Strange Rituals with Bunches of Chillies

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Today we've booked a full day tour to Capri. We're driven down a steep road through a canyon to Sorrento's main port, where we meet our guide for the day who introduces herself as Maria, and then board our ferry for the short trip across to the island.

We're led up into the main square of Capri township, which we're told is an iconic location that's featured in a lot of movies. It does look quite familiar. The views from here down over the port are excellent. We continue on to the Grand Hotel Quisisana, which we're told was originally a hospital. It was built by a Scottish doctor in the 1800's, and was apparently the first medical clinic on the island. It's said to be the island's most prestigious hotel, and we're told that all visiting dignitaries and heads of state must stay here when they come to Capri. I wonder what happens if they want to stay somewhere else. I'm glad we aren't dignitaries or heads of state. I'm pretty sure we couldn't afford to stay here, but it's good to know that at least we've got a choice.

We continue on into the very attractive Gardens of Augustus where we get spectacular views down over the island's south coast. Next stop is the laboratory where they make an apparently famous local perfume called Carthusia. We're told that it was originally produced by the monks in the monastery next door. Legend says that they came up with the recipe in 1380 to welcome a visiting queen, and it's been an unchanged and closely guarded secret ever since. If what's on display is anything to go by, stainless steel vats and fancy laboratory equipment must have hit the area early.

The whole island feels like it's dripping with money, and we're told that lots of the rich and famous have villas here. Some of them cruise past us in the backs of some old luxury convertible cars which have been turned into taxis. We stroll along Via Camerelle which is lined with designer clothing and jewellery shops, including all the famous names.

Issy points out a man wearing a tee shirt covered in the same large black pineapples that we saw tattooed on the English father on Myrtos Beach back in Kefalonia. It seems that black pineapples must now be "a thing". The Google machine says that "black pineapples" come from Antigua in the Caribbean, and it seems they're not really black at all, they're just slightly darker than normal pineapples. Hmmm. I wonder whether the people displaying these things are members of some secret society. It must be very secret if Google doesn't know about it.

Next on the agenda is a drive up a steep narrow road around the cliff face to the island's other main town of Anacapri. We're told that the name derives from the Greek for "above Capri", and was named by the island's original Greek colonists. I wonder why the Italians didn't get here first. It's only about five kilometres offshore; Greece is hundreds of kilometres away.

We board a chairlift which takes us up to the peak of Mount Solaro, the highest point on the island. The views from up here all around the island are beyond stunning. As we go to get back on to go down again, we spy a Russian girl in her mid-teens in front of us with her father. She's crying, and it seems that she's terrified of the chairlift.... at least we hope that's what happening. I hope he really is her father, and that he's not trying to kidnap her. I wonder how she got up here. It'd be a very long and hot walk. The attendant casually tells her that no one's ever died on the chairlift. I'm not sure that she's finding that all that reassuring.

We lunch near Anacapri's main square, and are then led along a shady path to the Mama Mia lookout. Maria explains that this doesn't have anything to do with Abba; the name apparently comes from the expression that a lot of people use when they first see the view, which is down towards Capri town and over the eastern side of the island, and is indeed very impressive.

We drive back down towards the port. The road is ridiculously narrow, and most of it's too much so for cars going in opposite directions to pass. Our driver accelerates towards a gap between a car coming up the other way and the cliff face. I'm sure that there can't possibly be enough room for him to get through, and we brace for the inevitable crash. I wonder how our offspring will get on without us; I hope our travel insurance will pay to fly our bodies home.

Next up is a boat trip around the island. We cruise past some high cliffs known as Tiberius' Leap. We're told that the emperor Tiberius lived here on the island for about ten years in a villa at the top of this cliff. It seems he wasn't a great emperor and had a very bad temper; if he didn't like someone his solution was to have them pushed off the cliff. Hmmm.

We stop for a swim, and then motor on past the famous Blue Grotto. There seem to be lots of boats here carrying people waiting to go in, and Maria says that you often have to wait for several hours for your turn at this time of the year. She says that when your boat gets to the front, they transfer you onto another much smaller boat which can only carry four people. They then make you lie down flat on the floor while the boatman pulls you through the narrow entrance using a chain. You can then sit up again when you get inside. She says that if you sit up too quickly your skull will get smashed. Hmmm. Capri's starting to sound like a dangerous place.

Back in Sorrentro, we dine at a restaurant in a narrow laneway. It's decorated with bunches of chillies, and we watch on as one of waiters waves one of them around above a lady's head, in what looks to be some sort of ritual. I wonder if maybe the she didn't leave a big enough tip, and he's now putting a curse on her. The food wasn't all that good, but we leave a large tip anyway.....

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