So, on to day 3 of the honeymoon, eh? Well, after a less than exciting start to the day - I took a nap to try to shake my lingering jetlag while Lacie took advantage of the beach below the hotel (did I mention that our hotel was built into the top and side of a sheer cliff?) - the two of us decided to go back to Capri to see some things that we missed on day 2. In particular, we wanted to get to Anacapri (the second large town on the island), and to the Villa Jovis - the ruins of the Emperor Tiberius’ retirement home, as it were.
We set out just before noon and arrived on Capri a scant twenty minutes later (gotta love those hydrofoils). Again, we were struck by the sheer beauty of the island; this time, we got a better look at the island by sitting on the upper, open deck of the hydrofoil. After fumbling around for a few minutes in the harbor area, we found ourselves on a (very small) bus bound for Anacapri.
To Lacie’s dismay, it turned out that Anacapri was about half an hour from the harbor - with most of the ride being taken up swerving precariously around switchbacks that looked out over the Mediterranean. Gorgeous views, anxiety-producing drops. Happily, however, we made it unscathed and were able to start walking around the lovely, slightly-less-tourist-filled mountain town.
Once in Anacapri, we made our way to the Villa San Michele, a house built around the turn of the century by the Swedish physician Axel Munthe and since turned into a museum. The house itself was nice, but the gardens were better, and the house chapel stood on a hill that overlooked the entire island.
On our way back to the main piazza in Capri, Lacie noticed a small side rode with the sign “via Monte Solaro” - which we took to mean that it was the name of the road that led to the highest point on Capri. Foolishly not consulting our maps, we took off down (or up, I should say) the road. Along the way to the mountain, we saw some grand views, were confused at the prospects for building a couple of villas (how did they get the materials uphill??), and ran across some lovely wlidlife - spotted brown lizards most commonly, but once we saw a snake slide off the trail.
At some point along the hike, though I don’t remember when, we came across a small, gold-colored plaque in a small shrine made of rocks. It depicted the first Station of the Cross during Jesus’s crucifixtion, and we came to mark our progress up Solaro by the semi-regular appearance of subsequent stations. (We only saw I-X, however; the plaques apparently led to a rather remote monastery, and we opted to continue to the top of the mountain instead of following its path).
Some time later (perhaps around station 8), we ran into an old man coming down the mountain. His appearance ahead reenergized both Lacie and me (if he can do it, so can we!), as we were both getting a little tired and hot by then. When he drew even with us, I tried (in my less-than-excellent Italian) to ask if the top of the mountain was far; he said no, and we continued to have a lively conversation for some minutes. It turns out that Solaro rises 586 meters above sea level, the old man was 83, and he had two children (58 and 4o-something). We had great fun establishing that Lacie and I were on our honeymoon, and when he was telling us how hard the journey ahead was, he asked if she was pregnant… It was great.
So, after nearly an hour of hiking up the side of the mountain, we finally made it to the top. Happily, there was a cafe there where we could restore our energy and our water supply. After soaking in the magnificent views and resting a bit, though, it was time to come back down - and for that, we decided to take the chairlift. See, there’s this chairlift that runs directly from Anacapri to the top of Monte Solaro. Only insane people hike to the top….
Anyway, we got back to Anacapri safely (though not to my joy, since I’m no fan of heights in situations like that chairlift - shudder), caught a taxi back to Capri, the funicular down to the harbor, and the hydrofoil back to Sorrento. We topped off the evening with dinner at a restaurant in the fisherman’s village just down from Sorrento a bit, sitting at a table with a very talkative and fun pair of British women from the Isle of Gurnsey. They’d just to Pompeii, and gave us some tips for the adventure we planned to have on the next day of our honeymoon.
Day 3 pictures taken: 85
Total pictures taken: 156