Back from Campania - Capri
 

We took a ferry from Sorrento, no problem, and got a taxi at the Marina straight to our hotel – the Aiano B&B. The driver left us at the side of the road with about 200 steps (well, maybe less) to drag our suitcases up, but we found Tony and our lovely room. This was not a normal small European hotel room – it was spacious and had a small sofa and chair and a lovely terrace all our own. Not very expensive either, given how expensive most hotels are in Capri. A beautiful view from our window and our terrace. I would definitely stay there again (I didn’t want to leave). We were there 2 nights.

Walked to the piazza, split a pizza (our waiter: “Uno pizza? Uno?”), and then hiked up and up and up to Villa Jovis, built by Emperor Tiberius when he was being a little paranoid. Beautiful ruins, spectacular views. The hike DOWN was a breeze. Revived myself with Panna cotta gelato (mmmm) and went back to the B&B to relax and enjoy the view.

I can NOT remember the name of the place we had dinner other than it started with a “V”, but it was clearly a local joint. We split a delicious salade de mare, then I had spaghetti vongole and my husband a seafood risotto. Walked to the Piazetta where a band was playing (it was a weekend).

Day two, after breakfast on our terrace, we took a bus to Anacapri (quite the ride). We headed straight for the chair lift to the top – Monte Solaro, the highest point on Capri. The ride on the chair lift was 13 minutes and the views were breathtaking. Up top was gorgeous, much picture taking and then an equally enjoyable ride down.

Back in Anacapri we walked around the Villa San Michelle, went in the Chiesa San Michelle, which has a fabulous majolica floor of the Garden of Eden. Had a cheap on the fly lunch of a granite lemone and a caprese sandwich.

Waited for a bus to take us all the way down to Marina Grande (harrowing!), and took a boat tour of the island WITHOUT stopping at the Blue Grotto. I didn’t see the point of waiting so long for other people, AND I’m claustrophobic anyway so that wasn’t appealing. But the boat ride, which lasted a little over an hour was wonderful. When we got back, we wandered around Marina Grande for a while then took the funicular back to Capri, had our daily gelato (nocciola, hazelnut, my very favorite).

Dinner at Bucca de Bacca – wonderful. We shared carpaccio rugola with big shavings of parmesan on top – one of my favorite dishes. I had pasta with eggplant, tomato and cheese, and my husband a sauté of seafood. I felt bad about eating SO much pasta, but it’s so delicious and I do walk it all off.

Back to the hotel, and off to Naples the next morning.

My recommendation is to STAY in Capri, don’t just do a day trip, you won’t be able to really see it. I wish we had stayed at least one more day, there is some really wonderful hiking, far removed from all the expensive touristy stuff.

Alice

Thanks, Alice! The entire trip sounds heavenly so far and I know there is more to come!

Quick question: From your brief glimpse, would you ever recommend a stay in Anacapri to get away from the "action" in Capri town?

It's easy enough to get away from the action staying in Capri. Once you're a five minute walk away from that main piazza, it's a different world. And the main piazza in Anacapri is just as mobbed with tourists, as far as I could tell.

So either way, I think. The trick is to get away from the central piazza and you don't have to go far to do that. The bus service is great so it's easy enough to get from Capri to Anacapri to Marina Grande.

Alice

Thanks for the report, I have been looking for a good B&B on Capri.

We loved staying in Anacapri and concur that the island is a wonderful destination!
Three nights weren't enough for us. We're thinking about the next trip!

Thanks, Alice. I meant to spend two days on Capri on my Ischia trip last September. But we loved Ischia so much that we cancelled at the last minute and spent our last night before our departure from Italy in Naples.

This was the B&B I had booked, in Anacapri, based on TA reviews:


http://www.villailsognocapri.it/

I was on Capri only once and that was many years ago. I do hope that I can visit soon! Thank you again for your reports.

ekscrunchy, that B&B looks beautiful, but we were very happy at Aiano. I was torn between staying on Ischia and Capri and ended up with Capri. I didn't realize that we should have stayed longer, there were a number of hikes we didn't take. And frankly, I would have been happy just hanging out on our terrace for an afternoon.

It's incredible the number of people I've spoken with who say "I've been to Capri!" when they spent 3 hours there on an excursion from their cruise ship. They really don't know anything about Capri.

Alice