Sorry I'm not around so much at the moment, I'm busy with my jewellery business, especially at this ...
Sorry I'm not around so much at the moment, I'm busy with my jewellery business, especially at this time of year! Hope everyone is OK.
Member since:19.04.2004
Reviews:25
Members who trust:10
I've just come back from a tour of Rome, Sorrento and Capri with a friend and for us Capri was definitely the jewel of the tour. Yes, it's full of designer shops and extortionate cafes but there's far more to the place than that.
TRAVEL
Most people go to Capri for a day from Sorrento or Naples. You can stay there but it's not cheap!
We caught the fast ferry from Sorrento, which was included in our tour price but I don't believe it was more than about £5. It was crowded but we managed an outside seat and enjoyed the breeze, the stunning views of Naples and Vesuvius and the sight of Capri getting closer as we approached. Our journey only took 20 mins, but I understand that you can take a slower boat which takes 40 mins.
You can also take a ferry from Naples which takes 40 mins by fast ferry or 80 mins by slow one and I assume the price is around double that from Sorrento.
Both ferries only take foot passengers; you can't take a car to Capri (nor, unless you have a death wish, would you want to!!! More of that later.) The closestairport is Naples which is accessible from most major UK airports; we went from Manchester and it took just over 2 1/2 hours.
HISTORICAL INTEREST
We had a really good guided tour of the island led by a local Caprese guide, who told us a lot about the island's history. Ho pointed out that it was once linked to the Sorrentine Peninsula (now across 3 miles of sea at the narrowest point) and is thus an easily eroded limestone island, unlike the others in the Bay of Naples which are volcanic. (Hence the Blue Grotto
and other natural caves in its coastline.) There are 2 villages, Capri and Anacapri ( meaning "above Capri" which it certainly is!) The name "Capri" is probably from "capre", Latin for "goat" as there are wild goats in the mountains.
Capriis also known as the Isle of the Sirens, or mermaids, who supposedly sing to lure mariners to their doom. It was here that Ulysses put wax in his men's ears and tied himself to the ship's mast to save them from this fate.
We were shown the Phoenician Steps, which were cut into the cliffs by the Phoenecians from what's now the Lebanon well before the Romans came, to link the harbour with the rest of the island. We were also shown the site of the Villa Jovis which was where the Emperor Tiberius built one of his houses. Apparently he fell in love with the island and lived there while governing Rome; he devised a signalling system with beacons, mirrors and smoke, which meant he could send and receive messages from Rome in 3 hours. There is a sheer cliff beside the villa known as Tiberius's Leap, from which he was said to throw his ladies when he got tired of them!
There are many Roman remains on the island and also medieval forts since they have always had trouble with raiding pirates,including Barbarossa,until the 19th century . So they built walls round the town and the forts on the hills to defend themselves against these attacks.
One of the island's most famous inhabitants apart from Gracie Fields was Axel Munthe, a Swedish doctor who loved the island so much he built a villa there in the late 19th century. I't's now a museum (Villa San Michele) with many copies and a few original Roman finds- he was an amateur archaeologist- and most beautiful landscaped gardens with stunning views over the island, the Bay and Vesuvius. It's worth a look just for the view; again, it was included in our price but I don't think it was very dear to go in.
WHAT TO DO
Your first sight of Capri is likely to be the Marina Grande, a manically busy little harbour where all the day trip boats from the mainland moor up and decant hordes of sightseers. This is your Blackpool bit, with souvenir stalls, bars and ice-cream sellers and crowds of people. It's very hot and draining so I would suggest that you take the funicular up to Capri town. There is a road but judging by the state of my suitcase after being driven down it no-one would want to use it unless forced, and we were told the are over 300 steps, so the funicular is a godsend! It costs about 2.5 euros for a return journey and takes about 5 minutes. It's a typical Italian free-for-all if you time your journey to coincide with the arrival of a boat though; literally every man for himself to get through the gates!
At the top of the funicular, you are in the Piazzetta or little square. (Everything is smaller on Capri, it's only 3 miles by 3/4 mile!) Here you can gaze over the Bay of Naples, which is magical even by day with mists over the water and Vesuvius, but even better by night with the lights twinkling from the mainland, the little houses on the hillside above you and the boats moored off the island.
On foot, you can explore the touristy square and crazily priced designer shops. Gucci, D and G, Cartier and so on all have outlets here, although our guide said they don't make much from them, it's just prestige. The nice thing is that if you just head down a back street you get away from the crowds into the medieval parts with tiny churches and houses and winding little streets. (It's probably easy to get lost there without a guide though.) Our guide told us that there is no crime on Capri so we felt safe to wander even in the evenings. There is the ruined Carthusian monastery where the monks began the perfume making trade (bizarre as the connection sounds!) and the factory shop of Carthusia, the modern perfumery to browse in. Further along is the Krupp Garden, a little landscaped garden once owned by a rich German family, again with lovely views and beautiful Mediterranean plants.
We took a minibus up to Anacapri; all the buses are mini due to lack of space and the fact that there is only one road! (This is an experience in itself, winding crazily up the hillside above the sea with steep hairpin bends and impossible-looking gradients!) There are evidently only 1000 cars on Capri but most of them seemed to be on that road when we were. Anyway, the drivers seem unfazed (i suppose they're used to it) and once you get to the village it is a bit quieter and less posh than Capri Town. There is the Villa San Michele to visit there, plenty of little souvenir shops that won't break the bank, cafes and the highlight of our island tour, the chair lift! This goes up to the top of Monte Solero ("the sunny mountain") which is the island's highest point. It was somewhat alarming to get on and off, given that the operators almost shoved you in and you had to open your bar before you got to the platform at the top so they could yank you off, but it was OK once you got going. The views are great and I personally love the peace and quiet of a chairlift, gliding over the treetops in your own little world, so I really enjoyed the journey. At the top there are wonderful views over the Bay of Naples, Vesuvius, the island of Ischia and the Sorrentine Peninsula. There is also the inevitable bar, which provided shade and a great vantage point while enjoying a cool drink..... lovely!
I have to mention the Blue Grotto, but both our Italian guides said it was robbery going there as you got a boat tour for 10 euros, then had to pay another 8.5 to get into the grotto and then a tip on top, all for 2-5 minutes in the grotto itself. On the day we went there was a 3 hour queue to get in anyway so our boat trip didn't even stop. However we took the advice of the guides and did a boat trip all round the coast of Capri (10 miles) which was an hour long, cost 10 euros (about £6.80) and was really good. It was a bit hard to hear the English commentary but we managed, and it was a great way to see the island. The cliffs looked amazing from down there, and we saw the White Grotto with its stalactites and stalagmites that looked like people, and also the Emerald Grotto which is more open that the blue one, but has beautiful bluey-green water in it. I have to say that from the outside the Blue Grotto looked like a little hole in the cliff, but I'm certain it would have been a real experience to see it; just don't go in high summer if you want to be sure of getting in (and we were also warned that the sea was often wrong for going too.) Anyway, we also managed to see the Lighthouse Rocks, pillars standing out in the sea a few yards out from the coast, one of which has a tunnel through called the "Tunnel of Love" which the boat took us through. Another evidently has a rare blue lizard species living there, which was captured and bred on the mainland, but when they did that the babies were just normal green lizards, so they reckoned it was the blue water of Capri that coloured them and left them in peace!!
In addition to organised trips, you can of course explore the island on foot. Our itinerary didn't allow time, but there was a 1 hour walk to Villa Jovis from Capri Town and several tiny beaches yiou could get to. There was also a walk along from the Krupp Gardens overlooking Marina Grande, and Gracie fans can visit the cemetery where she is buried.
I would really, really recommend spending a few nights here and getting the feel of the place without all the day visitors; it's expensive, but so worth it to capture something of its enchantment. Wandering round under the oleander trees with the scents wafting round and the lights in the distance is sheer magic.
Thanks for reading, hope I've given you a wish to go...........
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I went on a day trip once, unfortunately I was 8 at the time. Sue
torr 13.03.2005 17:56
Very well described and makes me sorry I've never been. I nearly went on a day-trip when I was in Positano as year or two ago, but the sea was too rough on the only day we had available. Now I'll have to go back and try again! Duncan x
jennybosson 16.09.2004 09:23
the marina sounds a bit too touristy however the rest sounds fab. I enjoyed reading that. Nice op. jen :O)
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Aug 25th, 2004
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