capri

This past weekend, Vicki, Jake, Austin, Patrick and I decided to travel to Capri. We left the Villa at 4:30 AM Saturday morning, and had to walk to the main train station in Rome, Termini, since the Metro doesn’t run that early in the morning. The city is a different place in these early hours; we were the lone few on the streets. It was peaceful being able to see the city in such a calm and observe the walk in a new light.

We boarded the train to Napoli and all fell asleep on the ride there. We took the slow train, so the trip was about three hours. The city of Napoli was different than I had expected; everything is much more run down than Rome. From Napoli, we boarded a ferry to take us to the island of Capri.

I can say with ease that the island is the most beautiful place I have ever been. Viewing the picturesque silhouette of the island as we approached on the ferry made me realize this weekend would bring more than I ever could have imagined. Our first adventure was to hike to the city center. And yes, it did end up being somewhat of a hike. Capri is organized through a set of zig-zagged paths and steps, and by the time we reached the Piazzetta we were happy to find some lunch and relax for a bit.

We continued our day with a trip to the Gardens of Augustus. On the way, we tried the “Capri Special,” which was fresh orange juice combined with lemon slushie. The view from the gardens was absolutely stunning; we could see the boats sailing through the rocks on the clear blue water below. We enjoyed the vista from the gardens and sat and sketched at the top for a while.

Afterwards, we decided to see if we could rent a boat for the day. Upon some stroke of luck, we found a private boat to take the five of us around the island for three hours. Viewing the Isle of Capri from boat gave us a completely different perception of the place. I can truly say it was one of the most incredible things I have ever done.

We began our tour of the island from the marina, and seeing the large cliffs from the sea gave us an idea of just how grand they truly are. We stopped at the Grotto Bianco, and saw beautiful rock formations, including one that appeared to be in the form of the Madonna. We continued on to many of the grottos of the island. We jumped in the icy cold water to swim through some of the caves, and found a hidden little spiaggia with beautiful sea glass.

After our boat ride, we all came back to our Airbnb to rest for a while. I think the view from our window was a very close second to the view from the boat. We all enjoyed taking our turn sitting in the window and taking in the beautiful view of the island.

At night, we went out to one of our first nice dinners in a while. It was nice to be able to have a long, fancy dinner after a busy day. We all ordered different meals and enjoyed trying spaghetti with clams, lasagna with pistachio pesto, and pasta with octopus, and finished the night with the popular gelateria in town. The day with friends seemed like a dream.

We decided to wake up early again to view the sunrise from the top of Monte Solano. We took a bus halfway to the top of Anacapri, and by 6:15 we were hiking the trails of the mountain. After many wrong turns, we finally found the right path and hiked to the top. The steep hike led us to a closed lodge at the top, and we had the entire place all to ourselves.

The view was absolutely stunning. We saw the sun rise up and slowly illuminate the island. I cannot capture with words what a sight it was. By the time we made our walk back down to Capri at 9 AM, we had already hiked 126 floors and 5 miles in 17,750 steps.

Something about the island is truly special because of its atmosphere. While Capri is a very popular spot for tourists, it also has a strong culture itself. In the afternoon, we enjoyed a Caprese, the famous pomodoro, arugula, e mozzarella sandwich that originated in Capri in the 1950’s. While we could not afford anything, we enjoyed browsing the high-end shopping of the city as well.

Our trip back turned out to be somewhat of an adventure. The ferry we had intended to take ended up being canceled due to sea conditions, so we waited an hour and a half for the next one to arrive. I have never seen such waves before; even on a large ferry with 600 people, the boat was rocking and slamming against the waves. This also led us to miss our original scheduled train, and we didn’t end up getting back for another three and a half hours. There was a sense of comfort when we emerged from the station and made our familiar walk back from the Coliseum to the Villa.

While the commute back to Rome may have been hectic, this weekend was more than I could have ever imagined. Capri was a truly inspiring place and I hope to one day go back. As we prepare to leave for Toscana tomorrow, I reflect on how thankful I am for all of these opportunities abroad.