Sunday afternoon in Capri

So after the boat tour I walked from the pier over to the little strip of "beach" in Marina Grande:

It is beautiful for sure but having lived most of my life in Southern California, I hesitate to call anything with rocks of this size a beach. But some people were actually laying out on the rocks trying to get a tan. I just stuck my feet in: The water was pretty cold but there were a few people swimming, just not in this picture (I'm really good at cropping people out apparently!): As you turn from the beach, this is the crazy street scene in front of you. This is the main strip that runs along the port/harbor area: This is where every single crazy tourist arrives and then tries to make their way around the island. And to the left is where you get the tickets for the funicular and the ferries back to the mainland. I walked back down the street in order to walk back up the hill to the town of Capri and grab some lunch. This is the view looking back the other direction down the main street: Here I am overlooking the harbor: On my walk I passed someone's garden right along the side of the road: Kind of looks like a mini-vineyard but I don't think they were growing grapes. I couldn't tell what it was. I told you how every sign is painted on tile, well, this includes electrical signage. Here was a little tile on the sidewalk: Pretty fancy, if you ask me! So the walk back up was not as pleasurable as the walk down that morning. You have to walk up the sidewalk for a ways (having a sidewalk is a luxury in this country) and then cars are honking at you (or at me specifically because of whatever reason) and then there is no more sidewalk and you have to walk up these stairs that never end: I am in decent shape but I was huffing and puffing by the time I finally made it back to Capri town. And my calves were burning! Now before I headed out for my afternoon walk, I went back to my hotel to change clothes and took a picture of my scar from Como: I know this is a weird picture but I think that this is a pretty bad-ass looking scar. All week people had been asking me what I had done--it looked like I had been slashed in a bar fight. Actually, I am not even sure what I did, I remember getting snagged on some branches during one of my looong walks in Bellagio but who knows. Too bad in this picture it was already fading a little bit. And now it is all gone. See, that's why you take pictures. Okay, when you are weird like me at least. After commemorating my scar I took the bus up to Anacapri, the other mini town on the island. From there you can take the seggiovia (which is a chairlift) up to the highest point of the island: Monte Solaro. Here are the really excited and friendly chairlift operators:Riding the lift: Amazing views all the way up the mountain. The ride lasted 12 minutes (no, I didn't time it--they had it advertised at the ticket booth) and it went straight over people's houses and gardens: You can't really tell from this next picture but we were going up a really steep part of the mountain here at the end: And then once you are at the top, you hop off the chairlift and you have the most amazing views of the entire island. It is kind of scary because you are really high up and there is just a small fence keeping you from tumbling down the sheer cliffs: My map says that Monte Solaro is 589 meters above sea level. But that is a lot more in feet: Tiny boats below (I had to kind of brace myself and try not to lose the calzone I had for lunch when I took this picture):Looking back across to the southeastern side of the island where the Faraglioni are. Anacapri and Monte Solaro are on the western side of the island: Bird's eye view of the Faraglioni: The cluster of houses (in the distance) that comprise the town of Capri: The western side of the island, looking down on the town of Anacapri: After enjoying the 360 degree views, I decided to walk down rather than take the chairlift back to Anacapri. So I set out on yet another winding path: Soon, I was in a bit of forest: Coming out of the forest I could see another hill with a cross on it: Then I hit a fork in the road and it took me a minute to find this rock with the signs on it. I had come from Mont Solaro (on the right) and from that angle you can't see these markings! I thought I was lost again but once I discovered this I realized I was on the right path! I kept going towards Anacapri:More winding path: And another cross: This island seems to be very religious. For the size of the island, there seemed to be a lot of churches and also a lot of religious "artistic installations" such as this cross but also including little niches containing paintings and candles, etc. About halfway down the mountain I came across this donkey/mule animal tied to a pole: I thought it was quite funny and took a picture thinking no one was looking. But when I finished and I turned around to continue down the path, I saw an old woman sitting in her garden staring at me with a look that said, "Why is this girl, wearing a bikini top and shorts, taking a picture of my donkey?!" I don't know enough Italian to fully explain so I just continued walking. I made it back to the town of Anacapri despite the lack of "indicazioni" (signs) pointing the right way and then decided that walking for an hour at a time wasn't enough (even though I had already walked down to Marina Grande and back up that same morning and that constituted at least another hour). So I continued walking towards the southwestern-most point of the island. This is where the lighthouse is from the boat tour pictures. The boat guide told me that there was a nice place to sun and swim where there weren't usually tons of people. So I walked for another hour: I wouldn't mind taking this thing for a cruise around the island...I don't think it was for hire: Then I reached the swimming cove. And there were actually quite a few people there, enjoying the beautiful weather. You can see the cluster of people on the rocks on the right: I had trouble finding a spot to get in the water because I didn't feel comfortable just leaving my purse while I went in. Plus, I was wearing my walking shoes and would be really sad if those disappeared. I tried to find a spot where there were just a few people and I could leave my stuff and watch it while I swam. Finally, I found this little spot with a ladder that was on the far end of the cove: The sun was just amazing, sparkling off the water: I am pleased that it sort of shows up in the pictures! Now I guess there is some kind of Italian etiquette for using the ladder that I am unaware of because one couple seemed to get really pissed at me. I piled my stuff on the rocks near the ladder and then proceeded to get in. The water is pretty deep and it is FREEZING so you have to use the ladder. As I was just getting in, this older couple walked down to the platform in front of the ladder as if they were going to get in. So I moved over to one side of the ladder so they could use it too--I was kind of hanging off to the side. But I was freezing so I wasn't about to just dunk myself. So I waited, hanging there, for them to come in. But they didn't. And they seemed really impatient with me. So I racked my brain for the verb "to share" as in, "Do you want to share with me?" but I don't think I know it and all I could come up with was "Vuoi usare con me?" Which is "Do you want to use with me?" But the man wasn't even looking at me and the woman, even though she could see I was trying to talk to her, was the type who was not going expend one ounce of energy trying to understand what I was saying. After a couple tries I gave up and focused on getting myself in the water. I am really stubborn though when I think people aren't trying so I didn't try to rush too much. I happily used the ladder until I was able to get in all the way to my shoulders and then got back out. I walked up the couple steps to sit next to my clothes and then they got in and used the ladder. They dunked in and got out. I guess that is what I had wrong--you aren't allowed to linger on getting in. You have to be in and out. Whatever. Here is the view from my perch into the part of the cove where more people were swimming: I think that the water was less freezing in the other area because there were a lot more people in the water. The section I was in was more open to the ocean. Watching the small waves crash on the rocks: Then after awhile, there was a nice lady who came and got in the water. After she was done dipping I asked her if she would take a picture of me in the water. Check out those shoulder muscles!: Don't let the smile fool you, I was freezing!: She was really nice although she spoke almost no English and I wasn't really flowing with the Italian that afternoon. She kept trying to get the picture just right so she took about 10 of me in the water (hurry up! I'm freezing) and was directing me to move over so she could get the rocks in the background: Then she took a picture of me talking as I was climbing out of the water: That's the best full body shot I have. Not great but at least it demonstrates that I haven't totally let myself go with the pasta here. My roommate keeps warning me about what these three months will do to me but I just keep running farther and farther to compensate! Here is another "where's waldo" type of picture, there are two guys (barely visible) who were jumping from the highest point there (the rock in the middle). You can see one of them about 1/3 of the way down the rock and then the other one is a little bit more than half way down: I have no idea how they climbed up there, they must have come from somewhere around the back. And here they are splashing into the ocean: That would have been fun but judging from the size of them against the rocks, it was about 50-60 feet above the water! Yikes. After my swim I took the bus back to the main part of Anacapri but since you have to take a second bus (and pay for a second bus) to get to Capri, I decided to walk down the mountain. Plus, I prefer to spend my money on crepes filled with nutella so that is exactly what I did! Fuel for the road, I call it. And it was a beautiful road. With no sidewalk. For part of the walk down you have to share the road with everyone (city buses, tour buses, motorini, cars) trying to get to and from Anacapri. And they don't care about you or your need to retain your limbs. But despite the danger-factor it is well worth it--the views are stupendous. This is looking out over Marina Grande: This is a really bad picture looking back at where I had come from: In the middle you can see the road that hugs the cliff running horizontally in the middle. And then there is a zigzag line down the cliff (kind of in the middle of the picture) and that is the stairway that you walk down. This was one of those points where I would look back and think, "Whoa, I got here from there--all on my own!" In the times of the Romans, those stairs were the only way that inhabitants of the island could get between Capri and Anacapri. So now I was back in Capri. But I guess I STILL had not walked enough (and after eating the crepe I wasn't hungry for dinner yet) so I walked passed my hotel and down through the alleys to the Marina Piccola: It was early evening now and getting cooler so there wasn't anyone on the rocky beach. The beach area is much smaller than the one at Marina Grande but very serene and calm. The sun was already behind the Monte Solaro so this whole part of the island was shaded. I sat on the rocks and just watched the soft waves for awhile, enjoying the beach and the sounds. Then I walked back and got cleaned up for dinner. This time I found a little funky restaurant in an alley. I was still rather early for Italian dinner time so I had the restaurant to myself for most of the meal. Even though they weren't as rude to me at this place, they did seat me right next to the wall where they keep their dishes and napkins. Kind of odd but that is how it goes. I had neopolitan pizza (crispy crust, tomato sauce and pieces of garlic--no cheese) and gnocchi again. I didn't have the wine but maybe I should have. It is their own "special production" as the waiter informed me. I thought the guy on the bottle was just some sort of "model" for them. He is posing on the rocks of some beach with the Faraglioni in the background. Turns out this was the CHEF!! He came out about halfway through my meal and I was like, "Oooooh, I get it. Yikes!": Then again, maybe I'm glad I didn't have the wine.

Instead I went and sat in the main piazza in Capri and people-watched. I thought the building in the above picture looked really beautiful at night, it was kind of glowing over the square. I had a cioccolata (hot chocolate which in Italy means a very soupy, thick version of what we know as hot chocolate) and read my Italian Cosmo that I had picked up in Bellagio the weekend before. With the speed (read: slowly) that I am getting through that magazine, I think I have enough material to last through the rest of my trip! It got really cold that night so once I couldn't take it anymore and I had finished my chocolate soup, I went to bed.