Chapter 18: Capri eludes them once more

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Chapter 18

Capri eludes them once more

They woke up, ready to head for a day trip to Capri, but when the curtains were opened, the skies had also opened and torrential rain was pouring down the hill. The orange and lemon groves were being whip-lashed by the wind and any thoughts of Capri were pretty much blown away with every gust. The bay of Naples wasn’t even visible, the island of Ischea had vanished as a mist had descended on the whole bay. There was absolutely no chance they were going to Capri that day, the walk down the hill would have been treacherous, just a long mud slide. They stayed in bed for a while longer, and waited for the rain to retreat.

It did eventually stop raining, and later that afternoon they headed back down the slippery hill. Even though the rain had stopped, but it was still a very miserable day and walking for hours was not advised. Internet access was located and the weather forecast for Sicily and Greece were checked. (Sicily looked promising, Athens was under a winter covering of snow) They managed to book the hotel for Palermo in Sicily and came across an Irish bar where a lovely bubbly lady named Maria welcomed our travellers into her tavern by claiming she loved them. “You are wonderful young man” she pronounced when Martin gave her the correct change.

The bar was adorned with original posters of classics like “The Wizard of OZ”, “Gone with the wind” and many others. A common theme too was the little dictator himself Mr.Chaplin; not surprising really as the place was actually called Chaplins. Even the dog Martin was patting was called Charlie Chaplin. Just at that moment an English family walked in rather glumly. The father seemed to be arguing about a bag the mother had purchased for £100 which had already marked her dress where the dye had come off. He claimed he’d bought a bag back in 1978 which had lasted all this time and never stained his clothes. The two blonde teenage daughters seemed oblivious to their parent’s ridiculous ranting. Some more idle chat about career prospects followed and eventually they struck up a conversation with our two.


They were totally fake and very far up their own back passage, trying to keep up appearances. Fortunately the family made their excuses and went off to dinner. Maria turned out to be an absolute star with a real grasp of the English language. She recommended a restaurant called “The red lion” where cheap but good food could be had, just ask for Fabio and he’ll look after you. So thanking Maria as they left, they headed for the place which turned out to be in the style of a school canteen but more upmarket. Fabio had a day off that day but a free brushette was offered in his absence. Maya went for the powdery-flavoured pasta whereas Martin went for the pizza Romana, followed by a lemon sorbet.

Maya was persuaded to have the special cake, which took an eternity to appear and which wasn’t really that special after all. For the inconvenience of waiting for the not so special cake, they were both offered a lemon liqueur which went down a treat. Very good food on the whole at very reasonable prices. The walk back up the hill beckoned them once more, and it seemed that rather than getting easier, the climb was getting harder every time. Yet each time they reached the top, the effort was rewarded with the fabulous views. Martin did wonder if future travellers would be willing to tackle this climb in the height of summer in thirty degrees heat. Villa Pane wasn’t officially open yet and their first summer could me made or broken by this daily trek. Highlight: The evening meal

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