Little Capri

Note: I wrote this a few weeks ago but in light of current events I'd like to keep posting positive things. Know that I'm thinking about folks and hope you're doing okay.

Capri is a little island off the coast of Sorrento. There are ferries to go over but our group had chartered a 40' motor yacht. This seemed like a good idea at the time but by the time we left the weather hadn't improved any. Our trip was supposed to include lunch but the cruise company didn't think anybody would be stupid enough to want to go so they hadn't made any. No matter, the cruise was still a go, they just refunded a little of our money.

The ride over was rough:

The pictures kind of give an idea, you can see the clouds. We had a following sea which meant that the boat wallowed and the diesel fumes were pushed back into the cabin. We were all pretty much up against sea-sickness for awhile. Angie leaned over the rail at one point, fortunately she didn't throw up because I think it would have triggered the rest of us.

Fortunately that was the point where the weather cleared enough that we could move to the front of the boat. I didn't get any pictures of that part but things got a lot more pleasant and we made a loop around the island before heading in.

Capri is neat in that the island is basically all mountain. Theres a little ring of beachfront but most of what you want to see is high up. Theres a little train, the Funicolare di Capri which takes you up. A funicular railway like this is one that uses two trains connected by a cable. Since the trains weigh about the same it takes a small amount of energy to move them.

You get an idea how steep it is...

The views from the top were epic and the weather started to clear which was even better.

Capri has some cool old tunnels into the mountain which is where I found the fat man's restaurant.

And coincidentally the only gas pressure lantern of the trip.

LA Cisterna is literally the best restaurant we went to in Italy, no joke. Its hidden away in a tunnel but absolutely worth the trip. We had:

-Lemon/mozzarella toasted bread. I thought this was a weird sounding combination but the bread, cheese and lemons were all fresh, it was amazing

-Fried anchovies: "Caught fresh not two hours ago!" quoth the fat man. I wish I'd taken a picture of them, these were cooked exactly the way my grandfather cooked smelts, they were dredged in flour and fried in oil. We were nervous to order this but the fat man was so enthusiastic how could we deny him. By the way that is him on the wine bottle...

-Gnocchi, Angie still has dreams of the gnocchi.

-Pizza margarita, some of the best pizza I've ever eaten.

The fat man claimed the wine was made special for him. I don't know if thats true or if its a generic rebottling but it was really good.

We all ordered and then we all shared, it was a great way to dine. There were only 6 of us, the others had gone to eat at some place with a great view. In talking to them we definitely got the better deal, they paid much more for food that wasn't half as good. We joked that they paid the "tourist tax".

Capri is much like Sorrento in the shopping mall vibe. The "streets" are really just pedestrian walkways, there are almost no cars up on the mountain because there are almost no roads. One of our party told Angie and I that we needed to check out the botanical gardens, he then gave us super sketchy directions and to our amazement we actually found the place:

The views were spectacular, the yacht actually took us around the rocks in the last picture. One of them has a hole in it just big enough to fit the yacht through. When he lined up the boat on the hole I thought "Theres no way he's going to.... Oh, he is..." and through we went, it was super cool.

The return trip to Sorrento was way better than the trip over. We all sat out on the front of the yacht, limoncello, beer and prosecco which is a bit like champagne. This was one of the highlights of the whole trip.

Up Next: Back to Rome and headed home.