Sorrento / Capri

11 September 2007 – Tuesday (Martedi) - Day 10 – Sorrento / Capri

In the morning we took the bus from Sorrento to a ferry that crossed the Bay of Naples to the island of Capri. It was our first rainy day, and our trip to the Blue Grotto was weather permitting.

A smaller ferry took our group out to the grotto, where 3-4 at a time would board a small boat, lay down in the boat so that we could enter the low grotto opening. The guide positions the boat at the opening and at the appropriate time, grabs a chain, ducks, and pulls the boat through the opening. Once inside … well, see for yourself:

Magical. And everything echoes.

Back in the village of Capri, we took a bus most of the way up the mountain to Anna Capri, which is above Capri. Incredible sights, with winding, narrow roads snaking their way up the mountain. The day was now sunny and clear. We meandered through the village of Anna Capri, saw a demo about cameos and how they are hand carved on coral and seashells and agate. The cameo was originally created in Egypt, imported to Sorrento by the Greeks. The cameo was carved into the bottom of seashells, and now ivory, onyx or agate is also used. Then, of course, we had the opportunity to purchase some cameo jewelry.

In the middle of this photo, you can see the narrow road that snakes up the mountain.



Video clip for Capri

From Anna Capri, the view of Capri

The liquor Lemoncello was a theme everywhere, on pottery of all shapes, and many stores offered little taste samples (and then you could purchase a bottle, of course). There were gift shops and art shops and clothes shops … it was all so charming. We had lunch at a restaurant called the Capri Moon way up on the mountain, and we ran into our IBM friends again.

After lunch, the bus took us part way down the mountain to a funicular (elevator-like tram), that took us down to the docks where we would take a ferry back to Sorrento. Now the weather was bad again, but at this point it really didn’t matter.