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Published: October 18th 2007
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Buon giorno Italia! We woke up bright and early this morning to see the sun rise over the Italian countryside from our balcony. It was quite spectacular! It was also surprisingly COLD! And, uh, remind me next time to put on a jacket when shooting a sunrise, at sea, in October.
Our course brought us by the emerald isle of Ischia at about 9:45 in the morning. We don’t know much about this island, but it sure is beautiful! Check out the pics! We braved the very strong winds and not so warm temps out on the front of the ship to catch some pretty nice shots of the island.
We docked in Naples at about noon and we were some of the first off the ship. When you only have 6 hours on the shore, you better make the most of it. We walked from the cruise ship to the hydrofoil station to catch a boat to Capri for the day. We debated about going into Naples or back to Capri and it really wasn’t a fair debate. In one corner we have a dirty, corrupt city in which there is a good chance you will be pick-pocketed
and/or harassed by gypsies. In the other corner we have a gorgeous Mediterranean island with jagged limestone peaks plunging into the perfect turquoise waters below and some of the most charming towns you’ll find in Europe. Gee, which would you pick?
Now, if you like Naples, we don’t want to hear about it. We went to Capri. The hydrofoil takes about 45 minutes to get to Capri and there just happened to be one leaving as we walked up - perfect!
We had forgotten how idyllic Capri is. Once we stepped foot on the island, it all came back. The weather was SPECTACULAR and the ocean air smelled heavenly. We hopped on the “funicolare” (funicular) and rode up to the town of Capri. You can take a bus, but the funicular is SO much more fun to say!
The pictures don’t lie, it’s a perfect seaside town with some of the best views we’ve seen so far. We spent our afternoon wandering around the island, taking a ton of pictures and window shopping.
And let’s have a quick mention about that window shopping. When you think of an island in the Meditteranean, you think “quaint mom-and-pop
stores”, right? Right. Wrong. Capri is some sort of mecca for all the top designers. We saw Roberto Cavalli, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Pucci, Bulgari, Dolce & Gabbana, Hermes, Valentino and Salvatore Ferragamo - just to do a little name-dropping. It was like Rodeo Drive - Capri style! And that’s just the tip of the shopping iceberg. That doesn’t even take into account the dozens of VERY high-end and gorgeous jewelry stores that line the streets. It was unreal! We saw some really amazing designer stuff and some completely awful designer stuff. Fashionistas we are not. But it sure was fun to gawk.
We stopped to nosh at a ristorante called, aptly, Capri’s. Now, it’s a well-known fact that the pizza was born in Naples and that Capri is not far from Naples. We had the BEST pizza for lunch! The crust was tender and delicate on the inside and crusty and lightly kissed with the char of a wood-burning oven on the outside. The tomato sauce was fresh and fruity and the mozzarella was buttery and creamy! O.M.G. it was spectacular. So good, in fact, it took us almost an hour to eat them! The view might have played
a small role in our lingering since Capri’s is perched on the mountainside overlooking the blue Med waters below. Is this heaven? Possibly.
I keep pinching myself wondering if this is really my life. Am I really this lucky? To have this wonderful, adventurous, brilliant, crazy, funny, romantic husband who takes me on these adventures? It’s funny, we both believe strongly in the “you only live once” and the “you can always make more money” philosophies and I think that really gives us the freedom to do all this memorable stuff. We really are lucky and believe you me, neither of us takes any of this for granted!
Later, we caught our hydrofoil back to the cruise ship and our Capri dream ended - but it’s well photographed - so we can revisit it whenever we want. Heaven.
Buona sera tutti!
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