One of the things I enjoy about these long trips to Europe is being out of touch with American politics. It often puts me in a bad mood, and it's so pointless, since there is not a damn thing I can do about it!
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