October 3 - Capri, Almalfi Coast & Positano

We are staying at the Grand Hotel Cesare Augusto in Sorrento.  It is a nice four star hotel but nothing spectacular.  It is a short drive into the city centre but a bit too long to walk.

Today we took the opportunity to visit two of the most attractive sites in Italy. 

We started the day by taking a jet boat to the Isle of Capri.  Capri is beautiful harbour town on the Bay of Naples with many expensive shops.  I'm amazed how clean the water is in the harbour.  From the harbour, we took a small boat around the island.  From the water you can see the alleged site of the Roman Emperor Tiberius.  It is said that when someone disagreed with him, he would throw the dissenter from the cliff.

Harbour at Capri

Capri

Also they are many grottos, or caves, that have been carved out the cliffs by the tides.  The most famous is the Blue Grotto.  When you enter the cave and look back out at the water, it is an outstanding shade of blue.  

Kissing Arch

There are many rock formations that have been created by wind of water erosion.  These include a rock formation that looks like “Donkey Ears” and another that looks like a turtle.  

Donkey Ears

Along the coast, there are many expansive villas that belong to the European elite, both past and present.  We had a wonderful lunch at a restaurant that overlooked some of these villas and the water.

In the late afternoon we took a bus along the “Amalfi Drive”.  This drive is a coastal road that is extremely elevated in the hills with a severe drop to the ocean below.  It seems that you can only go for a couple of hundred meters before you must make a sharp turn into a blind corner.  Of course with many mini buses on the road, there is no room for a mistake.  Our driver was very cautious, so the drive was not as scary as we thought it would be.  Of course there were several cars and motor scooters that felt that they had to pass us on the corners.  I suspect their insurance rates must be excessive.

Almalfi Drive

The road finished at the town of Positano.  Positano is built into the hills and is visually stunning.  It has many shops that sell locally designed and produced clothes at very reasonable prices.  We went down to the beach but were disappointed as the beach was covered in small rocks not sand, like we have in Port Stanley.  This in no way diminished our appreciation of the beauty of this village.

The roads inside of the village are very narrow.  On our way out of the town we meet another bus going the other way. There was zero clearance between the buses and I’m sure we scrapped the side of bus against a stone wall as they tried to pass each other.

Positano

Beach at Positano

Positano

The area is also famous for its lemons.  They make and sell Lemoncello, lemon gelato, lemon drinks, lemon candles, just about anything that you make with lemons.

Barbara told us today that each Italian citizen is issued a computerized government ID card, that is used for their health care and to pay for their pharmaceutical drugs.  It also can be used to verify the age of someone trying to buy alcohol or cigarettes.