Day 4: Capri

Today we spent most of our time on Capri. Last night, Greg spent an hour trying to figure out how to see Capri in the morning and Paestum in the afternoon. It would have worked, but the public transportation didn't run as advertized. First, the bus from our hotel into Sorrento took at least half an hour, and it was jam packed with mostly locals who got off at many various stops. We got off at the train station, where we planned to catch a bus down to the ferry port. I had planned to get off at the main square, Piazza Tasso, and do the same, but there was another couple from our hotel headed out to Capri, too, and they seemed to know what they were doing. Whether they were right or wrong, we spent a very long time waiting for the bus to the port. Maybe 45 minutes? Once we got down there, it didn't take long to get on the next ferry and head out to Capri. That ride took just over 20 minutes, though it seemed much longer to my stomach, which was still queasy from the two bus rides.

Capri was beautiful from the port, but we got in line for the bus that would take us to Anacapri. It was supposed to come every 10 minutes. Instead, it came every 30, and there was a very long line of people for such a small bus. We didn't make the first run, so ended up waiting a grand total of 45 minutes. By that point, we realized we would not be able to do Paestum the next day. Once in Anacapri, we used our credit card to pull out some cash (which required me calling them first and being put on hold for 20 minutes, all because Greg left his hidden wallet with the debit card back at the hotel), then we got in line for the chair lift. The main square in Anacapri is already close to the top of the island, but the lift will take you the rest of the way. It was a beautiful ride; I didn't even feel sick. The hillside was beautiful, and we could even smell the many wildflowers growing around us. Once at the top, we took about a million pictures. It was just so pretty, if still a bit too hazy to see all the way to Vesuvius.

We eventually came back down, and wandered the streets before coming to a pizzeria ristorante recommended in one of our books. My pizza margherita was just about perfect. Greg ordered something with meat on it, and when it arrived he realized that there was no tomato sauce. Still, he said he liked it.

After lunch, we got a little lost before finding the San Michele church, which has a tiled floor that is completely painted with a garden of Eden scene. It was impressive, but we didn't stay long. Then we walked the other way to the Villa San Michele. It was built by a Swedish guy in the 1800s, who found a bunch of Roman artefacts in his soil, so he had them built into the house itself. That was somewhat interesting, but the main highlight was the beautiful garden that overlooked another side of the island. We took a million more pictures there.

Finally we came back down to the port via the funicular in the city of Capri (we got on the wrong bus). Greg tried the local famous dessert: torte caprese, a chocolate and almond cake. He said it would have been great with ice cream. We caught a different company's boat back to Sorrento. It was a bit smaller and a bit faster.

Once in Sorrento again, we had a momentary lapse of sanity and decided to walk back up to the main square. We didn't count the steps, but it sure seemed like a thousand total. Then we headed to a recommended gelateria, shared a small cup, and spent another hour just browsing. We found some inlaid woodwork we liked, so we headed to Notturno's factory. They didn't have the exact piece we wanted, but even if they had, I'm not sure I would have thought it worth the price of shipping. So we left and headed to dinner.

I was rather disappointed with our ristorante this time. It was recommended by Rick Steves, but the only people there were tourists. And for some reason, the music consisted of Dean Martin singing Volare over and over and over. Very odd. The food was fine, if not extremely impressive.

We had a bit of trouble finding the bus stop that would take us back to our hotel. Our directions weren't very clear, but even once we got on the right bus, there was *no* sign for the bus stop. Fortunately we made it, or we would have needed to wait an hour for the last bus at 10:00.

With tired feet, we arrived back at our hotel by 9:30. Maybe we'll get a full night's sleep! Tomorrow we check out and head to Naples to see the museums. Che giorno!

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