Capri- Day 8

                We began our day at our hotel, tired from yesterday’s L-iad. Our wakeup call came at seven am, and by eight-thirty am, we had set off on our new adventure. We walked down the streets of Sorrento, and when we came to the main square, we took an unexpected climb down from the city, across old walls, to the shores of the Mediterranean. We were allowed to shop around for a bit before embarking on our boat, and spending an hour crossing the sea. When we arrived on the shores, we were greeted by the picturesque view of Capri’s white stone mountains. They were covered in pine trees, and surrounded by a deep blue sea. The island was speckled with small Mediterranean homes.

                After another small stop in the shops, we met with our tour guide for the day, Anna, who along with Linda took us around the island. First, we began with a boat ride. We travelled around Capri, marveling at the white cliffs, and the deep blue sea, speckled with cyan coves, and full of small fish and a few jellyfish. We stopped in the coral grotto, which was full of (as you may have guessed) bright orange coral. We continued on, through a giant natural arch of stone, and past Tiberius’s main villa. Upon returning to the shore, we went on a bus ride to a small town at the top of Capri, Anacapri. From there, we took a chair lift up to the top of the highest peak of the mountain. On the way, we saw two cats sunning themselves on the grassy hills below, and upon reaching the top, found a whole family of grey cats. However, the cats were the least impressive things there, because when we looked away from them, we saw a spectacular view of Capri. On one side, perilous cliffs and jagged white mountains rose from the deep blue sea. Gulls flying below appeared to us as if they were the size of ants. The view was breathtaking, and my words, and the photos on the blog, don’t begin to capture the beauty of that sight. On the other side, the whole of green Capri could be seen. The white houses speckled the forests of the island.

                We came down from this height, and went to lunch. Unfortunately, the Blue Grotto, the most beautiful place on the island, was closed. Fortunately, this meant that we saved enough money for a group meal. We ate at a nice place, and afterwards we took a bus to a different part of the island. We decided to finish up our time on Capri with a trip to the gardens of Augustus (modern, only named after him unfortunately). The gardens provided us with the classical view of Capri, a perfect postcard image. We then took a brief stop at a special place on the island. A shop that makes Capri’s signature perfume. After a purchase there, our group decided to split up. One group went down the ancient stairs carved into the side of one of Capri’s mountains to reach the harbor where our boat was. The other group chose to instead use the far more modern and comfortable cable cars. Both groups reached the harbor around the same time. After a brief shopping spree, we went back to our boat, and returned to the hotel, ready for another adventure. (no epic poem this time… sorry)