May 1 – Island of Capri and the Blue Grotto

The skies today are a bit overcast and some clouds in the distance looked like rain.  But we were picked up at 9:00 for our transfer to the harbor where we met our guide for the day.  This is a different harbor area from where we were four days ago.  This one is the commercial harbor for all the ferries that move around the area.

We caught the packed ferry to Capri where we will be spending the day.  The harbor as we were sailing out.

The seas were pretty rough on the way over.

Once we landed our guide, Valerio, took us straight to the dock for the Blue Grotto tours.  We caught a small boat with about 15 or so others and headed out along the coastline. Beautiful views of the steep cliffs. 

We arrived at the Blue Grotto just as some of the boatmen were leaving.  

Apparently, they were in the process of shutting down for the day as rain and high seas were expected soon.  Fortunately, there were still a number of boats available to visit the grotto.

We boarded our boat and the oarsman rowed over to another boat where he bought the tickets that would allow us to go into the grotto.  

The boats were small and we and the boatman had to lay down in order for us to go through the low opening to the grotto.  

It was dark in there but magic.

The blue was so intense.  While the above water opening is very small the below water level opening is huge, allowing the light from outside to enter the cave from below and light up the entire cavern with the incredible blue light.  There were about a half dozen boats in there with us.  But the grotto is very large and it didn’t seem crowded. 

The Blue Grotto was the private swimming pool for the Roman Emperor Tiberius, who also had a huge summer villa on the other end of the island. 

Then it was back to our main boat.  There were only a couple more that were offloading passengers to see the grotto.  But many of the small grotto boats were on their way back to Capri harbor.  It’s quite a distance and the way they make the trip back is to tie their boats up in a long string and be pulled by a larger motor boat. 

We spent the last few minutes of the ride back had some relatively heavy rain.  Umbrella’s came out but they were only marginally helpful due to the winds.

Once back at the harbor our guide got a taxi and we were up the cliff road to the second town on Capri, Anacapri (means “Above” Capri).   Fortunately, the rains have pretty much stopped. 

Here we walked around a bit…mostly souvenir shops and small cafés.  

The walk took us to an overlook that gave good views of the seas and the town below. 

It was also the start of the old “road”, a series of 921 steps.  The steps are called the Phoenician Steps as they were believed to have been built by the Phoenicians, although archaeologists now believe they were built by the Greeks in the 7^th and 6^th BC.  For centuries these steps were the only way to get to Anacapri.  Originally the work of moving goods up the stairs was the responsibility of the island’s women.  When tourists started coming in the 17^th century they started using donkeys. 

We walked back to the main plaza and caught our taxi back down to the town of Capri where we had lunch at a restaurant with great views overlooking the town and harbor. 

Then it was off to walk the town of Capri.  The streets were lined with lots of interesting (and very high end) shops.

The first plaza we came to...

had very good views…

and a very interesting sculpture 

and the clock tower.  

The face of the clock is the inspiration for the design of the face on the famous Capri watches. 

Just around the corner from this plaza was town’s “living room” …

with the Santo Stefano Church towering over it.

Valerio said that the main pastimes in Capri are partying and shopping.  And there were tons of places to shop…many of them very high-end designer stores. 

We walked through the narrow streets and small plazas...

to an area where shops are in what were ancient Roman water tanks.

And there was an ancient Roman villa that looked to be in excellent shape.

Then headed back up through the back lanes and alleyways.  We didn’t see as many tourists in this area.

Eventually it was time to head back to the taxi driver for the drive down to the harbor and our ride back to Sorrento.  This ride was much smoother than the morning ride. 

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More Capri
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Once we were back at the Sorrento harbor, we picked up some chips and sandwiches and then found our transfer to the hotel.  This way we can have a light dinner in the hotel room instead of making the hike down the hill and then back up.