Isle of Capri and Sorrento, Italy; and an Update

This was originally typed almost 2 years ago to be posted as a continuation of my cruise through the Mediterranean and Greek Isles.  Unfortunately, life just got in the way and I was never able to finish my report on the trip.

Sadly, with all this time that has passed, I have struggled with whether or not to to back and try and piece this together to finish the trip, or if I should just stop with what I have, move forward and try and resurrect this blog and start anew.  After much though, I've decided to post what I have here on the last port city of my cruise: Naples, Italy.  I won't go back and try and update what I wrote 2 years ago, nor am I going to go through my photo archives to try and add pictures to this post (at least not right now).  I'm just going to publish it the way it was written.  The only thing missing to complete this Mediterranean/Greek Isles trip is my report on my 2 days spent in Rome and all the sights that we saw.  I hope to one day put together a blog post on Rome and it's amazing history.

But for now, this will have to do.

Starting from this point forward, this blog will start all over and pick up on my more recent travel adventures.  But, true to the point of this blog, this will remain a travel blog with my travel stories from all over.  Just for perspective's sake, in the almost 2 years since I've written in this blog, I've actually had quite a few travel experiences; I've been to Whitefish, Montana and parts of Glacier National Park; been to Manhattan; been to Death Valley National Park; took a trip to King's Canyon and Sequoia National Parks; spent a weekend getaway in San Diego; took a day trip to Las Vegas; spent 2 weeks all over Thailand; attended a weekend wedding in Austin and San Antonio, Texas; and am currently planning a Christmas market trip to Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic and Hungary.

I hope you enjoy the rest of my travel adventures....
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I spent more time planning for this port of call than any of the others on this cruise. The ship was actually calling at Naples, Italy on this day, and our options for day trips were limitless. We could have done a drive along the Amalfi Coast, or a stop at the beautiful village of Positano, we could have turned it into a historical day with a trip to Pompeii, or a visit to Herculaneum, or even climbed to the top of Mount Vesuvius. But we elected to bypass all of that. On our first trip to Naples, we had already done an Amalfi drive with a stop at Pompeii.

After much hemming and hawing, and many hours of planning and making back up plans, and then back up plans for my back up plans, and changing my mind about 100 times, we settled on a day trip by hydrofoil out to the Isle of Capri. We'd spend the morning wandering around Capri Town and Anacapri before taking a hydrofoil back over to Sorrento. After taking some time to explore Sorrento, we'd hop on a train back to Naples. This was a highly ambitious plan, especially for a busy summer day. The important thing here was to be prepared for anything, have all of my hydrofoil and train schedules, have back up schedules, and be flexible in the event that things did not work out the way I had planned.

My biggest concern on the day was Capri. As we were headed out to an island that is extremely popular with tourists during the summer, there was a fear that with the limited transportation schedules from the mainland to the island and vice versa that we could be in some real trouble if the timing wasn't right. I'd read horror stories of how lines to get on hydrofoils back to Naples in time to catch a departing cruise ship could be long, or tickets could be sold out, etc. I certainly didn't want to deal with the headache of that. So in weighing my options, I thought it prudent to do Capri first, and then Sorrento in the afternoon, that way, we'd hopefully get to Capri before the crowds did, and Sorrento we could toss by the wayside in the event that schedules started to become a problem.

As time was of the essence and our ship pulled into the harbor in Naples, we made sure that we were ready to get off the ship as soon as we were cleared to do so. From where the ship docks, the walk to where the hydrofoils leave for Capri is literally right next door, less than a 5 minute walk away. Purchasing tickets for the hydrofoil was a bit confusing though as there are multiple companies that operate boats to Capri and we needed to make sure that we were purchasing tickets from the company operating the next hydrofoil leaving for Capri. These hydrofoils were much larger than I had anticipated them being. And as expected, they were busy. Our hydrofoil, which must have held a couple hundred people, was packed.

The jaunt across the Bay of Naples and over to the Isle of Capri was a little over one hour. By the time we arrived into Marina Grande in Capri, it seemed as if the island was just starting to wake up. So as to not waste anytime, we immediately bought the funicular tickets that would take us up to Capri Town, and the bus tickets that would take us across the island to Anacapri. To get from Marina Grande up to the main town on the island, Capri Town, you can either take a bus up the very steep hill, or you can take a funicular. The funicular runs underneath the granite and limestone cliffs that give Capri it's dramatic sight lines and takes less than 5 minutes to get from the top to the bottom. Each funicular car only holds 75 people, so you can imagine how busy it must get when the crowds really start showing up at Marina Grande. Luckily for us, once we bought our ticket, we got in line for the funicular, waited for one to come down to the Marina, loaded into it and were on our way to the clifftop getaway known as Capri Town.

Our plan was to go to out to Anacapri first and then work our way back to Capri Town. We hoped that by doing it this way, we'd eventually find ourselves going in the opposite direction of the crowds. Once up at Capri Town, we were given instructions on where to find the bus stop, and after a 2-3 minute walk, we discovered that the bus we wanted to Anacapri was just about to take off. After we packed ourselves in, and I mean literally packed ourselves as the buses are tiny, we were off. So far, our timing had been impeccable.

After a 15 minute drive through narrow winding mountain roads that afforded some gorgeous views of Capri's famous cliffs, we arrived in Capri's second city of Anacapri. One of the most popular things to do in Anacapri is ride the chairlift to the top of Mount Solare, Capri's highest mountain. Now, this isn't any old chairlift. In fact, I've never experienced anything like this before. The chairlift is a one-seater that only allows each adult adult to ride by themselves, strapped in solely by a metal bar that comes down in front of you as soon as you sit back in the chair. I'm not sure that anything like this in the States would ever pass an inspection. It's way too easy during the ride to lift the safety bar and fall right out of your seat. The chairlift itself doesn't get very high off the ground until you near the top of the mountain where it gets a bit steeper, but it's not too bad. The incredible part of this chairlift though is the distance over which it has been built. Moving at a fairly moderate clip, the "ride" still takes about 15 minutes one-way. Meanwhile, as you ride up to the top of Mount Solare, the view to your right is that of the town of Anacapri, and off in the distance is the beautiful Bay of Naples. It's rather breathtaking to be sitting in this chairlift, feeling like you're soaring over grape vineyards and people's backyards as you look out at a small city situated on a gorgeous island in Italy. Wow. How could it get any better? It really was one of the most incredible experiences ever. I had heard about the chairlift before, but I never in my wildest imagination would have pictured anything like this.

Unfortunately, once we got to the top of Mount Solare we didn't really have time for anything other than a quick look around. I had read that one of the more fun experiences about the island is to hike down from the top of Mount Solare back to Anacapri. As you wind your way down the mountain, the views of Capri are supposed to be spectacular. Regrettably, we wouldn't have time for such an adventure on this trip. After spending about 10-15 minutes up at the top, we took the chairlift back down to Anacapri. During this 15 minute ride back to the town, we noticed that a lot more people were making their way up the mountain which probably meant that the whole island was starting to get busy! It seems that we made the right decision by coming out to Anacapri first and heading up to the top of Mount Solare right away.

There was one other thing that I had wanted to see while we were in Anacapri, and that was the Church of San Michele. Located a short walk down the main shopping street in Anacapri is the very unassuming Church of San Michele. The distinctive aspect about this church is the beautiful majolica mosaic tiled floor known as the Garden of Eden featuring the Tree of Temptation, the serpent, the animals, and Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden by an angel. The majolica tiles that form the mosaic, were designed, created, and installed on the floor of the church in the late 1700s. The floor is so delicate that guests visiting are no longer allowed to walk on the floor of the church. Instead, a wooden raised boardwalk has been installed around the perimeter of the inside of the church. Church visitors can walk on the boardwalk, all the way around the beautiful tiled floor, to get an up close view of the painting. After a visit inside the church, you can take a winding staircase to the church's second floor balcony so that you can look down at the Garden of Eden scene. It's absolutely stunning.

Our journey from Anacapri back to Capri Town was much more difficult than our journey to Anacapri. There's one main bus stop in Anacapri and I had heard that the later in the day you catch the bus, the longer the wait becomes, especially in the afternoons. Before the bus arrives in Anacapri, its previous stop is at the famous Blue Grotto, so the bus usually arrives at Anacpari completely packed, and it's already a small bus, so I could only imagine how bad it gets. When we got to the bus stop, there were 3 people standing ahead of us. For some reason, the bus took forever to arrive, and when it got there, the 3 people ahead of us could barely push their way on to the bus. When the next bus arrived, we literally had to squeeze and use every last available bit of space just to get ourselves on the bus so we could get back to Capri Town.

Once we got back to Capri Town we strolled around this posh city for a little bit. Capri Town is known as the Beverly Hills or Rodeo Drive of Italy. It's easy to see why. There's a very upscale, outdoor shopping street, under the palm trees, and nice weather, it is sort of reminiscent of Beverly Hills. Everything in Capri is extremely expensive. Visiting here is definitely not for the faint of heart or light in the walletbook. The only thing I was able to afford was a shot glass for my collection and some gelato. Can't ever pass up an opportunity for gelato!

After a little bit of time wandering around Capri Town, we needed to head back down the funicular and to Marina Grande in order to catch our hydrofoil over to Sorrento. When the funicular reached Marina Grande we realized why coming to Capri first was the best decision. The line at the bottom of the mountain to head up to Capri Town was incredibly long and disorganized, it was almost mass chaos.

A short while later, we boarded our hydrofoil and headed off towards Sorrento. Situated at the head of the Amalfi coast, Sorrento is a small, quiet seaside town filled with character and charm.

Venice - Sailing down the Grand Canal

Booking a cruise that starts in Venice was one of the best decisions I've ever made. After having spent 1.5 days wandering the streets and canals of Venice, being able to sail out of Venice down the Grand Canal to begin my cruise was an amazing experience. Other than perhaps sailing through the Stockholm Archipelago (which I loved for different reasons), sailing down the Grand Canal was one of the best cruising experiences I've ever had.

After having spent the morning wandering through Venice only to return to the ship tired, hot and hungry, our sailaway was the elixir we needed.

Ruby Princess began pulling up her lines at about 1:00 pm, and shortly thereafter we began to pull away from the pier. The Captain slowly guided us out of the port area and to the entrance of the Grand Canal.

The best piece of advice I could ever give to anyone is to be out on an open deck well in advance of sailing through the Grand Canal. I made the mistake of not going up to the pool decks on Decks 15 and 16 untle we had already started sailing. By the time I reached the pool deck, every square inch of space from bow to stern was packed 2 or 3 deep with passengers eager to watch our sailaway through the Grand Canal.

This was a perfect day for a sailaway in Venice, the sun was shining brightly, the crowds on the island were thick, and albeit the temperatures were a little warmer than most of us would have liked, that was all quickly forgotten as everyone gazed with wonder at the beauty of Venice.

Seeing Venice from this prospective, from the top deck of this mega cruise ship, puts the city in a whole new light. As we slowly sailed past small little canals that run through the city, we could look straight down through the canal into the heart of the city. We could see gondoliers plying their gondolas along side the ship, vaporettos were ahead of us, beside us, behind us, there were multi-million dollar luxury yachts moored up at the docks, and there were people in their personal speedboats and sailboats out for an afternoon sail on the water.

And then there were the people. There were people walking all along side the shores of the Grand Canal, but their numbers began to grow in size as we approached St. Mark's Square. Off in the distance we could see the square with the Campanile standing tall in the middle and the distinctive domed roof of St. Mark's Basilica. From our perspective the people on the island looked more like a huddle of ants scurrying about along the shore line. When we finally reached St. Mark's Square, it looked like a swarm of ants. The crowds that stood in the square, along the banks, everywhere as far as the eye could see, were enormous. And I know that the one thought that was on my mind was, "I'm glad I'm on the ship and not on the ground...."

Before I came to Venice, I never imagined that I would like. Now, not only do I like it, I think I fell in love with it. With its charm, it's beauty, and its very unique character. How can it get any better than sailing down the Grand Canal with Andrea Bocelli's "Time to Say Goodbye" playing over the loudspeaker system. Magic.

Venice - Rialto area

Of the four bridges that now cross the Grand Canal in Venice, Ponte de Rialto, or the Rialto Bridge, is the most iconic of all of Venice's Bridges. From atop this lovely bridge, you can get amazing views of both sides of the Grand Canal. In fact, this bridge is known as one of Venice's most romantic spots, as couple after couple find their way to the top of the Rialto Bridge and share a loving kiss. I personally found this area of Venice to be absolutely beautiful.

Part of the fun of exploring Venice can be found in wandering through the alleys and getting yourself lost. You know, however, that you're never truly lost because, after all, you are on an island. And eventually you'll find your way to posted signs on the sides of buildings that say "Per Riato" or "Per San Marco." Those signs will have directions indicating which way to Rialto Bridge and which way to St. Mark's Square.

While lost in those back alleys, I stumbled upon a great many small outdoor cafes in small squares, Italian meat shops, cheese shops, boutiques, Murano glass stores, gelato shops, souvenir stores, pharmacies, and all sorts of mom and pop type stores where the locals would go. And getting yourself "lost" in these back alleys really allows you to get away from the hustle and bustle of this major tourist city.

Eventually, after much wandering, you'll find yourself at the gorgeous Rialto Bridge. You'll notice that both sides of the Grand Canal that line the bridge are filled with outdoor eateries, as well as gondola stations and other private boat docks. The area is also packed with people. The bridge itself is wide enough to house small stores down the center of the bridge, and leave both of the outer sides of the bridge open for tourists to enjoy the view and do a little people watching. At night, this area comes alive. The outdoor cafes string lights outside that glow and glisten off the water. The moon shines high above the canal, giving off just enough light for the gondoliers to navigate their way in and out the tiny canals. The mood is electric and romantic. It's no wonder that this city is a city for lovers. The night we wandered over to the Rialto, there were 2 American girls who stood at one of the bridges crossing a small canal who began to sing operatic music. Their voices were beautiful and it only added to the mystique that is Venice. You could spend hours, if not days, just wandering through the area.

When we finally decided to take the vaporetto back to Piazzale Roma to call it a night, we found the vaporettos to be so incredibly busy, almost to the point of being dangerous. As a vaporetto would approach, the people who were waiting clamored to board the vaporetto as they didn't want to wait for the next one to come. Everyone pushed and shoved their way on board. If you weren't careful, you'd just be run over. Once the boat was literally filled to capacity, to the point where you couldn't fit another person in, the vaporetto would shut it's doors and continue on. Meanwhile everyone on board was stuffed in like sardines. It was certainly quite the experience.

The next morning, we left the ship as early as possible so that we could get a look at an early morning Venetian day. This was Monday morning and we figured we'd run into the morning commuter crowd. When we reached Piazzale Roma and hopped on the vaporetto towards Rialto, it was just past 7 am. However, there were almost no crowds whatsoever.

As soon as we approached the Rialto area, on the opposite side of the Grand Canal to where St. Mark's Square is located, we passed by a morning market that was just setting up. We immediately got off at the next vaporetto stop, crossed the Rialto Bridge, and then made our way back in the direction of the market.

Right on the banks of the Grand Canal was a fairly large morning fruit, vegetable, meat, and fish market that the vendors just started setting up. As there is no motorized vehicle traffic in Venice, all of the fruits and vegetables had to be brought to the market either by a person wheeling a dolly full of goods, or by boats that were loaded down with goods. The fruits and vegetables that were being sold looked incredible. They were such bright and vibrant in color, everything from huge bell peppers, to tiny grapes, to strawberries, tomatoes of every variety imaginable, blueberries, blackberries, beans, melons, and the list goes on. The goods just looked so fresh and delicious.

The fish market surrounded the fruit and vegetable stands. There was many varieties of fish, squid, octopus, shrimp and other seafood for sale. Adjacent to the fish market were a couple of butcher shops that were selling all sorts of meats, including meat from animals that were unidentifiable to me.

On the banks of the Grand Canal, adjacent to the fruit and vegetable market, was one of 7 traghetto stops that cross the Grand Canal. As there are only 4 pedestrian bridges that cross the Grand Canal, one of the other ways to get across is via a traghetto. Traghettos are basically old gondolas that have been completely stripped of their seating. There are two oarsmen on each gondola, and for 0,50 Euros, they transport people back and forth from one side of the Grand Canal to the other at 7 different strategically located spots along the Grand Canal. Once you hop on board, you stand the whole way across the Grand Canal. It's cheap and its fun and it was quite the experience.

After taking the traghetto back over to the St. Mark's Square side of the Grand Canal, we wandered through some of the side alleys to discover that this early in the morning, Venice is such a quiet and peaceful city. We occasionally ran into shop owners cleaning up their shops in preparation for opening later in the morning, and there were the occasional workers walking their way through the alleys to get to work. But for the most part, it was deserted. We eventually wound up back at the Rialto Bridge again. Since the bridge was pretty much void of people, we decided to go to the top of the bridge and just enjoy the view of this lazy Venetian day. Looking down the Grand Canal, with vaporettos slowly making their way up and down the canal, and watching as the sun began to rise into the sky was one of those memories to last a lifetime. The view was so pretty, and the location so popular, that we even saw a wedding couple come out to the bridge with a photographer to take wedding photos.

After lingering awhile longer, we eventually made our way out of the Rialto area. But we took with us mental snapshots of the beauty of the area and of the city, that will remain with us forever.

Venice - St. Mark's area

While Venice as an island is small in size, it surely makes up for that by being large in stature. Venice, long the powerhouse nation, ruling the seas and the trade routes of the Mediterranean, with power extending all the way into the area now known as the Veneto. The majority of Venice's power was centered around those whole ruled over the Venetian empire from the St. Mark's area of the island.

St. Mark's Square in English, or San Marco in Italian, is the spot where the Doge's Palace sits, the famous Bridge of Sighs, the unique and distinguished St. Mark's Basilica, and the Campanile that stands tall looking down on all of it. Additionally, the famous winged lion sculpture atop the pedestal stands tall in the square looking down upon all those it rules over.

So naturally, this is the area where all of the tourists visiting the city eventually flock to fill the square - to tour the Basilica, to tour Doge's Palace, to take the elevator to the top of the Campanile, to sit at night and listen to the string quartet as it plays classical music on an almost deserted square, to see the gondolas on the Grand Canal bob up and down in the water, to people watch, to shop, to do all manner of different activities.

My first experience with St. Mark's Square came by vaporetto. Coming in on the vaporetto from Burano, after an 1.5 hour journey, we were let off at the San Zaccaria stop, right around the St. Mark's Square area. I already knew it was going to be a different experience than the one I had imagined when we were sailing through part of the Grand Canal and I saw huge yachts tied up along side the canal. Approaching sunset, the area was crowded with tourists, some milling about, other dragging around luggage looking lost, others just strolling with a cup of gelato in their hands. It was a blur of sights, and sounds.

As it was already approaching evening, we decided to just wander through the area and get our bearings. The first sight in the St. Mark's Square area that I saw was the Bridge of Sighs. This is the famous bridge that connects Doge's Palace to the prison, and it's often said that the slight opening in this concrete bridge provided convicted criminals of their very last glimpse of Venice. I was, however, disappointed with the Bridge. As there are restoration projects ongoing in the general vicinity, the canal over which the bridge lies was completely covered in advertising for a clothing company. In fact, everything was covered except for the bridge itself. But the design and the colors were such that the Bridge kind of just disappeared into the background.

As I got closer to St. Mark's Square, the crowd began to grow more thick, and dodging other tourists almost became a game. When I reached the bell tower, or the Campanile, I discovered that it was still open at this hour. I had planned all along to go to the top of the Campanile for views over Venice. The Campanile towers over all of Venice, and from high atop this island city, you can get a beautiful view, especially around sunset. The elevator ride to the top was short. However, right when I got on the elevator, the clock struck 8:00 pm, and the bells in the tower began to ring. It was quite the experience to ride in the elevator and hear the bells high above you ring with the sound reverberating inside this elevator car. When the elevator reached the top and the doors opened, the sound of the ringing bell was incredibly loud. It was a sight to see this massive iron bell swinging back and forth notifying all within hearing distance that the top of another hour had arrived. The view from the top of the Campanile is amazing. It was a clear and beautiful day and I could see out in the Venetian Lagoon and all throughout the island. It was quite the sight to see all these red tiled roofs packed in closely. Off in the far distance I could make out the 4 cruise ships in port on this day. And when you looked down below, it was a different perspective from which to view the Doge's Palace, St. Mark's Basilica and St. Mark's Square. This view, from the top of the bell tower, just before sunset, is one of those views that just kind of takes your breath away. I know that when I think of Venice, this is one of the views I'll always think of.

Once I was back down on the ground, I took some time to just soak it all in. Marvel at the sights and stand in wonder at this mythical city.

The next morning, I made my way back to St. Mark's Square. It was just past 8:00 am and the square was virtually deserted. This is another view of St. Mark's Square, one that most visitors never see. This big open square, merchants coming out to clean up their storefronts and set up for the coming day, the bells of the Campanile ringing in the morning, the Basilica standing there shrouded in shadows, and the imposing Doge's Palace right next door. It was so peaceful and serene to walk around near the canal's edge and not constantly be bumping into other tourists and just being able to listen to the water of the Grand Canal lap up against the banks.

I had pre-reserved online entrance tickets to St. Mark's Basilica. That saved us a lot of time and the aggravation of waiting in line. The Basilica opened to the public at 9:45 am, by 8:30 am, there was already a line forming outside of the Basilica. By 9:30 am, the line reached out almost to the Grand Canal. I personally found the exterior of the Basilica to be much more interesting than the interior. The mosaics work on the Basilica is amazing. All the intricate detail that is needed to depict scenes from the life of St. Mark. However, to me, the inside of the Basilica seemed dark and uninviting. And while it is historical, it seemed rather bland and uninteresting.

By the time we exited St. Mark's the square was really beginning to fill up with tourists, the sun was starting to shine high above, and it was time to make our way back to the ship for sail away.