This is the sky that I awoke to on Monday morning, my third day in Capri:
Yikes! Today was the day that I was planning to go the the famous Blue Grotto but you really need sun in order to see it in its full effect. I didn't want to go after the boat tour the day before because it was already getting so crowded and the boat guide/driver said that it was best to go in the morning. I was frustrated that I had put it off until so late in my vacation but this was the first free morning I had! So I got up early and took the bus to Anacapri. I was still too early for the blue grotto because the boats don't start running until 9am so I walked around a bit and had a latte and a brioche (croissant) at a cafe. I asked everyone who would talk to me if I would be able to see the blue grotto (because of the clouds covering the sun that morning). The lady working the espresso machine at the bar didn't sound so sure but then there was a local guy there getting his morning espresso before heading off to work who said it would be fine, I would be able to see it. I took the bus down to the blue grotto spot on the northwest side of the island. From there you walk down some steps to a little landing right next to the entrance to the grotto. There were only a few other tourists ahead of me and I think they had come from a tour boat because there was only one other couple ahead of me on the steps. Here is the guy, who ended up being my guide, taking a boatload of Americans into the grotto:
I was still anxious to be sure that my 9 euros were going to be worth it, so when that group came out and I heard them speaking English, I asked them if they had seen anything. And they said yes, it was wonderful. Then I was relieved, I guess I just don't trust the Italians...So after dropping those guys back off onto their tour boat, the guide came over and picked me and a couple of Italians up from the landing. Then they row you over to this bigger boat where you pay to go in. Well, who is sitting in the boat taking the money but my friend from the cafe who had told me that I would be able to see the blue grotto just fine! So as we rowed up I said, "Oh, lo conosco!" (I know him!) and he turned bright red. The others in the boat must have thought I liked him--they thought it was funny that I knew him as if I had met him at a bar or something. They asked me if I liked him and started ribbing him and I said something to the effect of, "I like his cute blushing face". I didn't get a discount though. So after paying they row you into the grotto. The tide determines the size of the opening into the grotto. I asked the guide and he said that this was about medium tide:
At the point of this picture the distance from the water to the top part of the opening is probably about 3 feet--not very high. When they row the boat through you have to lay down against the bottom of the boat--and you are already sitting very low in the canoe. What looks like a rope above is actually a chain that they use to pull the boat through very quickly. The guides (as annoying as they are) are actually quite skilled because they have to time it just right with the waves to have enough space and time to make it through. And as they enter they have to pull on that chain with all their might and slide the canoe through into the grotto. It was kind of scary actually! Once inside, this is all I saw at first:
It looks like complete blackness but you can see a little bit of dark blue at the bottom and the tip of the canoe at the very bottom. I was sitting in the front part of the canoe and looking ahead toward where we were rowing but the guide told me to turn around and look down and this is what I saw:
The water is just glowing with this surreal blue color! Apparently the rocks surrounding this grotto are not touching the ocean floor so the light enters from the water outside and comes up under the rocks and lights up this beautiful blue water:
It was surreal because you are inside a cave, but you are on the ocean and the water looks almost chemical--it is just too much to take in!
Looking back at the tiny entrance to the grotto:
Another boat of people exiting the grotto:
I am really glad I went right away in the morning because there are a lot of boats that take tourists into the grotto and I think when it is more crowded there maybe 7 or 8 canoes in the grotto at one time, spoiling your view. We only shared the grotto for a couple of minutes until this boat left and then we had to ourselves for the rest of the time. The entire "tour" is only about 7 minutes. This is a tunnel in the back of the grotto that was used in Roman times. The guide said that rocks have fallen in on it and it is no longer safe to pass through it.
From the back of the cave/grotto looking across to the entrance--it is actually a pretty big space:
Another side of the area where the tunnel was:
Pretty far from the entrance now:
I kept taking tons of pictures because, of course, I didn't want to use the flash and I was in a boat and it was dark--all these things are pretty tough photographic restraints. So I am actually really proud of my little camera and what it was able to pick up. But that is why I took so many (plus it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen so I couldn't help myself!):
You can see little black spots on the next couple pictures (on the left side in the water), these are fish:
Finally a pretty crisp one with the rock forming the side of the grotto and the crystal water:
Our guide--very focused on getting us out of the grotto with our heads intact:
And we made it! It was so amazing. Really a highlight of my time here. As we left the hoards of tourists were beginning to arrive:
So happy to have finally seen the Blue Grotto:
I asked the guide about swimming in the grotto because I had read that people used to and that it is possible but maybe not the safest thing to do in case you underestimate the tide or come at the wrong time. There are signs up that say it is prohibited to do so but I really wanted to. The boat driver from the day before had said it was possible if you come around 5pm and then the blue grotto guide also said that you can come at 5pm, when there are less tourist boats, and swim. But in the end the weather was too terrible and I wouldn't have had a place to stash my stuff so I didn't. But I will come back (with someone else) some day and swim in the Blue Grotto. Next I took the bus back to Anacapri and then walked down the old Roman steps again to Capri. The view from the steps, it had just started to ran and was shaping up to be a very ugly day:
The steps cut right into the side of the cliff and are very steep--and slippery when wet!:
So I went back to my hotel because I had to switch hotels that day. Because I had made my travel plans so late (and it was a big holiday weekend in Italy) I had to stay at two different hotels. So I packed up all my stuff and headed out (in the rain) to my second hotel. It wasn't far but by the time I got there I was really wet. I give the guy my name and he asks if I am checking into the triple. I tell him, No, I have a single. And he says that they don't have any singles open for that night. Yeah. Turns out that even though I talked to them on the phone and they said they had an opening and all I had to do was send an email with my credit card information and they would reserve it for me...it didn't get reserved. And yes, I admit, I didn't have a confirmation in hand. At that point (the week before my trip to Capri) I had made reservations at two separate hotels in Greece for June when I travel with my friend Jamie and reservations in 3 different cities in Italy and I was a little overwhelmed with reservations and confirmations. So I accidentally let one slide thinking that our phone conversation was enough. Whoops. So here I was in the pouring rain suddenly homeless. I would have just gone home at that point because I had done most of what I wanted to do in Capri but I had a train ticket AND ferry ticket for the following day and it would have been more expensive to buy new ones of those than pay for another night in a hotel. Fortunately the guy at this hotel was extremely helpful and called another nearby hotel and found me a room for the same price. And he loaned me one of their umbrellas for the walk over there. I almost declined the offer because, for goodness' sake, I went to school in Oregon. I should be able to handle a few drops of rain. But in the time that it took for him to find me a new hotel, the little bit of rain had turned into a torrential downpour. In the 5 minute walk from the old hotel to the new hotel, even with the umbrella, I was soaked. My cute little red suitcase was black because it was completely saturated with water. I had to take everything out of it and hang it around the room because my clothes that were packed INSIDE the suitcase were now wet. Aack! In addition to all this, there is nothing to do in Capri when it is raining. There are not many public indoor spaces besides stores. And most of them are small and super-fancy--not somewhere you would want to linger. So I dropped off my soaking wet things and decided the best thing would be to get a nice long lunch, inside. Unfortunately, even the most of the restaurants are partially outside. I probably sat there for close to 2 hours watching the rain and doing some studying while eating my primo and secondo piatti (first and second plates--way more than I normally eat). The waiter was again very rude and first tried to sit me in the corner. But the restaurant was nearly empty so when he turned around I moved and sat at the table with the better view. I thought that eating as much as I did would make me warm but it didn't and when I realized that I could see my breath and I had goose-bumps, I decided it was time to get moving so I went for a little walk, hoping that would warm me up. At this point, it wasn't pouring with as much vigor as before so, armed with the umbrella, I went for a walk to another lookout that I hadn't visited yet. This one is on the south side of the island, just a short walk from Capri town:
You can see a cluster of people/umbrellas on the upper left side of this picture:
That is where the gardens are that I had visited two days earlier. Being on vacation is kind of like film-making: you need to do all the outdoor stuff first when the weather is good. Because you never really know when the weather will change and you can't put off the major things that you want to do (that are outdoors) until the end. I felt sorry for the tourists that were only there for one day because they really missed out on seeing the true sparkly-ness of Capri. Looking down on Marina Piccola:
The clouds are completely covering Mount Solaro (on Anacapri) where I had been the day before. I wonder if the chairlift was even running:
Taking a walk still didn't warm me up (it probably didn't help that my socks and shoes were drenched) so I did the only thing left to do: take a nap. So I went back to my room, turned up the heat and snuggled in for a rainy day nap. My new hotel room:
After my nap, I walked around for a bit at dusk. It was dramatically gorgeous but so cold:
So again I thought, Well, there's not much else to do so I will just go eat dinner. I wasn't even hungry but it seemed like a good thing to do and this time I would get some wine and that would surely warm me up. So I went to this restaurant that was a little more upscale and I asked for a table for one. Now there were tons of big tables that were empty--the restaurant was less than half full. I figured it wouldn't be a problem to find one lonely table for one. I had never had a problem before. But the waiter walked us back to the big boss guy and asked him if they had any tables for one and he said No, do you have a reservation? And I was like, No, I don't but surely a table for one is not hard to come by. And he said, No, all these are reserved. He wasn't exactly rude but he also wasn't real interested in accommodating me. Apparently all the big tables were reserved and I was way out of line for expecting to just waltz in at dinner time and have a table to myself. At least that is the way he made me feel. And I had more than a sneaking suspicion that I wasn't being seated because I would be just one person taking up a whole table. After everything that had gone on that day (terrible weather, soaked clothes, suitcase and shoes, rude waiters, hotel displacement, freezing body parts, etc.) it was all I could do to get out of the restaurant before I started crying. I cried all the way back to my hotel. Not the girly kind of crying either--the real kind of crying where snot is running down your face. I wanted to call my mommy but I didn't have a calling card and the one place that sells them wasn't open. I could have used my cell phone but that would have cost a million dollars and that would have just made me mad on top of being sad. So I went back to my hotel and finished crying. I really wasn't hungry anyway so I just sat on my bed and ate a granola bar and watched TV. This hotel had a satellite box with a ton of channels so I amused myself by flipping through all 899 of them. No joke. But only about 100 actually came in. There were so many channels that I wished would have come in because they sounded really interesting (the titles of the channels would display but then it wouldn't come in). There were stations from all over the world. Including Al-Jazeera. Again, no joke. I watched it for a couple of minutes but it was kind of creepy because in the US they always show us that channel when something bad is going on so there were too many negative associations with the images I was seeing (like the logo and the graphic design of the channel). I settled on channel number one (after starting at 899 and ending up at 1) which was showing "Sweet Home Alabama" dubbed in Italian. I couldn't wait to hear "Hai un bambino...in un bar!" (You have a baby...in a bar!) delivered by the voice-actress dubbing Reese Witherspoon. And that was how I experienced the best (Blue Grotto) and the worst of Capri.
Yikes! Today was the day that I was planning to go the the famous Blue Grotto but you really need sun in order to see it in its full effect. I didn't want to go after the boat tour the day before because it was already getting so crowded and the boat guide/driver said that it was best to go in the morning. I was frustrated that I had put it off until so late in my vacation but this was the first free morning I had! So I got up early and took the bus to Anacapri. I was still too early for the blue grotto because the boats don't start running until 9am so I walked around a bit and had a latte and a brioche (croissant) at a cafe. I asked everyone who would talk to me if I would be able to see the blue grotto (because of the clouds covering the sun that morning). The lady working the espresso machine at the bar didn't sound so sure but then there was a local guy there getting his morning espresso before heading off to work who said it would be fine, I would be able to see it. I took the bus down to the blue grotto spot on the northwest side of the island. From there you walk down some steps to a little landing right next to the entrance to the grotto. There were only a few other tourists ahead of me and I think they had come from a tour boat because there was only one other couple ahead of me on the steps. Here is the guy, who ended up being my guide, taking a boatload of Americans into the grotto:
I was still anxious to be sure that my 9 euros were going to be worth it, so when that group came out and I heard them speaking English, I asked them if they had seen anything. And they said yes, it was wonderful. Then I was relieved, I guess I just don't trust the Italians...So after dropping those guys back off onto their tour boat, the guide came over and picked me and a couple of Italians up from the landing. Then they row you over to this bigger boat where you pay to go in. Well, who is sitting in the boat taking the money but my friend from the cafe who had told me that I would be able to see the blue grotto just fine! So as we rowed up I said, "Oh, lo conosco!" (I know him!) and he turned bright red. The others in the boat must have thought I liked him--they thought it was funny that I knew him as if I had met him at a bar or something. They asked me if I liked him and started ribbing him and I said something to the effect of, "I like his cute blushing face". I didn't get a discount though. So after paying they row you into the grotto. The tide determines the size of the opening into the grotto. I asked the guide and he said that this was about medium tide:
At the point of this picture the distance from the water to the top part of the opening is probably about 3 feet--not very high. When they row the boat through you have to lay down against the bottom of the boat--and you are already sitting very low in the canoe. What looks like a rope above is actually a chain that they use to pull the boat through very quickly. The guides (as annoying as they are) are actually quite skilled because they have to time it just right with the waves to have enough space and time to make it through. And as they enter they have to pull on that chain with all their might and slide the canoe through into the grotto. It was kind of scary actually! Once inside, this is all I saw at first:
It looks like complete blackness but you can see a little bit of dark blue at the bottom and the tip of the canoe at the very bottom. I was sitting in the front part of the canoe and looking ahead toward where we were rowing but the guide told me to turn around and look down and this is what I saw:
The water is just glowing with this surreal blue color! Apparently the rocks surrounding this grotto are not touching the ocean floor so the light enters from the water outside and comes up under the rocks and lights up this beautiful blue water:
It was surreal because you are inside a cave, but you are on the ocean and the water looks almost chemical--it is just too much to take in!
Looking back at the tiny entrance to the grotto:
Another boat of people exiting the grotto:
I am really glad I went right away in the morning because there are a lot of boats that take tourists into the grotto and I think when it is more crowded there maybe 7 or 8 canoes in the grotto at one time, spoiling your view. We only shared the grotto for a couple of minutes until this boat left and then we had to ourselves for the rest of the time. The entire "tour" is only about 7 minutes. This is a tunnel in the back of the grotto that was used in Roman times. The guide said that rocks have fallen in on it and it is no longer safe to pass through it.
From the back of the cave/grotto looking across to the entrance--it is actually a pretty big space:
Another side of the area where the tunnel was:
Pretty far from the entrance now:
I kept taking tons of pictures because, of course, I didn't want to use the flash and I was in a boat and it was dark--all these things are pretty tough photographic restraints. So I am actually really proud of my little camera and what it was able to pick up. But that is why I took so many (plus it was one of the most spectacular things I have ever seen so I couldn't help myself!):
You can see little black spots on the next couple pictures (on the left side in the water), these are fish:
Finally a pretty crisp one with the rock forming the side of the grotto and the crystal water:
Our guide--very focused on getting us out of the grotto with our heads intact:
And we made it! It was so amazing. Really a highlight of my time here. As we left the hoards of tourists were beginning to arrive:
So happy to have finally seen the Blue Grotto:
I asked the guide about swimming in the grotto because I had read that people used to and that it is possible but maybe not the safest thing to do in case you underestimate the tide or come at the wrong time. There are signs up that say it is prohibited to do so but I really wanted to. The boat driver from the day before had said it was possible if you come around 5pm and then the blue grotto guide also said that you can come at 5pm, when there are less tourist boats, and swim. But in the end the weather was too terrible and I wouldn't have had a place to stash my stuff so I didn't. But I will come back (with someone else) some day and swim in the Blue Grotto. Next I took the bus back to Anacapri and then walked down the old Roman steps again to Capri. The view from the steps, it had just started to ran and was shaping up to be a very ugly day:
The steps cut right into the side of the cliff and are very steep--and slippery when wet!:
So I went back to my hotel because I had to switch hotels that day. Because I had made my travel plans so late (and it was a big holiday weekend in Italy) I had to stay at two different hotels. So I packed up all my stuff and headed out (in the rain) to my second hotel. It wasn't far but by the time I got there I was really wet. I give the guy my name and he asks if I am checking into the triple. I tell him, No, I have a single. And he says that they don't have any singles open for that night. Yeah. Turns out that even though I talked to them on the phone and they said they had an opening and all I had to do was send an email with my credit card information and they would reserve it for me...it didn't get reserved. And yes, I admit, I didn't have a confirmation in hand. At that point (the week before my trip to Capri) I had made reservations at two separate hotels in Greece for June when I travel with my friend Jamie and reservations in 3 different cities in Italy and I was a little overwhelmed with reservations and confirmations. So I accidentally let one slide thinking that our phone conversation was enough. Whoops. So here I was in the pouring rain suddenly homeless. I would have just gone home at that point because I had done most of what I wanted to do in Capri but I had a train ticket AND ferry ticket for the following day and it would have been more expensive to buy new ones of those than pay for another night in a hotel. Fortunately the guy at this hotel was extremely helpful and called another nearby hotel and found me a room for the same price. And he loaned me one of their umbrellas for the walk over there. I almost declined the offer because, for goodness' sake, I went to school in Oregon. I should be able to handle a few drops of rain. But in the time that it took for him to find me a new hotel, the little bit of rain had turned into a torrential downpour. In the 5 minute walk from the old hotel to the new hotel, even with the umbrella, I was soaked. My cute little red suitcase was black because it was completely saturated with water. I had to take everything out of it and hang it around the room because my clothes that were packed INSIDE the suitcase were now wet. Aack! In addition to all this, there is nothing to do in Capri when it is raining. There are not many public indoor spaces besides stores. And most of them are small and super-fancy--not somewhere you would want to linger. So I dropped off my soaking wet things and decided the best thing would be to get a nice long lunch, inside. Unfortunately, even the most of the restaurants are partially outside. I probably sat there for close to 2 hours watching the rain and doing some studying while eating my primo and secondo piatti (first and second plates--way more than I normally eat). The waiter was again very rude and first tried to sit me in the corner. But the restaurant was nearly empty so when he turned around I moved and sat at the table with the better view. I thought that eating as much as I did would make me warm but it didn't and when I realized that I could see my breath and I had goose-bumps, I decided it was time to get moving so I went for a little walk, hoping that would warm me up. At this point, it wasn't pouring with as much vigor as before so, armed with the umbrella, I went for a walk to another lookout that I hadn't visited yet. This one is on the south side of the island, just a short walk from Capri town:
You can see a cluster of people/umbrellas on the upper left side of this picture:
That is where the gardens are that I had visited two days earlier. Being on vacation is kind of like film-making: you need to do all the outdoor stuff first when the weather is good. Because you never really know when the weather will change and you can't put off the major things that you want to do (that are outdoors) until the end. I felt sorry for the tourists that were only there for one day because they really missed out on seeing the true sparkly-ness of Capri. Looking down on Marina Piccola:
The clouds are completely covering Mount Solaro (on Anacapri) where I had been the day before. I wonder if the chairlift was even running:
Taking a walk still didn't warm me up (it probably didn't help that my socks and shoes were drenched) so I did the only thing left to do: take a nap. So I went back to my room, turned up the heat and snuggled in for a rainy day nap. My new hotel room:
After my nap, I walked around for a bit at dusk. It was dramatically gorgeous but so cold:
So again I thought, Well, there's not much else to do so I will just go eat dinner. I wasn't even hungry but it seemed like a good thing to do and this time I would get some wine and that would surely warm me up. So I went to this restaurant that was a little more upscale and I asked for a table for one. Now there were tons of big tables that were empty--the restaurant was less than half full. I figured it wouldn't be a problem to find one lonely table for one. I had never had a problem before. But the waiter walked us back to the big boss guy and asked him if they had any tables for one and he said No, do you have a reservation? And I was like, No, I don't but surely a table for one is not hard to come by. And he said, No, all these are reserved. He wasn't exactly rude but he also wasn't real interested in accommodating me. Apparently all the big tables were reserved and I was way out of line for expecting to just waltz in at dinner time and have a table to myself. At least that is the way he made me feel. And I had more than a sneaking suspicion that I wasn't being seated because I would be just one person taking up a whole table. After everything that had gone on that day (terrible weather, soaked clothes, suitcase and shoes, rude waiters, hotel displacement, freezing body parts, etc.) it was all I could do to get out of the restaurant before I started crying. I cried all the way back to my hotel. Not the girly kind of crying either--the real kind of crying where snot is running down your face. I wanted to call my mommy but I didn't have a calling card and the one place that sells them wasn't open. I could have used my cell phone but that would have cost a million dollars and that would have just made me mad on top of being sad. So I went back to my hotel and finished crying. I really wasn't hungry anyway so I just sat on my bed and ate a granola bar and watched TV. This hotel had a satellite box with a ton of channels so I amused myself by flipping through all 899 of them. No joke. But only about 100 actually came in. There were so many channels that I wished would have come in because they sounded really interesting (the titles of the channels would display but then it wouldn't come in). There were stations from all over the world. Including Al-Jazeera. Again, no joke. I watched it for a couple of minutes but it was kind of creepy because in the US they always show us that channel when something bad is going on so there were too many negative associations with the images I was seeing (like the logo and the graphic design of the channel). I settled on channel number one (after starting at 899 and ending up at 1) which was showing "Sweet Home Alabama" dubbed in Italian. I couldn't wait to hear "Hai un bambino...in un bar!" (You have a baby...in a bar!) delivered by the voice-actress dubbing Reese Witherspoon. And that was how I experienced the best (Blue Grotto) and the worst of Capri.
2 comments:
Hey Sarah,
I'm writing just so you know I'm still reading this when I can. The pictures are beautiful, and it's good to see that you're having such a great time! I thought there was supposed to be some book-learning involved, though. Maybe that's later.
Also, I wanted you to know that your little brother skydived today. Next time you're coming!
Take care.
Peter
i love the blue grotto!! that thing is so incredibly beautiful!! and even when it's pouring rain, it's still beautiful in capri. i am sad to hear about you crying in the rain in italy, but you are very strong, you have been there a long time without crying! go sarah! i miss you!
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