Our Italian Adventure – Capri!!

The last leg of our Italian adventure was spent in the south of Italy.  We chose Sorrento as our home base but took daily excursions.  On our first full day in the south, we chose to use Mondo Tours to take us to the island of Capri.  Wonderful choice!!  Zack, Matt, Yolanda, and I had the best time!  We started by hopping onto a lovely boat in the Sorrento harbor with our guide.  There were only about 8 of us on the boat and we chose to sit on the bow of the boat for both the trip out and the trip back.  This was an adventure!  On the trip to Capri the wind and the waves picked up and there were a few times that we were drenched by the spray of the boat hitting some big swells.  However, we didn’t care!  It was a hot day and it felt amazing!

Yolanda and I can’t remember for sure, but we think our guide was named Luciano.  Either way, he really was amazing.  We got to the island quickly, but once we were there he slowly took us around the circumference of the island, showing the inlets and places of special interest.

One of our most favorite activities of the ENTIRE we had in Italy was at the Blue Grotto.  I had never heard of this before but Yolanda read about it and so we thought we would check it out.  People go through a hole in the rock in a boat to a little cave inside and when you’re inside, the water is a bright blue.  Apparently, this is a very famous spot and event the ancient Romans would come here!  I know this is hard to believe, but in the image directly below, the entrance to the Blue Grotto is directly to the left of those people on the stairs.  When we pulled up in the boat I just thought there was no way on this planet that we could get through there on a boat…but we did!

Our guide took us here first because the line of boats can get huge.  It is all a show for tourists.  Local Italian men in their little boats come up to the larger yachts and “haggle” with the guides in Italian.  They get loud and act like they’re mad and won’t accept any amount of Euros below a certain amount.  They argue and bicker and finally arrive at a price.  The four of us volunteered to go first and it was hilarious!  Matt is over 6 feet tall, so just getting his legs in the boat was a small feat!  With him on one side and Yolanda, Zack and I on the other, we approached that tiny little cave.  The only way we would fit is if we all laid down in the little boat on top of each other and then the grotto guide grabbed a chain from inside the cave, waited for a swell to take the water down a little and then he pulled us in after he also had to lay all the way back!

Once inside the grotto it’s magical!!  It GLOWS!  There is no light under this water!  Absolutely amazing!  We stayed in there for a few minutes as our guide sang to us, and then we went back out the same way we went in.  We were laughing so hard our stomachs hurt!

In one particular little cove, we stopped so anyone who wanted to could jump into the Mediterranean.  Of course, the men didn’t hesitate and jumped overboard.  Yolanda and I stayed on board and enjoyed watching them in the cold water.  I wasn’t really sure if there were sharks in the Mediterranean, so I just couldn’t jump in.

On our way to the harbor at Capri, we passed through a hole in a rock.  So beautiful!

Capri is absolutely gorgeous!  It was just like I thought it would be…but better!  We pulled into the harbor and walked through the little town to the funicular (basically like a street car/elevator), which took us to the heart of the town.  The shops were adorable and the restaurants amazing.  But the views couldn’t be beat!

We really wanted to ride the chairlift to Monte Solaro, so we needed to hire a taxi to drive us as high as the streets would allow.  This was an adventure in itself!  The narrow little windy roads didn’t keep the taxi drivers from driving as fast as they could!  Insane!  When we got to the chairlift it was so fun to just sit down and enjoy the ride, and when we got to the top it was like being on Mount Olympus!  360-degree views of the entire island.

I could easily have stayed in the harbor for another few hours and just wandered around, but our boat guide was coming back for us and it was getting late.

On the way back to Sorrento we stopped at a natural waterfall that fell into the ocean.  These men are always up for a challenge, so they let the freezing water cascade all over them.  Yolanda and I made the wiser choice and just enjoyed watching them have fun.

It wouldn’t be proper to end any event in Sorrento if you didn’t have limoncello!  Homemade and delicious!