The rich and the famous of Capri, Italy

Yesterday was Father's Day, and we had a special dinner to celebrate with the special men in our lives -for me,  the highlight was when they were presented with letters from home - special Father's day messages from their children at home - what great kids we all have and the sentiments from the messages was very touching to their dads. They loved draping themselves over the steps in the atrium impersonating James Bond!!

Today we docked in Naples and decided to take the hydrofoil to Capri – about 40 minutes off the Amalfi Coast. The ticket office was only a short walk from the ship and we were soon set up with our tickets for the 8.05 am transfer.

The one piece of advice we were given by the onshore port lecturer and friends who had been over to Capri on our last call into Naples was that only one way tickets are available and so make sure that you buy the ticket for the return journey as soon as you arrive at the Capri marina, as there is a limited number and people have missed the ship by returning late from Capri in the past. While I was waiting in the queue, we could hear the woman at the window beside us telling her customers that it wasn’t possible to buy return tickets. As I got closer to the front, I overheard that the guy selling the tickets for our queue was selling return tickets, so we were able to buy the return tickets – another Italian idiosyncrasy – maybe it just depends on the mood of the ticket seller on the day.

Once we arrived at Capri, we walked up the wharf and were confronted by a series of topless taxi – really sporty – I walked over to look at a vintage red Fiat which had been converted and we were approached by the driver, Paolo, offering a day tour of the island – we could just see ourselves swanning around Capri in a red convertible for the day, so we took up his offer.

Our first stop was at an archaeological site from the time of Emperor Augustus – Paolo told us that Augustus went around putting ruins on every point along the coastline – we laughed – maybe they weren’t ruined when he had them constructed!! As a local, Paolo knew the best vantage point for every photo, and at one time was hanging from a tree branch to get the correct angle.

The island is quite small with some very high cliffs along the coastline – the roads are windy and narrow – it isn’t called the ‘Mumma Mia’ highway for nothing – that is what we said at every bend as we met another car on our side of the road, and sometimes had to reverse back to a safe overtaking bay – woo – heart attack material!!! No wonder that Paolo had a small shrine to every patron saint of the island on his dashboard!!

One of the highlights from Anacapri is the chair lift to the top of the Solaro Mountain – now everyone knows how much I like heights – NOT- but I was determined to just suck it up and close my eyes!! It is a single person chair, similar to some ski resorts and the trip to the top takes about 15 minutes. It would have been so peaceful drifting over the tops of the vineyard and fruit trees if I had been able to block out Arnold’s voice – ‘I don’t like this’, ‘it’s a long way down’, ‘I think you would die if you fell from here’, ‘this is really out of my comfort zone’, and the classic….’what would happen if you fainted while you were up here, do you think you would fall out of the chair????’ And I thought that I was bad!!!built in 1719, with a beautiful tiled floor – what a treasure in this small village.

And of course, we were being passed in the opposite direction by children with their hands waving in the air and without the safety bar closed……. while he was hanging on to the pole so hard that one man going the other way yelled to him that his hands were so white they would drop off …… Mumma Mia!!!!

After an ice cream at the top, admiring the view and photo taking, it was time for the return journey – he said that he contemplated walking back down the steep narrow goat track to the bottom rather than take the chair lift down again, but we made it safely and lived to tell the tale.

In Anacapri, we went into the beautiful San Michele church,

Paolo pointed out the homes of the rich and famous who have homes and boats in Capri – a roll call of the stars of business and Hollywood. We felt like stars ourselves as heads turned everywhere we went in our red convertible and whenever we stopped people rushed over to have their picture taken beside the car which was 53 years old in immaculate condition … now I know how annoying the paparazzi can be – and they didn’t even want our photo – just the car.

We stopped for lunch in a café beside the square at the top of the Furnicular and of course, I ordered the Caprese Salad – I wanted to have one in the place where it was invented so I expected it to be good, but it was pretty tasteless and disappointing after the flavoursome red tomatoes we have become used to in Greece.

It is a pretty town ship, so we wandered the streets which are filled with high end shops – you know the kind where the doors are locked to keep out the riff raff like us, so we didn’t find anything to lighten our wallets.

It was a great day, driving around this very pretty island in our red car living the lifestyle of the rich and famous for one day – so much fun!!

Captain, throw off the lines and let us head to Civitavecchia, I feel like some more Italian ice cream……