Today I was off to tour the island city of Capri. The best way for me to describe Capri is that it is what Catalina Island strives to be but fails miserably with its tacky little shops and big old ugly "casino".
Capri is the playground of the rich and famous. Tucked neatly between the Bay of Naples and the Amalfi Coast it is a delightful island community of 12,000 in winter, 24,000 - 30,000 in summer "when the ships come in" and the locals return to make their money before they retreat to places like Argentina, Spain and Portugal in the winter. What is also interesting is that Capri was initially a Greek settlement, "traded" by Augustus for an unknown little island closer to them (pssst - Greeks, I think he got a better deal).
Besides sweeping vistas of the Mediterranean, high end hotels, shopping and restaurants, Capri is famous for a little thing called "The Blue Grotto". The Blue Grotto is a seacave discovered by the ancient Romans centuries ago, that is only accessible via row boat, 4 months of the year and after a daily inspection by and appointed "official" who rows out there to test it viability (notice how I didn't use the word safety...more on that later).
Apparently today was my lucky day - the blue grotto was open for business and we would be one of the first groups of the day to make our way out to it. So after a small bus down windy roads in Sorrento, a large Ferry from Sorrento to Capri, a beautiful wooden speed boat out to the grotto, I lumbered into a row boat with my new friends from New Zealand a a guy named Marco who was going to be my "guide" for the experience.
What I have failed to mention thus far is how BIG the opening to the Blue Grotto is - 1 meters high, 1.6 meter wide. Do the math. And this is best case scenario, depending upon the wave at any given moment.
Yeah. I can't believe I did it either. Well, when in Rome....errr, you get my point. We rowed over to the opening racing against 12 other row boats, a guy with a bullhorn in another rowboat screaming instructions at each of the "pilots" (I assume he was the "sailor" aforementioned), a long line of tourists who accessed it by land awaiting their turns in the row boats of death, as well as one, very short sited yacht owner, complete with a captains hat, in an inflatable dingy with an outboard motor (who was quickly chastised and turned away - this is THEIR TURF buster - so hop back on your overpriced floating hotel, with your wife Bunny and scram. At least that's what I think he said...)
I watched, starting to panic as person after person disappeared into the mouth of the cave, that at any possible moment was buried beneath a wayward wave and for a few unfortunate soles sometimes at the exact time they were exiting, leaving them wet, slammed against the top of the opening and seeing their lives flash in front of their eyes. But everyone always emerged with a smile (of sorts).
"OK, let's go" said Marco. SHIT! Um, yeah well, I think I may have changed my mind..."LAY DOWN IN THE BOAT". SHIT SHIT SHIT! Somehow I had the wherewithall to turn on the video recording mode of my overpriced camera as I ducked underneath the front of the boat and we made our way in - mostly eventless except my hyperventilation and occasional explative. When we were allowed to sit up, I was...speechless. Inside is a large quiet cave, except for the arias being sung by our "pilots" and below us the water was an electric glowing blue. It was simply, surreal. I snapped a few photos, marveled at the amazing natural phenomenon (caused by the sunlight hitting a open spot below the rocks of the cave and reflecting back up) and reached down to touch the cool blue water (my tour guide said that I MUST do this, it brings good luck) before we were quickly whisked out the same way we entered.
We spent the rest of the afternoon touring the Island before I started my next adventure - getting back to Rome. The best way I can summarize my experience is recounting to you the modes of transportation I took to get home.
- Starting at 11:00 a.m. Row boat from The Blue Grotto
- Speed Boat from the Grotto to the Marina (where we toured the island on 2 other small buses for the afternoon)
- At 2:00 p.m. a LARGE Ferry from Capri to Sorrento
- A small bus from the marina at Sorrento to my Hotel to gather my luggage
- A LARGE bus from Sorrento to Naples (to pick up more people) to Pompeii
- Where I had to wait, and wait, and wait, and wait (I'm not panicking yet or anything...) and wait, until another LARGE bus took me from Pompeii to the bus depot in Rome (with another painful stop in between for coffee and old paninis)
- A small bus that EVENTUALLY made my way back to my hotel at 10:00 p.m.
Ah Rome. I missed you so. Ok, so by that point they could have dumped me in the middle of the airport and I would have been glad to be OFF THE DAMN BUS. As I changed my clothes and sat down with a well deserved glass of wine, I realized SHIT! I am suppose to get on another bus at 6:00 a.m. to tour Tuscany. SHIT SHIT SHIT!
Well, this is a little insight to me - when I REALLY don't want to do anything, you can't make me. It is vacation afterall, it shouldn't be about what you SHOULD be doing, its about what you want to be doing. And right now, I closed the blinds, put out the do not disturb and will once again greet Rome sometime with pm after it.
Tuscany can wait another day...
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