Today was up early and off to the island of Capri. A small but stunning island off the coast from the Amalfi peninsula, thirty minutes in a fast catamaran with over 100 people aboard, nowhere near full. We arrived early enough to miss the hordes arriving from a cruise ship that arrived into Sorrento overnight. (We were told later in the day, during summer ten thousand people descend on the island per day). Our first mission was to find some money, so much to R's surprise Michelle was off up a set of steps, steps that kept going and going. What was to be a short walk to the city centre turned into a thirty minute slog up hill - another 250 metre plus, climb. So we have short memories from yesterday's 450 metre climb in Naples. Arriving in the town centre of Capri, which spreads over a ridge and down both the north and south sides, was an interesting culture shock. The shops here are very designer orientated. It was like a high end shopping mall, except not very linear. Paths wander across the ridge top, with most streets (if that's what they were) being about 1.5 metres wide. Wide enough for all the battery operated carts shifting bags from the docks to hotels, carrying all the food, and waste from the hotels and residences. The laneways around the villas were spectacular at this time of year, flowers on trees and shrubs overhanging the stone walls. Lemon trees and figs were the predominant shrub in open spaces and larger gardens. Money secured, it was back down to the port on the funicular - a much easier way down. We purchased a round the island cruise on a moderate sized boat that included a tour of the blue grotto cave ( a former Roman bath). The process to transfer 4 people from boat to smaller dinghies, which were rowed by a boatman was interesting to watch. The Italian boatmen were playing up to the pretty women (one with father in tow - father was asked to row so the boatman could swap places). Once the four were cozily loaded into the floor of the dinghies it was off to queue for the ticket office in another boat, (this was amusing for us to watch this process). And then into the grotto via a very low cave-like opening in the rock, we all had to lean back to avoid the rock ceiling hitting us. The boatman pulled on a chain to get momentum to go through the rock opening, one at a time only! Inside it was very dark initially (not helped by having sunglasses on Richard!). It took sometime to adjust for the light, but you could not miss the blue water reflecting below us. The size of the grotto was enormous, taking at least ten row boats with ease. The light coming through the entrance underwater makes for a spectacular sight. The water glows a turquoise blue - it was well worth the trip just for this experience. The singing boatmen made it even more special, remember Venice girls? 'O sole milo...' The cruise around the rest of the island was excellent with some spectacular scenery and close up stops by the cliffs. The height and scale of the cliffs around the island are mind blowing. Clearly this worked for Emperor Tiberius who built his largest villa at the highest point of the island, from which he made people who had fallen out of favour, jump! He built a number of villas around the island of which the remains of many can still be seen. Unfortunately for Richard time was against walking to Villa Jovis which was the aforementioned Tiberius summer palace. Next stop was Anacapri, the alternative town on the island high up in the hills. The bus service was not on time being thirty minutes late and the little short orange bus was packed with as many people as could fit, not many seats, mainly standing only. The short bus design was essential for getting around the challenging corners and took us up the most terrifying road and yet miracle of engineering which only the Italians can do. The road climbs up the side of a shear cliff side 400 to 500 metres above the water below. Standing in an old bus swaying around each corner as the driver gunned the engine to keep momentum with such a full load, was character building. Richard shot this experience with the video camera out the back of the bus window. Anacapri was an interesting and less glamorous town, but spread in the same manner as Capri. We eventually found a great little restaurant/bakery, store/toastie making bar. At 2.30pm this was a needed break for weary feet. We avoided the chair lift to the highest point, as we had already spent a lot on this island, so opted to take the bus back to Capri, where we walked the residential byways towards some of the historic sites. The residential villas and views to the sea were stunning, showing another whole side of life on this island. Then it was time to depart, which In this case involved retracing our steps back to the port. We were both tired after the climb up (not helped by a wrong turn by Richard adding a big up hill slog). Getting onto our boat was chaos. There was no information about where we were to go, and many boats were waiting to depart for different destinations. During this miele Richard lost items from his camera bag, not noticed until on the boat when all the pockets were found open. We suspect a pickpocket at work. So far we think we only lost the spare battery to the camera, but could easily have also lost the other camera card from our last European trip, fortunately it was still there. Back to our preferred and cheap, efficient seafood restaurant down at the mariner, a climb back up to our hotel, followed by a local spirit at the bar (limoncello), and off to bed. Tomorrow off to Pompeii.