My Capri

I realized that I have to be more active here on my blog, so here you now can see some of my older travel stories, and I will start with Capri- My guide to the Italian island.

The sweet life of Capri.
In Capri, you can both live the "sweet life" of a luxury hotel along with movie stars or wander alone in a wonderful nature. There are few places in Europe that are more perfect for a luxurious vacation than Capri. On this beautiful little Italian island, you can both walk along the romantic paths and have coffee with famous movie stars. At the world famous 'Piazzetta' down in Capri town, we meet nearly all the world's celebrities and billionaires. If you don’t have have rich husband or want to by your own jewels, here is the place to get yourself a diamond necklace or maybe a new bag from Gucci. All while other tourists have come here with binoculars and camera around their necks to watch the birds or to shoot a few rare flowers. It is no wonder that Capri never ceases to fascinate its visitors. Long ago the ancient Romans realized that the small island of Capri with its mere 10 square kilometers area was a wonderful and unique place to rest on. The Roman Emperor Tiberius built around 10 villas on the island. In the 1800s the island became a playground for the European upper class and many famous people bought villas in Capri.

Among them the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe, and his home Villa San Michele, and the Franco-Swedish libertine Jacques Adelswärd von Fersen who died of an overdose 1923 in his Villa Lysis and left his much younger boyfriend Nino Cesarini alone. On the island lived among others, the authors, Norman Douglas, Graham Greene and Curzio Malaparte. Other famous visitors to the island have been people like Lenin, Gorky and Hemingway. Famous people who own a home on the island include the actress Sophia Loren and designer Valentino.

La Piazzetta
Every day, on average, 9,000 people visited the island. So it is perhaps not surprising that Capri also has become my favorite place on earth. Ever since I was here first time on a day trip for over 30 years ago, I had an extremely strong yearning to go there again. Although I almost fell off the island in to the water because of all the tourists that came against me in the Marina Grande. I therefore try to go to Capri once a year and am lucky enough to borrow some friends' house up in Anacapri for a few autumn weeks. When everything has calmed down a bit after the big tourist rush and the temperature has dropped to a more comfortable level. Therefore, I will give you some good advice; do not go there just for the day. Stay on for at least a night in a hotel; it is in the afternoon and evening the island really shows you its true face.


Preferably do not go there during August, when all Italians have their holidays and most hotels are fully booked. Moreover, it is usually too hot. If you go to Capri on a day trip, it is very possible you only will come to detest the island with its hordes of tourists who blow through the narrow streets. Load after boatload of tourists come to the port of Marina Grande, both from Naples, Amalfi, Salerno, Positano and Sorrento, to be herded around the island as a flock of sheep; in just a few hours to keep up with all Capri's attractions.

Anacapri
Equally interesting is to visit the slightly less glamorous but nevertheless very pleasant town of Anacapri, which is wonderfully beautifully situated high on a cliff overlooking the entire island If you have some predisposition to vertigo, it is advisable not to sit or stand on the right side of the bus as it slowly winds its way up the steep mountainside. For me, it is undoubtedly easiest to get up there by bus - or taxi if you can afford it. While there is an ancient staircase to go to, called La Scala Fenicia, which with its more than 800 stairs, if you want to be a superhero. Because here you have to walk up 327 meters above sea level. The vast majority of the tourists visit the home of the Swedish doctor Axel Munthe, who built himself a dream home at a top of a cliff at the end of last century.

Today, his beloved home, is a popular museum with a very well-kept garden. There is always a Swedish curator at the Villa San Michele, http://www.villasanmichele.eu/. He or she is also responsible for the Swedish consulate on the island, the consulate is housed in a building next to San Michele. The area contains a number of apartments that Swedish "cultural workers" can borrow for free or rent for a cheap price. I myself lived there for a week in May in the late 80's.

It was an amazing experience to walk in the garden after closing time, without seeing a single tourist. Then you can get a little idea of how the doctor Axel Munthe himself must have felt at the time. He lived there between 1886-1910 and had many famous guests, including Queen Victoria. He was her own personal physician. You absolutely must take this opportunity to read his own book "History of San Michele" before you go there, it gives a much better picture of his life and times.

Walking around
If you would you like to go even higher up on the island, you should visit the Monte Solaro, which reaches up to 589 meters. There, you can either walk along the nature trail a bit shabby Il Passetiello that you can take from San Michele. Or, you take it much more comfortable chair lift called Seggiovia top of the hill. Here you find a cafe with a wonderful view of not only the island but also the Sorrento peninsula and a piece of the Amalfi Coast. If you choose to walk, you must have good shoes / boots on your feet. When I went there last, a part of the path was swept away by a downpour. Along this path that goes through both forest and meadow and you do not not find many tourists, I met a few tough Germans in lederhosen and sturdy hiking boots. On the way is also the remote church of Santa Maria a Cetrella which is only used a few times a year.

 In the town of Anacapri, there is also something to see, including the church of San Michele, which today has become a museum. There you can see a totally unique hand-painted tile floor from 1761. Santa Sofia church a short distance away is also worth a visit. On the way down to the beach (rocks) at Grotta Azzurra, the famous blue grotto, is another of the Roman Emperor Tiberius's palace, ruin Villa Damecuta. Should you visit the Blue Grotto, it is better to take some of the rowing boats that regularly leave from Marina Grande. If the weather is good, of course, for a trip into the cave requires that there are no major waves. If you are a bit more daring you may swim into the cave before nine in the morning or after five in the afternoon when the tourist boats have stopped attending. You can go down by bus to the Grotta Azzurra from Anacapri. If you pay you can stay here and use any of the facilities with pools and several restaurants, all of course, with lovely sea views.

How to get there
To get to the island you need to take a ferry, if you can not afford to take the helicopter, just as movie stars do. But you have that money to spend, why not? The most luxurious way to go by sea is to take a a taxi, www.taxidelmare.it For the rest of us there is the ferries. There are the slow, a bit older car ferries (1 hour and 20 minutes) and fast, clean, catamarans (around 40 minutes) to choose from in Naples. Boats also depart from Sorrento and near the Amalfi Coast in high season. From Sorrento, it takes only fifteen minutes to travel by the catamarans. In Naples there are two ports to choose from. The little one, Molo Mergellina and the bigger Molo Beverello. The ports can be reached by taxi from the airport or from one of the train stations Napoli Centrale or Mergellina, which is just 300 meters from the port of the same name.

When you have arrived
The journey begins in the port of Marina Grande. Here are several possibilities to get to the hotel, it all really depends of your choice of hotel. Some hotels incluce free bus transportation, but the easiest is just to take a taxi in the harbor. But as the hotels not always can be reached by car you have to drag your bags behind - in narrow streets. If you choose to let someone else take care of the luggage, use the strong guys at Cooperativa Facchini. You can also go up to Capri town on your own with either cable car or a bus. You can of course also to walk up to town, if you have a masochistic side... Buses also go to Anacapri from the port. Most people start with the cable car, il Funiculare, that takes one up to the famous "Piazzetta" in Capri town. The cable car up to Capri run every fifteen minutes during peak hours and takes about five minutes. The buses up to Capri takes well over an hour.

Tip!
One thing you should think about for the trip home is to be out in time. If you have a flight early in the morning, do not expect to sleep last night at the Capri - it will only give you gray hair. I have several times been inadvertently left on the island, once because of a strike - again because of very bad weather. Make it one last night in Naples, it wins you a lot, also there is much to see there as well ...