Med Trip May 27

It was a hot, sunny day. We walked to the beach to catch the boat to the Isle of Capri. It only took 30 minutes, but here the more important issue was how many stairs we needed to ascend or descend. 184 gets us down to the road, and then there were several long staircases to get to sea level. After a 30 minute boat ride, we arrived and immediately arranged a local boat tour around the island. It was beautiful, with high sheer cliffs with pockets of caves and a white, green and the famous blue grottos at water's edge. At the blue grotto, for 13 euros you transfer into a small rowboat, and get rowed through a small opening into a cave. You need to lie flat as the rower pulls the boat through the opening using a rope on the wall. You can only do this if the tide is not too high and the water not too rough. Inside the cave the light coming through the opening makes the water glow a beautiful blue colour. It was gorgeous. The many, many tour boats gather outside and wait their turn. We had to wait about 45 minutes for our boat's turn. After the tour we had lunch, with a Caprese theme, from Jo's caprese salad to my caprese salad pizza. Limoncello, a strong lemon liquor was big here and Jo and my sister were talked into a limoncello and strawberry drink that cost more than our food. Next on the agenda was taking the bus to Anacapri, another town nearby but high up with great views. That was an experience! The buses were like old metal boxes on wheels. They had 8 seats, and crammed another 15 to 20 people in as standees. The road was a narrow, lane like road with shoulders of about two feet on either side, except where trees encroached on the lane, that wound back and forth with tight switchbacks. When buses or larger vehicles passed they were often so close that anything thicker than one or two pieces of paper would not fit between them. On top of that, people sometimes walked along the side, vespas scooted in and out and sometimes some genius car driver would park along the side, reducing the width to exactly the with of our bus, but no more. Everyone drove with sideview mirrors turned in. How this could be a two way street is mind boggling. Fortunately, the hairy ride was only 20 minutes. We did enjoy great views from the town and decided to skip the chairlift ride to a higher point because of the lineups. We needed to get back for our sail back to Positano, so lined up to take the bus back. The first bus came almost full already, and we could not get on. However, we were now first in line. We continued to bake in the hot sun for another 15 minutes, and the next bus came, full! Only the four of us managed to cram on. Capri was beautiful and we had a wonderful day, but the bus experience was not so great. I did get a nice shot glass though. By now, perhaps the combination of standing in the hot sun as well as all the stairs we climb daily were taking a toll and we were all worn out. We found a place by the dock in Positano that began serving dinner at 6 PM, so we ate "early" for once. We took the local bus back to where our stairs began for our ascent to our house.

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