The Island of Capri

Well, I didn't think much could top the visual beauty of yesterday's Amalfi 
Coast but I must say, the island of Capri is in a dead heat with it! My hotel 
was offering this all day excursion to Capri where they picked me up at the 
hotel and provided the boat service over and back. It was a fantastic day. The 
weather was perfect, not a cloud in the sky and about 72 degrees. And today was 
different than yesterday in that I got to see the entire coast line of the 
island along with the interior. The island really consists of four levels. The 
marina level where you dock, the town of Capri above that, the town of Anacapri 
above that and even higher up, the top of Monte Solaro. So the boat dropped us 
off at the marina, so I took a bus up to Capri (lots of hairpin curves!), then 
another bus up to Anacapri (even steeper and scarier hairpin curves!) and then a 
chair lift up to Mount Solaro. The view from the highest point looking down on 
both Anacapri as well as Capri and also out across the Amalfi Coast and across 
to Vesuvius was just breathtaking. I stopped using the WOW word and jumped all 
the way up to Gomer Pyle's "Shazam!" 
 
After taking in the views and having lunch up top, I decided to get so e hiking 
in and hiked down to Anacapri. The trail was really steep and uneven and I also 
most tumbled down the hill about 10 times since I was busy looking at the drop 
dead (literally if you fell!) views while trying to walk. About half way down 
there was a trail off to the right for about 10 minutes to this cute little 
Catholic church that was situated right on the cliff side. The views from there 
were unreal. Why is it that the Catholics have all the great real estate!! 🙂 
 
After finishing my hike, I spent the afternoon wandering around the villages of 
both Anacapri and Capri. I wish I had more time here because there's another 
island right across the bay called Ischia that has a lot less tourists and also 
has all these hot thermal baths that are warmed by volcanic Magna underneath the 
ground. That's for my next trip! One of the pictures I included was of the 
Faraglioni Rocks just off the coast of Capri. The three rocks each have a name 
with Stella on the left, Mezzo in the middle with the arched hole thru it and 
Scopolo on the right. Scopolo is the only place in the world that has the blue 
tinted lizard. Weird stuff! 
 
Well I leave this beautiful place tomorrow for another beautiful place. I'm 
going to the true Renaissance man's (Michelangelo's) home town of Firenza 
(Florence). Hope everyone's having a great week.