See Capri and dine

23rd April

Today we caught the 8:30 bus down to Positano and a fast ferry to Capri for a day of sightseeing and walking.  With only 6 hours on the island, we decided to skip a tour to the Blue Grotto etc, and instead spent most of the day on an interesting circuit walk that J had researched, that at one point took us to the top of the cliffs in the above photo. Tiberius ruled the Roman Empire for 10 years from a palace at the top of these cliffs amid “much debauchery and paranoia” and “unusual sexual practices” according to our guide book.  Sounds like a heady mix.  Apparently, people Tiberius didn’t like simply departed by the back door! J - I’m only surprised that some of the guests didn’t fall off the cliff too, what with the location and the debauchery.
The very pretty dockside at Capri, as expected, was full of people trying to sell things we didn’t need. So on our rapidly developing legs of steel, we marched off up the laneways and stairs to Capri town at the top of the hill. (M marched; I wandered up peering into gardens behind gates and taking photos of the wonderful gardens.)


We found car-free Capri very pleasant, but the narrow laneways obviously present some challenges for the locals.  This ambulance caught our eye. And no, the photo has not been distorted!

Our walk then took us east along laneways past some amazing villas and gardens, then more modest homes with big vegetable plots, then pine forest as we steadily climbed toward Villa Jovis, Tiberius’ imperial villa.  The views from here were fantastic, with Naples and Vesuvius to the north, and Sorrento and the Amalfi coast to the east.

 
A shady spot to eat our lunch, then on to the Arco Naturale, a cave called the Grotta di Matermania, where the earth goddess Cybele was “energetically worshipped” according to the guidebook. Oh, those Romans…. (To get here, you needed to go down sooooo many stairs. The Romans must have been really keen to get to this cave, so it gives you some idea of what must have gone on there. Either that, or they had nothing  better to do with their evenings). Then past the aesthetically challenging Villa Malaparte, a most unusual orange building (how on earth do they get their groceries to this place, or take delivery of a new washing machine? M says, that if you have to worry about such matters, then you can’t afford to live here) which was meant to echo the line of the cliffs and which I can’t make my mind up about, and I Faraglioni, pretty stacks just offshore. 
We got back to the harbour after a wander through Capri town with enough time to order a prosecco and a beer and watch our ferry dock.
A highlight of the day (and of the trip so far!) was dinner at La Tagliata, one of the most popular restaurants in the area and only 200 metres from our door. No menu, no wine list.  All local produce, most of it grown themselves.  Our waiter told us his uncle grows the grapes and makes the wine over near Ravello.  J wanted white, I wanted red, so a bottle of each appeared on the table.  Mama runs the kitchen and the boys serve the customers. And the food! Five courses were served – 5 different antipasto plates, 4 different pasta plates, a refreshing salad with potato chips(!). The meat course was charcoal seared rabbit, lamb, pork and beef, and dolci was 4 different, stunning desserts, washed down with a limoncello. All this while watching the sun set, high above Positano, for a flat charge of 35 euro each.
Now, off for another day’s walking up and down steps.