Capri, Italy

Today we head for the town of Amalfi where we boarded a boat to visit the island of Capri. There were a lot of tourists headed that way, long lines waiting for the ferry. It was a good thing that Veriano had tickets and a priority line for us to get the scheduled boat as it was hot, waiting there under the sun. The boat ride was lovely, especially sitting in the shaded part of the boat. It was a rather long boat ride, about an hour or so. As we got close to Capri, the captain obligingly got the boat close to, and around, the Faraglioni rocks so that we could take photos from several angles.

We had almost half a day to roam around Capri. It is a beautiful place but very crowded, and being an island, there was really no place to go where you can savor the beauty and tranquility of the place. There were brand name shops along the pedestrian streets, a lot of shoppers, and it was hot and sunny. We tried to find a table for drinks, and ended up on the patio cafe of a high end hotel. The price for tea and coffee reflected the locale, but we enjoyed a relaxing place to rest our tired feet.

After that, my small group of fellow travelers went our separate ways. I explored more streets and took a lot of photos. But what I recalled most were the sheer number of tourists everywhere and the heat.

Most of our group met for lunch at a restuarant near the cable car station that Veriano had booked for us. The food was simply amazing. I had my favourite spaghetti alla scoglio (seafood pasta), while the traveller next to me ordered grilled squid. We both had the beautifully presented fruit cocktail.

After lunch, we walked a bit more and I took more photos, marvelling at the huge lemons at the lemonade stand. I opted for a lemon graniti to cool down. I also took a photo of the interesting taxis on the island.

Then it was back on the boat, and a long bus ride to the hotel. It was pizza night at the hotel where the chef gave a demonstration on how to make pizza and invited a few guests to try their hands at it. It was interesting. We were served the results of the cooking demo and then some. There was quite a variety of toppings and the pizzas kept coming until we just could not eat anymore.