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Tuesday, 26 June. After breakfast at the hotel, a car picked us up for the Capri tour about 8:30. The sea is far below the level of the city of Sorrento, and we drove down a steep hill to Marina Grande, the main port. Our group was just eight people. We sailed for Capri at 9:15 on a small boat. We arrived at the Blue Grotto on the northwest corner of the Island by 10:00. Capri has been inhabited at least since the Neolithic Age, but it became highly popular in Roman times. Over the centuries, there were twelve Imperial villas in Capri. Augustus really developed the Island, building, temples, villas, aqueducts, and gardens. His successor, Tiberius, perhaps outdid him. In 27 AD, Tiberius permanently moved to Capri, running the Empire from there until his death ten years later. He built a series of villas at Capri. After Tiberius, the Roman emperors paid less attention to Capri, and it eventually reverted to Neapolitan control. At various times, though, it has been held by the Ottoman Turks, the British, or the French. Arriving at the Blue Grotto, we transferred to small row boats, two passengers to a boat. The boats entered the Grotto one at a time and maintained a discreet distance so each pair of passengers had the wonderful feeling of being alone in the Grotto for at least part of the passage. Like most everything else on the tour, the cost of the boats was included. However, after the delightful ride through the Grotto, the boatmen would not let us reboard the tour boat until we gave them a big tip. That is the worst “tip-gouging” we have ever experienced. It took a little luster of the visit. In retrospect, however, the visit to the Blue Grotto was a wonderful experience, and the boatmen were skilled, cordial and entertaining, until that final moment. Our tour boat then took us to Marina Grande, Capri’s main port. There were donkeys available to take tourists up to Anacapri on a trail, but our group was met by two private cars that took us up on a narrow, twisty road. Anacapri was high above the town of Capri (or Capri Center as our guide called it) and was only about a quarter the size. It was much more intimate and unspoiled. Our guide took us on a brief walk through the town and then to Villa San Michele. We could easily tell that this was her favorite spot on the Island, and soon it was ours, too. The Villa was built around the end of the 19th century by a Swedish physician (Axel Munthe). His choice of the site for the villa was inspired. It had panoramic views of the town of Capri and its harbor, the entire north shore of the Sorrento Peninsula, all the way to Mount Vesuvius. The airy design of the Villa and its beautiful gardens took full advantage of the location. Inside, the decoration and furnishings, while eclectic, seemed a perfect fit. After taking us through the Villa, she gave us 40 minutes to explore on our own. We spent more than an hour there altogether. By then it was lunch time. We walked to a very nice hotel in Anacapri where we had a large and tasty lunch. Then it was back to the cars for the drive down to Capri Center. We were dropped off at the Piazzetta (Piazza Umberto), the town square. The guide led us on a loop through the narrow streets lined with restaurants and shops. Then she led the group south along a footpath to the Gardens of Augusta overlooking Marina Piccolo, the Island’s other port, far below. The beautiful botanical gardens have nothing to do with Augustus. They were built by German industrialist Friedrich Krupp just 50-some years ago. There was also a steep, winding footpath (Via Krupp) down to the port, but we did not have time to take it. From the overlook in the Gardens, there was a great view of the famous Faraglioni, three spectacular rock formations off the southeast corner of the Island. Just to the east of the Gardens was the Certosa di San Giacomo (Saint James' Charterhouse), a large Carthusian monastery, founded in 1363, but now a museum. And that was pretty much the end of our tour of the Isle of Capri. Retracing our steps, we found our cars waiting at Capri Center. They took us down to Marina Grande where our little boat was waiting to take us back to Sorrento. Our car was waiting at Marina Grande there and had us back to our hotel before 6:00. We went into town for dinner. Afterwards, we relaxed and enjoyed the aroma of the lime grove until bedtime. | ||