Can I start by saying that I had one of the best days ever! This tour has been something I have wanted to do for the last few years that I've been in the Mediterranean, but because its 8 hours long, I could never do it before because of time constraints with my previous position on board. I FINALLY got to go and let me just say that Capri is all it’s cracked up to be…and MORE!
Outside of the ship, the group met up with our guide Paulo – a tall Italian man, but not typical Italian. Paulo had blonde hair and blue eyes and his accent sounded as though he learned English in England with a thick British accent – not what you’d expect of an Italian. He walked us from the ship over to the marina (about 5 minutes) and we boarded a hydrofoil boat for our one hour trip to Capri. Mind you, the weather at this point was pretty terrible with the rain pouring down as we waited to board the boat (but a double rainbow over us!). The water was quite choppy, but thank goodness nobody got seasick – not sure I could have dealt with that. For the duration of the ride, I just prayed that the weather would clear (in between Candy Crush moves ;)) and sure enough- it cleared about 5 minutes before we arrived to Capri – the sun started creeping out behind the clouds.
Upon disembarking the boat, we were then going to take a mini bus up to Anacapri at the very top. The minibuses were exactly that…the motor coaches that we’re used to, cut in half. The road all the way to the top of Anacapri was very narrow and winding. Paulo had prepared us for the “Mama Mia” road that we would encounter at the very top and anybody with a fear of heights should close their eyes. The “Mama Mia” road is where the road meets the edge of the cliff and if you look over, there is a thin fence (that serves no purpose!) and when you look out the window, you can see the sea floor directly below. The reason it’s called the “Mama Mia” road is simply because when folks are driving on it, they typically shout “Mama Mia” when they look down!
At the top, Paulo took us into a store where they make the inlaid wood tables- they were pretty but reminded me of a Grandmother’s house to be honest. I looked around a bit and then went outside to meet Paulo where he was giving everybody the option to take a ticket and do the chairlift or go for a walk and shopping in the small town. I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to go on the chairlift ride, so Paulo gave me a ticket and I went around the corner and handed a man (who spoke no English) my ticket and he pointed to the floor where there are two yellow footprints painted in a green square. When you stand there, you turn your upper body to see the chair coming and bend your knees to sit because they don’t stop moving. The gentlemen pushed the restraint down in front of me and off I went. For 20 minutes, I was in the most peaceful place going over gardens just green areas working slowly gaining on the mountain that had seemed so small 20 minutes before. The final destination of the chairlift is a panoramic viewpoint of the entire island of Anacapri & Capri and it’s absolutely beautiful from up there – slightly foggy – but breathtakingly gorgeous and again, peaceful. I took a few photos from that point before jumping back on the chairlift to try and catch a few minutes of shopping in the town of Anacapri. The shopping was all about lemons – Limóncello, lemon soap (smells incredible!) and lemons painted on pretty much anything from aprons to plates slippers. Didn’t buy anything in Anacapri, but made it back just in time to meet the group and we jumped back into the minibus again to head to the other side of the island, Capri.
The minibus took us back the same route we came and continued past to the other side to deliver us to Capri. We stopped at the furthest point that the minibuses could drive and Paulo took us into a store that makes their own brand of Limóncello and other “lemon” items. We sampled both the standard Limóncello as well as a creamy one – I bought both! They were both so tasty and I think the creamy one will be nice to cook with. The women in the store also let us sample lemon and orange chocolate, which I didn’t expect to like, but they were so nice and smooth and creamy.
The group took a walk from the store with Paulo to a beautiful resort about 10 minutes away, where we were to have lunch in a ballroom overlooking the ocean. Lunch consisted of cheese-stuffed manicotti as an appetizer with fresh bread rolls, followed by baked chicken with a tiny bit of marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese followed by none other than tiramisu. Unfortunately, tiramisu isn’t my thing, so I set it aside and went back to utilize the free time he had given us before we had to start the journey back to the ship. I really wanted to buy some of the lemon soap because it really was lovely, but it was so pricy for soap! Since I didn’t have dessert at the restaurant and I wasn’t having any luck, I went to a stand/kiosk sort of thing that was squeezing fresh oranges and making a local drink that’s half frozen lemon slush and they fill the remainder of the glass with orange juice – let me just say that it was awesome and refreshing!
The last adventure for the day was meeting Paulo outside of the funicular station where he would give us a ticket to take it to the bottom of the island, where’d we gather the entire group and take the hydrofoil back to the ship. The worst part(s) of the entire day – going back to work and not having Kieran there to enjoy it with me :(
I think this is one of my favorite tours by far simply because it includes so many different types of transportation: the hydrofoil, minibus, chairlift, walking, and the funicular down. Just a perfect combination!
Outside of the ship, the group met up with our guide Paulo – a tall Italian man, but not typical Italian. Paulo had blonde hair and blue eyes and his accent sounded as though he learned English in England with a thick British accent – not what you’d expect of an Italian. He walked us from the ship over to the marina (about 5 minutes) and we boarded a hydrofoil boat for our one hour trip to Capri. Mind you, the weather at this point was pretty terrible with the rain pouring down as we waited to board the boat (but a double rainbow over us!). The water was quite choppy, but thank goodness nobody got seasick – not sure I could have dealt with that. For the duration of the ride, I just prayed that the weather would clear (in between Candy Crush moves ;)) and sure enough- it cleared about 5 minutes before we arrived to Capri – the sun started creeping out behind the clouds.
At the top, Paulo took us into a store where they make the inlaid wood tables- they were pretty but reminded me of a Grandmother’s house to be honest. I looked around a bit and then went outside to meet Paulo where he was giving everybody the option to take a ticket and do the chairlift or go for a walk and shopping in the small town. I chose to take advantage of the opportunity to go on the chairlift ride, so Paulo gave me a ticket and I went around the corner and handed a man (who spoke no English) my ticket and he pointed to the floor where there are two yellow footprints painted in a green square. When you stand there, you turn your upper body to see the chair coming and bend your knees to sit because they don’t stop moving. The gentlemen pushed the restraint down in front of me and off I went. For 20 minutes, I was in the most peaceful place going over gardens just green areas working slowly gaining on the mountain that had seemed so small 20 minutes before. The final destination of the chairlift is a panoramic viewpoint of the entire island of Anacapri & Capri and it’s absolutely beautiful from up there – slightly foggy – but breathtakingly gorgeous and again, peaceful. I took a few photos from that point before jumping back on the chairlift to try and catch a few minutes of shopping in the town of Anacapri. The shopping was all about lemons – Limóncello, lemon soap (smells incredible!) and lemons painted on pretty much anything from aprons to plates slippers. Didn’t buy anything in Anacapri, but made it back just in time to meet the group and we jumped back into the minibus again to head to the other side of the island, Capri.
The group took a walk from the store with Paulo to a beautiful resort about 10 minutes away, where we were to have lunch in a ballroom overlooking the ocean. Lunch consisted of cheese-stuffed manicotti as an appetizer with fresh bread rolls, followed by baked chicken with a tiny bit of marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese followed by none other than tiramisu. Unfortunately, tiramisu isn’t my thing, so I set it aside and went back to utilize the free time he had given us before we had to start the journey back to the ship. I really wanted to buy some of the lemon soap because it really was lovely, but it was so pricy for soap! Since I didn’t have dessert at the restaurant and I wasn’t having any luck, I went to a stand/kiosk sort of thing that was squeezing fresh oranges and making a local drink that’s half frozen lemon slush and they fill the remainder of the glass with orange juice – let me just say that it was awesome and refreshing!
The last adventure for the day was meeting Paulo outside of the funicular station where he would give us a ticket to take it to the bottom of the island, where’d we gather the entire group and take the hydrofoil back to the ship. The worst part(s) of the entire day – going back to work and not having Kieran there to enjoy it with me :(
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