Capri 3

CAPRI: Having survived the rowboat into the Grotta Azzura (post to follow), and having had the salty sea air blow in our faces on our unexpected circumnavigation of the island, we refueled and caught the cable car to Capri proper, the small conglomeration of whitewashed Mediterranean-style villas perched high up on the hill.

Desperate to avoid the jam-packed, Campari-soaked piazzas central, we found our way off the path in relatively no time at all, in one of those deliciously aimless wanderings that nevertheless seem imbued with the vaguest sense of purpose. That our walk initially followed one flight of stairs after another - upward - was of no concern given our recent day of ten-thousand ancient stone stairs-for-titans-centaurs-and-sirens on the Path of the Gods.

On said walk along the Amalfi Coast we were spoiled for stunning views, and this was no different, as we climbed higher and higher, in the direction, we soon discovered, of Tiberius´ one-time pleasure-palace. On the way, it so happened that I bumped into a mate in Rome, an Irish-English poet and soon to be father, strolling towards me with his fiance! This was definitely remarkable - on this stretch of the ridge, overlooking the whole of Capri, we came into contact with not one other person.

Unfortunately we were by this stage extremely pushed for time - it was a miracle we made it to Tiberius´ villa at all - so we had only two minutes to gaze out across the sea before we reluctantly high-tailed it back down to the cable-car and onto the ferry back to Sorrento.

Back home we had one last farewell dinner at a good value restaurant - Graham´s treat, as a parting gift to Em and myself. The next day we would be seeing him off at Rome, and heading for Siena, the beginning of the rest of our Italy trip, and then onward to France and Switzerland.