My Italy Diary: Capri, Part 2

We woke this morning to beautiful weather. After breakfast, our first since arriving in Italy consisting of more than croissants—interestingly they serve grilled hot dogs, bacon (not grilled, baked perhaps?), salami, ham, cheese, and watery scrambled eggs—we went to meet Mauricio on the dock for our tour of the island. His boat was outfitted with a padded deck with pillows for our comfort, the wind was mild, and the sun warm. A wonderful day to spend a couple hours on a sail boat.

Mauricio is quiet, speaking little English, and points out areas of interest. He tries not to be intrusive, but engages with our encouragement and offers to take our picture. He watches for my intent to photograph things and slows the boat to enable me to get the shots I want—even ducking out of the way if he believes he is in my line of focus. The island is bigger than we thought, with imposing cliffs raising out of the sea. It is amazing that anyone ever imagined settling here except that it is as beautiful as it is imposing. There are many large private villas with long stone stairways cut into the cliffs that lead down to the sea—a private swimming area for the owners. Mauricio tells us that the maker of Moet Champagne lives in one and an author in another.

We visit each grotto, pulling as close as out boat mast will allow. The sea is the color of deep sapphire and clear and cool. In shallower areas the color changes to emerald green and sometimes turquoise. At the blue grotto, Grotto Azzuro, we stop and join the que with all the other tourists—a large boat of Japanese tourists and a boat of Americans. We are transferred to individual row boats with a guide and after paying a fee, he guides us into the grotto. The entrance is mostly under water, forcing us to lie back in the boat in order to enter. It is dark inside, but the water glows an incredible turquoise from light reflecting underneath. It is truly amazing. Unfortunately, my camera battery exhausts after taking only one picture, but I feel fortunate to have at least gotten that. Our guide is disappointed with his tip of €3,00, but we ignore his pouting and rejoin Mauricio on his boat for the remainder of our tour.

We make a quick stop at Marina Grande so that Mr. Man can use the Bancomat. I try to catch Mauricio’s eye, but he busies himself with the boat; seeming very shy to be alone with me. I ask about the weather and the tourist season; he gives me short answers and doesn’t elaborate. It is cooler on the side of the island shadowed from the sun, but still glorious and the water becomes a little choppy.

Mauricio returns us safely to our hotel (and Mr. Man gives him a generous tip) where another couple is waiting for their tour. We decide to take the ferry to Sorrento where we planned to take the bus to Positano, but once we arrive in Sorrento we realize that it will take too long to get to Positano to be able to really see anything before we have to turn around and come back in order to catch the last ferry back to Capri. So, instead we have lunch and then wander the streets of Sorrento. Unfortunately, all the shops are closed from 2pm-4:30pm for lunch, so we were disappointed, but realize this is our fault for not planning the day better.

We returned to Capri to wander the town and gaze in the windows of the designer shops (Prada, Valentino, Gucci...) all way out of our price range, but is is fun to pretend for a little while. Back at the hotel we ordered wine to our room—we are still not used to how inexpensive a bottle of wine is—and just spend some time reading, drinking and listening to the sounds of the water. Later we return to town and have dinner at Capri Ristorante where I had homemade pasta with mussels and clams, and Mr. Man had linguine with seafood, both dishes were good. We shared another bottle of wine and enjoyed listening to and watching the other customers. There was a large party of German tourists who seemed to be having a great time. At the end of their meal, they brought a cart of Grappa to their table and they ordered a few different kinds. The waiter’s assistant, who was also assisting our table, had me smell two different kinds (very strong and antiseptic smelling), but we declined to order. A short while later, she placed a small glass on the table for us to taste. It was very strong and tasted like rubbing alcohol. I had wanted to try it as my ancestors came from Bassano di Grappa, north of Venice, but after lunch yesterday we did not want to again be charged for something we didn’t order, which is exactly what happened.

After we shared a wonderful chocolate cake with gelato, we were brought the check, at which time the assistant apologized that she was being forced to charge us for the grappa. We didn’t argue as it really wasn’t worth the effort and chalked it up to another lesson learned.

My Italy Diary: Capri

This morning we woke up early and headed for Capri. The train ride was only a couple hours. Once in Naples we grabbed a taxi for the Port, where we took a ferry to Capri. Again, we have beautiful weather. The island is gorgeous with turquoise water. The Hotel Weber is very nice and we have a great view of the mediterranean. Tomorrow we are going to tour the island and grottos by boat.

After checking in we set out for a place to have lunch. We selected a small ristorante very close to the hotel, Onda D'oro. The owner, Raphel set us a table outside and lowered the awning to give us some shade from the sun. There was no menu, but I told him I wanted calamari and he suggested we also have a caprese insalada (mozzarella, tomatoes from his garden, and fresh basil), we agreed and asked for a bottle of wine to wash it all down. Raphel started our meal with the best bruchetta I have ever tasted. The bread was toasted and rubbed with garlic and olive oil, topped with small roma tomatoes marinated in olive oit and basil, delicious! This was followed by the caprese salad, which on the board out front was pictured with sliced mozzarella, but to our surprise was served to each of us with a large ball of raw buffalo mozzarella. Way too much cheese for any one person to eat without risking a heart attack on the spot!

While we dined Raphel hovered over us, anxious to see if we liked it. He has a very weathered face and a voice ravished, I suspect, by many years of cigarette smoking. He shared with us that he was born in Capri and had lived there his entire life, growing vegetables in his garden for the restaurant and spending the off season (which would begin on Sunday) doing maintenance on the building. Next he served us a casserole of eggplant, which was most delicious. We protested because we had not ordered it, and his response was “you are my guests,” which we took for “on the house.” We were already quite full from the first two courses. By the time the fourth course, the calamari, was served we were stuffed, but I managed to eat a little even though I found it tasteless and particularly disliked the little fried fish (which looked somewhat like a Sardines, head and all) which was served with it.

We did manage to disuade him from bringing us dessert as we literally could not eat another bite without risking becoming ill. Of course, the biggest surprise was yet to come—the bill, €70,00. Mr. Man paid without complaining and only told me the cost afterwards when it was too late to protest. We felt taken advantage of, and I joked that he had made enough money from us to close a few days early. We will certainly ask for a menu or at least the cost upfront from now on.