I had been looking forward to this stop since coming through on the Nieuw Statendam. This port just had TOO MANY options! We wanted to see Pompeii so we did that on the last time we were here. This time we decided to go to Capri – an island off the coast of Naples. I also wanted to see Herculeum which like Pompeii was buried during the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, however a girl has to have their priorities and it was my backup plan. We did not need a back up plan in the end. Just a side note, the difference between Herculeaum and Pompeii is that Pompeii was showed with pumice and ash on the 1st eruption of Mr. Vesuvius and that caused the 2nd floor of buildings to fall, only leaving the 1st floors as you saw in my pictures. Also Pompeii did not receive as much ash as Herculeum – so the destruction in Pompeii was greater as the couple of feet of ask in Herculeum (which was 5x the amount that Pompeii received) protected the buildings, people, frescos and PAPER so today they are better preserved. Pompeii is also a whole city where Herculeum is a smaller area. Now, lets go to Capri!
To get to Capri, similar to our ride to Corfu, one takes a hydrofoil type boat, however this was a tame hydrofoil boat compared the the rocket type we used to Corfu and back! It also seated about 200 people who all had to wear masks (good)! The journey was about 45 minutes and we had arrived. Instead of taking the ship tour, we had taken a trip through Viator which we have used previously. Much less money and we figured that saying the HAL tour was on the same boat as us coming back, the ship would not leave without us! There was the option to see the blue grotto or take a boat tour around the island however as we had earlier tickets back than the rest of the group (we were at 3:35pm where the rest of the tour was at 5:30 – when the Oosterdam was to depart) we just stuck with the Island tour. What an interesting experience – reminded me a bit of being on Okinawa, Japan with the narrow cars/busses that they used. In fact I saw a car very similar to the one I drove when in Japan. As the roads on Capri were built in the early days (1800’s) they are NARROW. Regular cars do not do well on the island at all. There is a lot of pulling out and letting people by that happens. So the first thing we did after landing on Capri and in the town of Capri which is by the water is travel by tourist bus to Ana Capri which is at the top of the island, on a steep switch backing road! I am glad we had a professional bus driver as that trip was nasty swaying one direction and then the other as we went around corners and avoided cars and did traffic circles. Nearing the top – we stopped for about 2 seconds for what the tour guide called the “Mama Mia” moment was a look back down from where we came. I noted it in the pictures. Then we passed some very posh hotels and we were at the almost top of the island in Ana Capri. We went for a walk past a lot of vendors selling very expensive goods to a lookout and then we were on our own. This was another HOT day! I got some nice souvenirs and after sitting in the shade with Andrew for a little bit and people watching, met the group for our lunch. Oh mama mia! The restaurant was up about 30 steps! But I was hungry! What was I to do? I went up the steps! I had left my walker on the ship and taken my crutches today but my arms were already getting sore! So options were pizza, spaghetti or ravioli – this is a group lunch. Great! So I said to the tour guide that I am gluten free and it was “no problemo!” about 10 minutes later I had a lovely bowl of pasta and tomatoes that were fresh off the vine! Oh, to walk into a pasta restaurant and say “senza glutine” in Canada and to get treatment like that is my dream some day. Then for desert they brought me both gelato AND an orange in case I could not have dairy. You can guess what I ate – when in Italy you have to have gelato! Now we took the tourist bus down to almost the bottom of the island where the village/town of Capri is. At this time, they were going to walk for 20 minutes to a church and graveyard and back and I was getting too hot so Andrew and I took a break and met the group when they got back. We sat under an umbrella on a patio and people watched again – right next to the funicular that brings people from the shore to this part of the town. No shopping was done by me here – the streets were lined with stores like Prada… My lemon slushie, despite costing 5 euros was just perfect for me! The one thing that I did want to get was a t-shirt saying Capri but we could not find any tshirt stores, that we not designer, anywhere we looked. Then it was time for our ferry ride so down to the docks we went and onto the vessel. We were lucky it was not as busy as the 1st boat of the day and I was able to obtain a “sleeping berth” which really was a table with four seats facing it so I could lie down for the crossing and give my arms and back a rest. Onto the ship we went (without shopping on the way – Naples has a great cruise ship terminal with stores in it that caught me last time but did not capture me this time) and had a lovely evening at dinner out at sea!
