25.6.13 Capri
After a long
day of travel, we begrudgingly woke up.
Of course we were excited to explore Capri, but we were both exhausted
from traveling. To be honest, I was
starting to look forward to getting to Oxford so I could have a little more down time to rest.
We showered
and started our day around 9. We went
out to our hostel lobby and asked the price of breakfast. Originally it was 5 euros, but after a moment
of hesitation (always hesitate with Italians when it comes to prices) our hosts
offered a special rate of 3 euros a person.
Neither of us was willing to pay the full price, but the 3 euros sounded
like a plan to us! We enjoyed a light
breakfast of salted meats and bread. We
both had cappuccinos (fresh made and the perfect drinking temperature the
moment it was handed over. I’m becoming
quite spoiled with Italian coffee).
We asked our
hosts about a couple different things to do for the day. We had a long list and only a limited amount
of time. They kept trying to get us to
stay later the next day, but we had to travel, so we had one full day to pack
most of it in. I was sincerely
interested in visiting the ruins of Tiberius’s villa (Villa Jovis), but our
host didn’t seem overly enthused about them.
Being a fan of history, I was bound and determined to go—and luckily Ana
conceded to my wishes.
We had to
catch the bus to Capri, so Ana and I headed to the main square in
Anacapri. We passed all the lovely
little shops and lots of other tourists, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as being
in Capri proper. After another eventful bus ride down the island (I sincerely
missed German public transit) we made it to the bus shed in Capri and could
begin our day.
We started
out walking towards the ruins. It was
about an hour walk , but we got to walk through the streets of Capri and
experience side alleys and such that most tourists probably never see. As we hiked up the second tallest point on
the island, I grew ever more breathless—mostly because of the amazing view, but
some of it may be attributed to my less-than-par physical shape. The beauty surrounding this little island was
truly amazing.
After we
made it to the top of the ridge, we were at the base of the ruins. We were standing at a Villa that dated back
to the time of Christ (I think it’s something like 30 AD when the Villa was
lived in by Tiberius).
As we walked
through the remains dating back to one of the greatest empires in the Western
world, I was speechless. I could not
believe the amount of history on this little island. I was so happy that we ignored the advice of
our hosts and came. Ana also enjoyed it,
as she was fascinated by the Roman architecture and the mosaics that were left
on the floor (she frequently goes all artsy on me). Not only was the villa amazing to see, the
view was amazing. I mean, a Roman emperor
did live there, so it had to be spectacular.
The sky was
very clear and sunny, the water was a color of blue I cannot even begin to
describe, and island looked gorgeous. I’m
not an author, I’m not a poet, but I was in awe of the beauty of our
world. Ana and I found an observation
deck that we took some pictures from, but also just stood in silence for a
while to soak up the beauty.
Additionally, the silence allowed us to let the group of British school
girls to get ahead of us so we could more thoroughly enjoy the ruins.
After
walking through the ruins, and fighting Ana’s dying battery pack (it’s a little
special because it will go from full, to dead, to half charged in the space of
about 5 minutes) we realized we had spent over an hour just soaking up the
beauty, architecture, and sheer history of the ruins. It was time to get on with our day. As we headed out, we passed a small park by
the ruins. The kind older gentleman
conned us into entering (it was free) and we were incredibly thankful he
had. We were able to experience the
beauty of the park and overlook different crevices of the island.
We didn’t
stay too long, as we wanted to get on and take part in the arco naturale. This is an
incredibly scenic walk that takes around 1 ½-2 hours to complete along the
coast of the island. It is lots of steps
and hills, but we were told it was absolutely gorgeous. As we were walking, we kept thinking we
should stop and get some food, but couldn’t quite find anything that we wanted/was
in the price range we wanted. This was a
mistake. We told ourselves we would find
something before we really got to the walk…which we didn’t. Luckily I had a couple protein bars in the
backpack we took turns carrying (well sort of.
I would carry it until my back was so utterly sweaty I couldn’t take it
anymore and then I’d pass it off to Ana for a bit. I felt bad making her carry it for long
though, so I took it most of the time) and bottles of water (we were very
conscience of hydration the entire trip)!
The walk was
truly amazing. Every twist and turn
resulted in a new, breathtaking view.
You would think that after so many pictures of water, trees, cliffs,
etc. that you would get tired of it all, but each new angle, brought something
exciting and different: a new color, a
different shadow, a moment of awe that this was all real. At one point we came across a cave that the nuns
and friars that used to live on the island used to walk to and pray in. You could see where there would have been an
altar—and I’m sure that it was used even before the expansion of Christianity.
We got to a
point where our knees were shaking from going up and down so many steps, but we
kept going. Ana and I made sure to take
water breaks and stop to enjoy the beauty of the island when our knees seemed
too wobbly.
After lots
of walking, we started to notice villas again:
we were close to the end. There
was a beach at the end of the walk, but it was full of people and we had plans
on going to the beach that evening and grabbing dinner. When we finally got back into Capri, we
realized we were in the Capri. What do I mean by this? Well, it means we were walking past 4 and 5
star restaurants and hotels. Ana and I
stopped at one briefly to look at the menu because we were hungry without
realizing what it was. It didn’t take us
long to figure out we were out of our element!
One entrée was more than what we spent combined on a meal!
Ana’s next
location—she was usually in charge unless I wanted to see something special—on the
agenda was the Garden of Augustus. These
were apparently another hot spot on the island.
Every place we went we usually had to spend a euro or two, but it was
definitely worth it. The Gardens of
Augustus overlooked the Via Krupp,
which is this gorgeous walk down toward the beach. We, however, did not participate in it, as it
meant you had to walk down a big zig-zag that ended in a dead end and then turn
around. Since we had just completed a 5 hour walk, it was deemed unnecessary. I enjoyed the gardens, but, at this point, I
think I was enjoying the fresh lemon ice I got before entering. Ana went with the watermelon ice (they were basically
slushies), but I thought I might as well have lemon, since Capri is kind of
famous for their HUGE lemons.
After the
gardens, it was time to head back to Anacapri and rest a bit before we headed
to the beach. When we got back to the
bus stop in Anacapri we stopped at the first snack bar we could find. Ana got a sandwich and I got a “slice” of pizza. By slice, I mean I got half of a pizza. I didn't realize when I ordered it that it
would be half of a pizza, but I was completely ok with it! It was probably the cheapest meal we had in
Italy—and one of the most refreshing! We had learned our lesson: don’t skip food.
After our
mid-afternoon lunch (it was around 4pm) we decided we needed to rest. We headed back to the hostel to relax for a
bit before we headed to the beach. We
both planned on napping, but ended up on Facebook and talking to people. Ooops.
We still were able to rest by laying on our stone beds (I’m still
slightly disappointed at their lack of comfort) and just chilling.
We decided
to get ready and head to the beach. Now,
I use the term beach loosely because Capri has rock beaches and pebble beaches,
but it’s still surrounded by water, so it works! We both put our swim suits on and prepared to
go out. Ana, of course, wore a dress
over hers and I had a shirt on. I’m
slightly ashamed to say my swim trunks had Hawaiian flowers on them. While I like them a lot, this was a dead giveaway
that I was an American tourist. Before
coming out I seriously considered buying a new suit, but didn't figure I’d use
it enough to matter, so I just had to deal with the ridicule. I saw ridicule, but no one said anything and
I really didn't even feel judged (LOL).
We also loaded up our bag with a change of clothes since we were going
to head to dinner after the beach.
We jumped on
the appropriate bus to the beach and road it to the end. There was a beautiful lighthouse (of course)
and a nice walking path. It took Ana and
I a bit to realize where the beach was,
but we finally figured it out. You see,
there was a roped in swimming area because this was the side of the island that
faced the open sea and not the coast, making the water rougher. There was also a nice little bar, snack bar,
and restaurant overlooking it all with plenty of sunbathing chairs. Strangely, to me, there weren’t that many
people there. It was a little cool and
the water was quite rough and chilly.
Ana and I found a lovely rock overlook and camped out for a bit.
After a few
pictures, I realized that I had made a crucial mistake: I had brought my camera but left my memory
card in my laptop! I was beside myself
with grief (ok, not really) and had to rely on Ana to take all the pictures of
this beautiful scene. As heart breaking as it was, there were a few good
memories to help me get over it.
For example,
when Ana wanted to get her picture in the water at the base of our overlook
rock. Remember I said the water was a
little rough? Well, as I was preparing
to take a picture, the water came crashing in and—you guessed it—hit Ana from
behind! Now, soaked would be an
exaggeration, but she certainly did get plenty wet! What was worse, she was wearing her dress and
not her swim-suit cover up, so it was sufficiently damp!
After a
couple more pictures (where I was extremely cautious and made sure I didn't get
wet, despite Ana’s attempts to get me hit by water), we left our one platform
and moved over to some small tide pools.
Here I acted very responsibly and climbed over very slick, mossy rocks
to get as far out as I could. Apart from
a short period where I hit behind a large rock to avoid the waves crashing it,
it all worked out wonderfully!
Ana laid her
dress out for a while in an attempt to dry it out. This was relatively unsuccessful. We did watch a beautiful sunset and just
enjoyed the beauty of the beach and the tranquility of the scene surrounding us. I honestly can say it was a sunset unlike any
other I have ever seen; it was truly a sight to behold.
Eventually,
the sunset and it was time to find some dinner.
I was tired of being in my swim trunks, so I slipped behind a bush and changed. Yeah, I grew up in the country, no big
deal. Ana and I walked to the bus stop,
but we had just missed the bus and had to wait for the next one. It was only a thirty minute wait, and after
all the traveling we’d done, that was next to nothing.
However, as
I was waiting, the strangest thing happened:
the couple next to me had a very bizarre argument about Facebook. Now, the argument in itself wasn't bizarre,
as it was just her telling him to get off Facebook and enjoy the moment with
her. What I found strange was the way
the conversation was spoken. It started
off with the couple speaking in Spanish.
However, they switched their conversation over to English when they
entered the bus stop area. (Side
note: When I say bus stop area, I just mean
an open parking surrounded by natural island stuff. There are very few “normal” bus stops in
Capri.) To make the conversation even more interesting, the couple spoke in
Indian accents when they were speaking English.
It was one of the most interesting conversations I had ever tried to
ignore.
Finally our
bus arrived and Ana and I rode back into town.
We went back to the hostel so Ana could put on dry clothes and I changed
shoes (I’d been in flip flops and a blister was developing, even after only a
short amount of time). It was dinner
time! As we rode the bus back, we had
paid attention to the restaurants so we knew exactly where we wanted to
go. I don’t remember the name of the
place, but it was right off the main drag in Anacapri.
However, Ana
and I decided to take a different way than how we normally come back from the
Bus stop because we thought we could save time.
Well, that was a mistake. While
we came across beautiful fountains and lovely people, we also went about 6 blocks
out of our way. It’s amazing how those
little twisty street can quickly become very large distances. Eventually we made it to the restaurant and
had a wonderful dinner. By this point, I
had only had pasta in Italy, and was in need of some meat. I ordered steak strips in a…ummm…I forget the
name, but it was a good sauce. I’ll
think of it later!
As per our
usual meal tradition, we got espresso after dinner and had a bottle of wine
with dinner. It was a wonderful end to
our stay in Anacapri. We walked back and
just soaked up the beautiful weather. We
passed our favorite gelato place:
CCC. The problem is, I never
could, for the life of me, remember the full name. Oh well. It had been a wonderful stay in Capri. Ana and I decided to scale Mount Solaro
before we left Capri in the morning, so we needed to get to bed before the
roosters crowed.
When we got
back to our hostel we were a little nostalgic, despite only staying there for
two nights. It had been wonderful and we
were going to miss our hosts and Capri.
However, we had a couple morning adventures in store and then a day’s
travel to the city I had eagerly been waiting for: Roma!
After some
packing and straightening up, we finalized our travel plans for the next day,
and called it a night. As I drifted into
dreamland, I couldn't help but be amazed at how much I had seen already. Who would have thought this little Midwestern,
rural boy would have ever been able to see and do so much in such an exotic
place, half-way across the globe? And to
make it better, Roma was less than 24 hours away. Ah, life was good.
