Sorrento and Isle of Capri, Italy

I have been to Sorrento, but have no recollection of it.  I have recently been to Sorrento and have no recollection of it because I never left the pier!  Instead, my excursion took me on a jetfoil boat to the Isle of Capri, an island paradise for SHOPPING!  I am sure there are other things to see.......

The Sorrento pier was crammed with vacationers, tourists, and guides all jockying for position.  The day started out with "hurry up and wait" as our guide bought tickets for the 30 minute ride across the Gulf of Naples.  The jetfoil holds hundreds of people, and since it was an Italian holiday weekend with incredible weather, everyone wanted to go for some sun and fun.  Mass pandemonium.  

We finally reached the harbor on Capri and first waited in line to redeem a ticket for a bottle of water.  

Then we walked up the hill to find our mini-bus.  The streets are very narrow and there are nasty switchbacks to get up the hill to the mountain top village of Anacapri.  Add to that the horrible traffic jams as buses try to make the hairpin turns.  Upon arrival, our guide Giovanni, informed us that we could not leave anything on the bus.  Drat!!!! I had to carry the ship's backpack all day.  With that in mind, I opted to do as little walking up and down hills as possible.  We stopped in front of a department store where we were able to use the toilets.  I can't understand why people drink so much coffee before a long excursion.  

We then went to visit the Villa San Michele, the former home of Axel Munthe, a Swedish author and physician.  It is a lovely place with some beautiful art and gardens.  What a view from there of Capri Town down below.  It is also Swedish territory, not Italian.  Go figure how they managed to do that.

We walked back from where we came to board another bus to go and explore Capri Town.  As we got off the bus, the guide said to meet back at 3:40pm at another bus stop UP the hill.  The description of the tour says, "to follow your guide on the SHORT walk to visit Augustus Gardens.  By this time, everyone was hungry and wanted lunch.  The short walk was downhill, where we paused to view the Piazzetta (eeeehhhh, not much there to see), and then we turned the corner and it was REALLY DOWNHILL as we walked past every highend designer shop known to man.  It was warm and I was carrying all this extra weight on my back (not to mention my butt), but a few of us peeled off and went to lunch at a nice place that the guide recommended instead of going to the gardens.  We had pizza (the ship makes better) and I paid about $27 for an individual pizza and a diet coke.  Expensive! 

After lunch, I slowly trudged up the cobblestone street back to the Piazzetta, made a left and continued up the hill toward the bus stop.  I found a bench and waited until the appropriate time to gather the group.  The wait to get a bus to take us back to the pier was almost as bad as the wait to get on the jetfoil, except it was now hot and there was very little shade.  Giovanni was arguing with the bus owner to try and get a bus for us.  He was concerned we would miss the 4:20 pm sailing back to Sorrento.  

We finally got a bus, it dropped us off somewhere near the pier and we had to walk at least 3/4 mile to get the jetfoil going to Sorrento as it was located at the last slip before you would fall into the Gulf of Naples.  I swear, I had the heaviest backpack I have ever used.  To sum up the day, if you like to shop, this was the tour for you.

*******

Michael went to Pompeii.  I had been there previously and wrote about it, but I will add a short description.  In AD 79, Mt. Vesuvius erupted and covered Pompeii in volcanic ash preserving the city.  A black cloud of lethal sulfur fumes enveloped the city forcing citizens to take shelter inside, suffocating all. 

Here is Mt. Vesuvius today:

Buried for 1,700 years, it has been resurrected where you can see the temples, porticos, law court, the house of ill repute, private homes, and the ghostly casts of bodies that were encased and incinerated when the ash covered the city.  He said is was so crowded, you could barely see anything.