Hi Again -
We went to the Isle of Capri (CAP’-ree) last Friday. Now, I don’t know about you, but I’d heard of the Isle of Capri, but I couldn’t tell you if it was in a fairy tale or where I’d heard of it. It turns out to be an island off the end of the peninsula that features the Amalfi Coast off the west side of Italy just south of Naples. Yes, it has a long history --- ruled by the Romans, by the British and on and on (feel free to look it up). I had no idea what was there and I had only read that it had become a tourist trap and was easily missed, unless time permitted. Well, in our case, time permitted. We basically planned on going to have a boat trip and we chose Friday because it was forecast to be one of the nicest days of the week. Well, it was cloudy and threatening and it was an Italian holiday weekend. That meant people and more people and more people.
Since we have photos, you get a little flavor of the Isle of Capri. There are a few boat companies that shuttle folks along the Amalfi Coast, to Sorrento and on to Naples, and to the Isle of Capri. We made the trip on a 70-foot two deck boat. There was the typical European rush (that means crowd and push) to get on this vessel and, of course, I’m thinking to myself these guys will sell as many tickets as people will buy and overload this boat. And, it was very crowded, though not many people standing. I still knew where the life vests and exits were. There’s a photo of Positano from the boat as we were departing on the journey of less than one hour. Another photo is taken as we had just gotten off the boat upon arrival and a shot of the island waterfront. We really knew nothing about the island upon arrival and for a time thought the waterfront shops and restaurants along with the hillside houses were the entire story of the Isle of Capri. Well, not the case. You get a photo of the harbor from the shore and that is Keaka wandering down to the water. We eventually got a map and realized there was a town plaza on top of the hill. There were three options to reach the plaza: 1) small bus, 2) funiculare (French spelling), or 3) taxi. There were long lines for the bus and the funiculare (hillside trolley/train), so we opted for the easy solution to grab a cab. It was an interesting ride up the hill through neighborhoods that reminded me of Caribbean Islands and on very narrow roads. Once up top we ran into crowds and some great views, thus a photo looking down to the waterfront. I was intrigued by the little space given to the bus station and the orderly line-up suggestion depending on your destination, thus the photo. It’s another contradiction, apparently not exclusive to France. There are many situations of bedlam getting into places or onto vehicles. Lots of shoving in situations where it would seemingly be easy to have simple lines. And then, where you don’t need sophisticated organization, you get hard and fast rules on where and when to line-up. For instance, in France going into movie theatres you must line-up outside for the movie and time you are interested in. So, there may be four different lines at the same time. Your line then gets chosen to move forward and buy tickets (no buying tickets prior). Moving on, there’s a nice photo of the group. We started to get an idea of what was at the top of the hill and there was lots beyond the plaza. There were a number of fancy hotels (one in a photo), the typical narrow streets best suited for walking, and there were exclusive, high-end shops and restaurants everywhere. Apparently, there is a side of the Isle of Capri for the rich and famous. On this day, however, it was jammed with tourists – a mix of international tourists and Italians just enjoying their four-day weekend. So, in the end, we were quite surprised at what was there, though it was a bit tiring with the crowds. End summary – the Isle of Capri is not something one had to see, but it’s okay to visit if time permits.
Time is flying. It is now Tuesday morning and the kids are off to school, while Marlene remains bedridden with a severe sinus infection and taking four different medications. So, I’ve been busy. I actually thought my pasta sauce for last night’s dinner was pretty good, my laundry work seems to be going smoothly, I drove the 90-minute round trip yesterday to pickup Maurice and he seems to be eating well on my improvised schedule for him, and I only forgot two items when I went grocery shopping yesterday (first time alone in France). Tonight’s dinner is knacks. That would be all-pork hot dogs. I went to the grocery store’s international section and found some Heinz beans in tomato sauce, so hot dogs and beans makes tonight’s meal a real all-American experience.
Don’t take a deep breath thinking you’ve heard the end of the trip. No, there’s more to come. As the story goes, we have photos of the last two days, so if there are photos there has to be a story.
The Wilsons
