Here we go....
I woke up early and took a quiet peek out our balcony window - I think somewhere there are some photos I took FROM the balcony, but that might have been the next day. We never did really sit around on the balcony, but we did use it as our laundry rack and do some washing....it looked like a beautiful day. My hopes were high.
Oh, here's a shot from the balcony already. Silly me.
I made Caroline wear running shoes, telling her there would be a good bit of walking. That was a SERIOUSLY good thing, because there was SO MUCH walking!!
While we ate breakfast and shortly afterwards, we could scarcely even see Vesuvius amidst the clouds.
The view off to the right from the front doors of the hotel, while we waited for the shuttle bus.
A nice load of lemons being transported on Sorrento. Very appropriate.
We had waited a long time for our shuttle bus. When we arrived at the town centre, we saw why. This was the bus we should have been brought in on, and there was something wrong with it. All in all, though we were running a bit late at this point, I think they did pretty well getting the replacement to us quickly.
I was mesmerized by the colour of the water below. We took some serious stairs going down to the harbour, and Caroline gave me due notice that she was going to refuse to walk back up them at the end of the day (there was a 1 euro elevator).
Before descending, we took a few minutes to contemplate the gorgeous view.
There was a cruise ship sitting just offshore. It was still there when we got back. I imagine some people were in for a day trip. I wouldn't bother spending time here, really - it's a good base for going other places, but by itself, nothing really compelling to sit do here in Sorrento.
But then there's sheer beauty, of course, and the pink flowers really pleased me against the water...
The tickets to Capri were about four times more than I'd been expecting, which was a bit distressing, but in the end, with the wild ride back, I felt like it was worth it, lol. We were then taken for a complete ride over some lemonade that cost three euros for about a thimble-full and I was feeling that, generally speaking, I hated Sorrento and everyone there who just wanted to sap me for every cent I owned. I never really got past that, so forgive me while I don't love Sorrento. We're about to have a nice day at Capri before I get to the end of the day and rant more about crappy people in Sorrento and how they really excelled at not taking care of their visitors.
If you want a three euro cup of lemonade that's unbearably sweet, this yellow stand is the place to get it.
Cats abounded at the harbour. We thought they were very cute.
We were on the boat, and boats make us happy, always, so we are now full of smiles.
Our boat.
Look! These are the steps we climbed down!
Really, it's just wake from the boat, but isn't it great?
Pulling away from Sorrento.
It was just ridiculously, impossibly blue. You just couldn't believe how blue it all was. It made me giddy.
Coming into Capri, forgive me, but my first thought was actually that it wasn't very pretty. The harbour area is actually kind of scruffy, truth be told. But I did end up loving lots of it!!
There is a small interlude here, where we learn that we cannot get into the Blue Grotto on this day, our only chance to try, the entire reason I brought Caroline to Sorrento, and the five-star experience that was just about at the top of my list of "things to see in Italy."
I will admit that I cried. I didn't cry long. But I bit my lip, and yes, I got teary. I had been preparing myself for the possibility, so it wasn't a complete shock, but oh, it was a tough blow. I was so, so disappointed.
Still, what could you do? I had to pull myself together and find the joy in the day. Capri is more than the Blue Grotto.
I will admit that I cried. I didn't cry long. But I bit my lip, and yes, I got teary. I had been preparing myself for the possibility, so it wasn't a complete shock, but oh, it was a tough blow. I was so, so disappointed.
Still, what could you do? I had to pull myself together and find the joy in the day. Capri is more than the Blue Grotto.
This gelateria just blew us away with the gorgous offerings. We didn't get one right away, but came back to it before we left the island and got some.
Here we are in line for a funicular to get up to the higher part of the island. At this point, truthfully, I wasn't even exactly sure what a funicular was.
Ah, and here it comes. It's a little train. A train that goes up on a steep angle and yet keeps the occupants quite upright. Very civilised. Caroline, who approves strongly of things to help her avoid climbing, was quite happy. And yet, a great deal of climbing lay ahead of her this day.
And rather suddenly, we were at the top, and there was a lovely view, and everything was fairly beautiful, and we were happy.
Caroline is holding onto her hat. Because it was windy (and truthfully, I'm quite sure we couldn't have gotten into the Blue Grotto, and it wasn't just another way to tick me off in the Sorrento area).
It was, however, quite hot! So the breeze was welcome.
We grabbed some sandwiches and drinks to go, and started walking along one of the more beautiful paths towards the eastern end of the Island. One of the sites we wanted to visit was closed, but we were generally just looking for beautiful things, and were not disappointed.
Really, isn't this just a charming cat, posing delightfully for us?
What follows is, for the most part, just some beautiful shots as we wandered along the path.
Here's the Natural Arch. So very lovely.
Really, it was impossible to get my fill of that blue out there.
And then the peek down into the shallows way below, of the beautiful swimming...we were SO high at that point, and rather sweaty and jealous. Right about now, we were torn between savouring the view, and wishing we were on a boat to be seeing it all from there and possibly swimming (though we hadn't dressed for swimming, so there was no sense in grieving over that anyway).
You can't win....great picture of us, but the blue of the arch got washed out...ah, well.
Caroline did well with this one, I think!
And then, YAY!! Friendly Canadians took our photo! Hurrah!
We pushed on through beautifully lush paths. I was utterly enchanted. Caroline, somewhat less so. But she really doesn't complain. She just....glowers quietly. And then relented when the views were particularly spectacular, which happened frequently.
Like this.
And this.
And the occasional lizard usually cheered her up a bit, too.
I was quite desperate for a washroom around now, and was SO GRATEFUL when we found a little restaurant that welcomed us to use theirs, despite not being customers. God bless them. And then, this enchanting little sign for what did, in fact, prove to be a remarkably loud hand dryer.
The bathroom down the hill from the restaurant that welcomes travellers. Thank God.
And it was immaculate, too.
So then, I think, we made a wrong turn.
We started going up and down this ridiculous series of stairs. We thought, at one point, we were just descending down to ground level, and I thought, okay, no big deal. But no, it wasn't that simple. Down and up, up and down, for the next couple of hours. That was when we realised that we weren't going to get our boat ride around the island afterwards, because we were thoroughly stuck wandering around a beautiful island, and might as well just enjoy it.
And we found the caverns....which were very cool and rather lovely.
And when we were relatively sure that no one else was coming along behind us, we sang broadway musicals to test out the acoustics (not bad at all, really!)
More stairs.
And more stairs.
And then we passed under the Alarming Boulder Tree (which, happily, stayed put).
More spectacular views of where we wished we were, but couldn't quite reach...
And some more stairs.
And then, every now and then, you came around a corner and gasped again...
We wrapped all around that hill...it was a little confusing.
And peeked through again at unending loveliness.
Are you bored yet? It's less boring when it's happening to you in person. Sorry.
Some of the Faraglioni (giant rocks) coming into view....
There were tons of little shells way up here - carried and dropped by the seagulls, I assume.
Caroline collected one and kept it to bring home.
And still, weary and a bit cross, the girl was still smiling on demand for me...I love that girl.
Yes. More stairs. I don' t think there's a smile on the face up there at this point.
Hints that the end is in sight. We begin seeing houses again. But it still took a good while.
Now, this was terrific, because this giant "hedge" isn't a hedge. It's the tops of trees.
And we really thought that was great fun.
A few minutes later and we were back in the shopping district at the top of Capri. And we weren't really too interested in buying things, but we popped in and out of a few places just for a peek.
This box of candies made me laugh out loud.
I really dislike confetti candy, so even for a giggle, I couldn't buy it.
But I had to give you a photo.
Going back down in the funicular.
We stopped off for gelato, and it seems to me that we bought something else, but I can't remember what...oh, the limoncello, right. I brought some to Cheryl and Robin, and one bottle for home. I still haven't tried any of it. I'll get to it at some point. I brought home the creamy one, and meant to try the bright yellow traditional one. Ah, well. Another time.
This was a fun moment. I was about to take a picture of Caroline, but everyone else is in the frame, so I just called out, "Everybody smile!" And they laughed, and I took the shot, and somehow, I ended up feeling like a stand-up comedian for the rest of the ride home, which was a total riot. Everyone was in a fantastic mood, and there were huge swells, and we were rocking around like crazy and having a terrific ride home in a happy boat full of really happy people, except for these two girls, from Sweden and the US, who were a bit terrified and queasy and tried to get past it all by panicking and drinking champagne....they were great fun.
Capri from the harbour. The oval opening is the entrance to the funicular. But be forewarned, you don't buy your ticket there, you buy it across the street, over to the right in the picture. See the place with the blue sign? That's where we couldn't buy tickets for the Blue Grotto. But you - when you go - try it yourself, and maybe you'll get in. And take pictures for me. I'll try again someday, I hope, with John.
Leaving Capri behind.
It took quite a while before the whole island fit into the viewfinder.
Mount Vesuvius was nicely visible on the way home as we neared Sorrento.
Once we got back, it was cats everywhere for a few minutes, which was rather diverting.
My beautiful girl was tired but content.
Walking back towards the elevator (because of course, I had been forewarned she wouldn't take the stairs)!
Back up at the top, we saw this really expressive statue that I quite loved.
We went back to the hotel, freshened up, and went back to town for dinner.
Sorrento in the evening was looking very pretty. We weren't sure where we wanted to eat.
We settled into this cafe, which I will not recommend. The food was okay, but they processed our bill twice and I had trouble getting the money back (I eventually did). And the waitress (admittedly busy) forgot to bring us some of our food. And it wasn't particularly terrific. But until we learned we'd been double-charged, we were generally feeling fairly cheerful and enjoying ourselves.
It had been rather a lovely day, Blue Grotto or not.
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