Honeymoon Day 12

“What did you do on your honeymoon, Gary and Lorinda?”
“Mostly climbed mountains.”

Today was no exception. From our nice hotel on the hillside above Sorrento we caught a bus down to the town, then hoofed it down to the Marina. While waiting to board the jet boat to the Island of Capri Gary noticed the “seaside boulder cat.”

Seaside Boulder cat washing up after a meal.

Seaside Boulder cat washing up after a meal.

The ferry ride was about 40 min long, and thanks to my patch didn’t upset my motion sickness at all. We landed in Porto Grande (large port) on the Isle of Capri, where a bustling little tourist town has cropped up. As we disembarked we noticed this sign…

Warning. Don't swim with your car.

Warning. Don’t swim with your car.

Which we took to mean, “don’t do this” and which was very good advice.

We then jumped onto a tram car that cabled us up to the mountainside town of Capri, which was a gorgeous, quaint, and unique little town. All of the streets were like this:

Streets of Capri

Streets of Capri

And far too narrow for an actual car. Here in the distance you can see one of the little buggy trucks they used to get around.

What passes for a car in Capri

What passes for a car in Capri

The place is filled with restaurants and shops that range from touristy souvenir shops to high-end fashion or jewelry shops. Even off-season this place was crawling with tourists, but it was impossible not to enjoy the quaint nature and gorgeous views.

The view from above Capri overlooking the port town.

The view from above Capri overlooking the port town.

From the town we climbed to the top of one of the ridges on the island where an ancient Roman villa “Villa Jovis,” which means “Jupiter.” This was an expansive villa built by the emperor Tiberius (actually by his slaves). Many of the 4-foot thick stone walls still stand, but almost all of the marble veneer has been stripped out. It was still an impressive place.

Roman Baths at Villa Jovis

Roman Baths at Villa Jovis

Villa Jovis

Villa Jovis

Selfie at the Villa

Selfie at the Villa

Just in front of the villa was this view down to the sea over 300 meters below.

Yes, it really is that far down there.

Yes, it really is that far down there.

On the way up to the ancient villa, we noticed some modern villas that were incredibly striking.

Modern villa on Capri

Modern villa on Capri

After the villa we walked back down towards town to have lunch…

Lorinda's view

Lorinda’s view

Gary's view

Gary’s view

And then back UP the mountain on an alternate trail to see Villa Lysis, which was a huge modern villa. We couldn’t get into that private property, but we found a nice cliffside trail

Cliffside wooded path

Cliffside wooded path

that wrapped us all the way around one side of the mountain and back up to Villa Jovis for a second time. There, we were confronted by the indigenous “guard goats,” who plopped down from a 5-foot high stone wall above us, trotted across the road, and popped up and over the wall on the downward side of the trail.

Caution. Beware of Guard Goats

Caution. Beware of Guard Goats

By now it was time to head back down to the marina to catch our boat back to the mainland. So it was a walk down to Capri, a tram down to the Port, where we saw this chair…

Would you care to sit?

Would you care to sit?

and then the boat back across to Sorrento. The boat was massive, and very comfortable, and looked very much like the inside of a gigantic airplane.

Return trip in style

Return trip in style

Here is the view from the boat of the port town of Sorrento. This picture gives you a little bit of appreciation of just how vertically these people live.

View of Sorrento from the boat

View of Sorrento from the boat

Then we lucked out and found an elevator to the top of the cliff in Sorrento, and managed to get back to the meeting place exactly as the bus was getting ready to leave, so we hopped on the bus which shuttled us right back up to our hotel. It was nice today to have a destination already waiting for us, and we’re here now resting our tired feet!

One thought on “Honeymoon Day 12

  1. You know, you could easily start a new career as a travel blogger if you wanted to. I do miss you both, but it’s been fun “traveling” with you!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *