Island In The Sun

If I thought Pompeii was busy yesterday, it was as nothing compared to Capri today! Initially, we thought we might have been too tired for another expedition but, as we were up and about reasonably early, we decided to take the early shuttle bus into town, walk out to the port and see what the score was. There was only a short queue to get tickets for the 10.45 ferry to Capri and we opted to return at 4.00 - you have to decide when you’re coming back before you go, no “open” returns. The ferry was pretty full but nothing prepared us for the queues when we got off in Capri. A long queue for taxis and even longer ones for the bus or funiculare. The main town is many hundreds of feet above the port so we had to opt for one of the other options. The cable car was what we chose but there was about an hours wait before we could board. The town of Capri is quite delightful but horrendously crowded. We decided not to try and get to Anacapri as it would have involved more queuing to get a bus, and no guarantee we could then actually do anything there before we had to get back for the ferry. Instead, we had lunch overlooking the bay. We had been warned that Capri was very expensive so the bill was not a total shock, but €7.50 for a can of Coke is steep by any standards!
The shops were mainly “high end” as befits the island’s reputation, but Mrs C bought a couple of bracelets, which were just what she’d been hoping to find whilst we were in Italy, at what I thought was a very reasonable price, so it balanced out lunch.
We made our way back to the port quite early to catch the ferry back to Sorrento as the continual sunshine and heat today was quite exhausting. Fortunately the queues to get off the island weren’t too bad, though there was one last long queue back in Sorrento for the lift from the port to the centre. But we joined that queue - partly because we’d bought return tickets in the morning, but mostly because we were in no way capable of tackling the near vertical footpath up the cliff!
Last day tomorrow, and it will be a relaxing one, with just a bit of souvenir shopping in the morning and a dip in the pool in the afternoon. And we’ve already decided we’re coming back here next year. It’s a lovely place and there is still so much to see and do, so it will be back to the travel agent as soon as we get home!