Monday 13th May

Walked down to the port area & caught a ferry to Capri an island about 50 mins by sea from Naples about 8km from the nearest mainland. After arrival we took a tiny, very crammed, bus up to Anacapri, one of the 2 little towns on the island which rises 400+m out of the sea. The
buildings, mostly in white, look so smart after the drabness of Naples & the town is laced with narrow alleys a la Mikonos in Greece but what amazed us was the upmarket nature of the shops. These would grace Claremont or Peppermint Grove in Perth & the pricing also matches or exceeds it.
The island was full of tour parties as there were 2 large cruise ships in Naples so everywhere there were groups of tourists of various nationalities being shepherded by guides with various coloured, furled umbrellas. The views however are spectacular in the extreme as the climb is all on narrow winding roads with hairpin bends every 50m & we looked down from there on the other town, Capri & the harbour below.
From Anacapri we took the bus to Capri as the alternative of descending 8oo steps was too daunting for us old people. Capri was even more upmarket than its rival with shops all selling clothing shoes & jewellery at the most outrageous prices. We stopped for 2 coffees which
set us back €9 (Perth+ prices) & set off to explore when Jane couldn’t find her camera. Luckily for us it had fallen out of her pocket at the cafe so we went back & recovered it. After some aimless wandering we came across the Gardenia de Augusto gardens built by Alfred Krupp, the German arms king in 1902. This is quite stunning as it faces south & is about 200 above the sea with paths zig zagging down to the sea & with views to kill for. No wonder the Roman Emperors Augustus & Tiberius were so taken with the island.
We left Capri town & descended to the port via a stairway which was almost more tiring than ascending, as the stairs were set at 1.5m intervals with slopes between & then returned on another ferry to Naples. As we docked, where there were 3 giant & 1 smaller, cruise ships, tied up on various quays, we looked back towards Vesuvius which was covered with an extremely disconcerting, incredibly black, cloud. We hurried home expecting a storm but nothing happened & after an excellent dinner we went to bed.