After a fairly subdued previous day on Capri, we woke up early the next day with lots of plans for exploring the island.. until we opened the blinds.
Aside from the amazing view, all we could see was huge black storm clouds approaching the island, bringing with them rain and cold weather.
We continued to get up and get ready, before heading up onto the roof terrace of our Hotel for breakfast. The terrace is completely uncovered, but we persevered and hoped the rain would hold off until after we had finished breakfast. Luckily we managed to get through a nice breakfast of muesli and fresh pastries before we felt the first drops of rain.
We headed back inside and continued getting ready, swapping our shorts for jeans and grabbing our jackets. Just two days earlier it had been so hot we got sunburnt, I suppose that's what happens when you stay on an island!
We waited half an hour for the worst of the rain to pass, then headed down to the Marina to get one of the little orange buses up the mountain in the middle of the island to the small town of Anacapri.
Anacapri is a twenty minute bus ride from the Marina, and like all our bus rides on the Amalfi Coast, involved some white knuckled turns alongside the cliffs. My tightly closed eyes didn't go unnoticed by the other tourists on the bus, and there was lots of teasing once we finally got off the bus in Anacapri. Not sure why I thought it was a good idea to sit on the side of the bus closest to the cliff edge!
Anacapri is smaller and much more authentic and less touristy than the larger town of Capri. It is still full of shops and restaurants, but the prices are considerably lower than in Capri and the streets are much quieter. Of the two, Bradley and I both agreed we preferred Anacapri.
Lots of places with my name!
After exploring Anacapri, and grabbing a slice of pizza from a roadside stall, we headed up to Villa San Michele, a beautiful Villa known for the best views on the island.
Looking down towards Marina Grande and our hotel
The Villa was the home of a Swedish physician called Axel Munthe, and built in 1885. It's a huge house on several different levels, with an amazing garden with stunning panoramic views all across the sea and the island.
Looking like we're on a postcard
In one corner of the garden sat a large Granite Sphinx, watching over the island far below.
This gives a good view of our side of Capri. The marina is on the left hand side, and our hotel is on the first bay next to the marina. Up to the right hand side next to the cliff is the town of Capri.
After spending a few hours revelling in the quiet gardens, we headed back to the little bus and back to the Marina. After the cold rainy weather earlier that morning, the sun was now shining and we were keen to get out of our jeans and into shorts.
We put on our swimsuits and sunbathed for a while at the small beach in front of our hotel. The water was freezing and this was as far as I got. Bradley refused to even put his feet in, what a Chicken!
Trying to take a photo of the beach below us
Before heading off to dinner, we caught the bus to Marina Piccola on the other side of Capri. This side of the island is super busy in Summer, as it's full of beach clubs with hundreds of sun loungers and lots of bars, but on a May evening we had the beach almost to ourselves.
Of course we stopped for pre dinner Gelato
We made friends with a lovely local cat, who kept us company the whole time we sat watching the sunset.
He did get up for while to go get himself a drink from a dripping tap, and perched precariously on the rocks to do so!
Not a bad end to our holiday to the Italian coast, considering what a terrible start we had. The amazing food and scenery, plus the lovely Italian people made us remember how much we love Italy and how excited we are to be going to Sicily in six weeks!
Lovely photos, I don't see any of the blue grotto.
ReplyDeleteWe enjoyed Anacapri and had a nice lunch there.