WOWZERS!!!!!!!!!! (Saturday)

Today was our island tour of Capri. This was simply the most amazing place we have been to. It will be our new home.

We started off with a 50 minute boat ride to the island (not so much fun for Hillary… or Matt for that matter). Once we arrived we met our local guide Rosanna. We were told she was a typical beautiful Napolitan woman. She was short and squatty with thick black curly hair and leathery skin. Not what we pictured at all. But she was awesome. Very fun and energetic.

First things first for the island of Capri is the Blue Grotto. Yet another boat ride and this time less fun for Hillary. But we were able to see some pretty neat things. The water was several different shades of blue depending on the sun and your view point. It just sparkled in the sun. To get into the Blue Grotto we had to get into a very small row boat – 4 people only. Matt sat in the front and I sat with Jen and Alan (our Canadians) in the back. They immediately told us hand inside at all times because it’s dangerous. We thought, well ok whatever, kinda like hands and feet in on roller coasters or something. Oh no.. they meant it. Once we pulled up to the entrance we were able to see why.

We all had to lay down inside the boat. Could have been romantic, but I was laying in the lap of another man with his wife beside me. Very awkward moment.




But we got into this cave and the boatman grabbed my arm and pulled me up. It was the most spectacular view. Where the sun entered the cave the water was the most beautiful blue. We were in such awe.


He rowed us around the cave explaining the history behind it. Apparently there used to be an emperor that lived on the island and the grotto was his swimming pool. Once we got about half way around the cave he started singing to us. Not too shabby! It was very surreal and such a wonderful moment. As we were leaving he turned to Jen and Alan and said that this is the place for romance and they had to share a kiss. So they did, and then he told us that we should share a kiss. So he allowed me to stand up and lean to the front of the boat to kiss my new husband. Totally romantic! Then it was back to lying down to get back out of the cave. The whole experience could not have been longer than 10 minutes but it was worth all the other crappy boat rides to see it.

We got back to the main island of Capri and took a bus to Ana Capri which is the city at the very top of the island. This bus ride had to have been the scariest ride any of us had ever been on. We had to cram into a mini bus because the roads are so narrow here. We had a few close calls where the drivers of the busses were passing each other and hanging out of the window shaking hands and trying to decide how to pass one another. People were honking, mopeds were flying through the middles, and we on the bus were freaking out about hitting something or someone. But it all worked out.


We made it to the top where we got a demonstration on inlaid (I think that is what it is called but may be wrong). It is basically all the beautiful artwork on wood. They had tables, music boxes, pictures, chairs, jewelry boxes, and china cabinets all done with this amazing technique. And apparently they put so many coats of polyurethane that you can put a lighter to it and not damage the wood (as demonstrated today!). And then you can buff our scratches, oh you know, with rubbing alcohol!

After the demonstration we took a fun little ride to the extreme top of Ana Capri, this time no bus. Instead we took a chair lift which only held one person per chair. So it was a lonely ride up to the top.


We had the most amazing views from this point of the island. I even got winked at by the guy letting us off the lift, right before he hit me in the face with the bar. It was great. Haha. We saw so much vegetation as well. I even got to see an olive tree. YUM!! Dad (Keith) you would absolutely love it here. They have lemon orchards everywhere. One of their hot commodities is lemon cello. It’s kind of like a lemon liqueur but very very strong burst of alcohol. They sale it everywhere! They even had lemon perfume. It is just an ever present scent of lemon. Very nice.



It was finally time for lunch after this. We were all starving and were treated like it too. We had our big 5 course meal for lunch today. Ravioli with ricotta cheese, calamari – the best we have ever tasted, very flavorful chicken, and the best brownie in the world! Ok so it wasn’t really a brownie but that is the best way we can describe it to you. It just melted in your mouth. After brownies everyone had espresso with lemon peel.

Our next journey was a walking tour around the city of Capri (this is in the middle level of the island). We saw beautiful gardens and lots of places to shop.



We even saw another wedding party walking down the street. This one had bagpipes and kilts! Once we finished with our tour we ended our time at Capri in a quite famous way. There is a very popular Italian song that I know everyone has heard the tune of but may not know the words. (We’ll have to sing it for you when we get back) But the lines go and forgive my spelling, Yummo yummo (de da de tada) yummo yummo (de da de tada) feniculi feniculare, feniculi, feniculareeeeee, lalala dada te da te da. Sorry can’t really remember all the words but feniculi means up and funiculare means down. They are talking about the cable car that takes you from the top of the island down to the bottom. Well we got to ride in it. It was kinda hot and cramped, but cool just to have the experience.

Once we got back to Naples we had a short break and then it was time for pizza. Naples is the “best” place for pizza in Italy. So we walked of to Ciro’s gourmet style pizza. Yet another 5 course meal. Who would ever think of having a 5 course meal with pizza!!! It was a grueling task, but we did it. We had the traditional Napoleon pizza – red for tomato, white for mozzarella, and green for basil. It was fantastico! A little soggier than traditional American pizza. For dessert we had some kind of delicious cake with a cream filled center and crazy good berries. A perfect end to a great night. Plus we had a blast at dinner with our Canadians and a new player Cheryl from Philidelphia. She’s one of the younger ones who came with her sister. We were having such a good time that the table across from us kept asking us what we were talking about. And if Roberta Walker is reading this… we had a grand talk about mullets!

Tomorrow we are off to visit Pompeii and then traveling back to Rome. This should only be a 2 – 3 hour bus ride, hopefully.

We can't wait to get back and show you all the rest of the pictures of our trip. Sorry that there are so few here, but there are just so many beauftiful things that we can't decide which to show! We'll have so many pictures when we get home we wont even know what to do with ourselves. Thanks so much for continuing to read about our journey. We love you!