Of Volcanoes, Squalls and other Natural Phenomenon

The husband, having spotted a great deal on a low-cost airline had booked us on a spate of holidays, the last of which was to Naples. The idea was to catch the last ferry out to Capri the same evening. 

However the last ferry, this being winter wasn't going out this late anymore. so we ended up having to stay at Naples for the night. I though we were going to catch the first ferry out. But the Husband being the husband, decided to throw in a surprise. We decided to catch an active Volcano before catching the ferry. 

The route to Ercolano (that's where you need to catch the bus to Vesuvius for) was nothing if not colourful. People obviously have a lot to say here.  

They say it with plaques

and Graffiti. yes, Even love poems. 

 

Don't you just love this little car?

The buses to Vesuvius will take you to the bottom of the hill and you have to make a short trek to the top. We met a lovely Canadian family on our way to the top. The kids were so nice, even my little bossy boots forgot to grumble as we walked up the volcano. Vesuvius was smoking gently as we reached the top. Fascinated young Pickwick no end, as I fended off a zillion questions from him. 

The way down was a slightly different story as poor little bossy boots took a slight stumble. And would only cheer up once she was safely perched on daddy's shoulders. Poor daddy. 

But we had not time to lose- after waving a fond goodbye to the Canadians and promising to keep in touch, we raced to catch the ferry out to Capri. There can be just one word to describe Capri - Beautiful. It doesn't matter what you click a picture of or where from. It's all beautiful.

Capri Porta

We were staying at Anacapri- which was a bit higher up than Capri and the only way to get there was by a tiny little bus. And if you though the bus was tiny, I wonder what you'd make of the streets. Lets just say that if I were Van Damme, I'd have no problems doing splits across the breadth. 

Once in Anan Capri, we walked an uphill 10 minutes to reach our lovely B & B. The view would have been lovely if the weather hadn't been so grey. 

The alley may look eerie, but it was perfectly lovely as we made out way up to the B &B. 

The town center of Anacapri is beautiful, even in the nights, with half the shops shut on account of this being off season.

we decided to have dinner at this lovely little Pizzeria - Aumm Aumm which had traditional wood-burning oven resulting in lovely pizzas made from the freshest ingredients. Made up for all the walking we did in the day. That and the Limoncello. :) Ooo...Yumm. 

The next day after a casual stroll around Anancapri to soak in the sights, we made out way to the chair lifts for Monte Solaro, 

Casa Rossa

They do love their ceramics here... and such a lovely selection there was to see.

The view from the top was, needless to say, lovely! 

Yes. that's right. a chair with one rickety bar across your lap. Kids are so thrilled at this complete disregard for safety

The View from Monte Solaro

And since we are an adventurous little lot, we decided to walk it down from Monte Solaro to Capri via the Phoenician Steps. With a brief interlude at the Axel Munthe house. 

The sculptures and the Axel Munthe Museum

The sphinx and the view from Axel Munthe

Only, we got sort of lost  and we ended up walking all the way to the Port. Right. So we need to stock up on the carbs again with another round of pizzas and pastas all around. Not to mention a swig of Lemoncello. 

By this time, the tiny ones were protesting quite vehemently at the the idea of walking it back up, so we took the Funicular to Capri. A quick round of gelato and Coffee (for the eldest moaner) quickly quelled the brewing rebellion and we made our way to more lovely sights around Capri. 

The view from Tragara

Faraglioni. The seas were too rough for boats to take us around, so we could only admire it from afar.

Faro di Punta Carena

The Faro di Punta Carena or the light house at dusk was a lovely place (albeit a tad windy) to end the day and head back to the B& B for a, yes, you know it - Limoncello. 

We wanted to explore Sorreonto and the Amalfi coast the next day, but choppy seas meant no ferries out until 1pm in the afternoon. 

Finding ourselves at loose ends that morning, we decided to visit the gardens of Augustus, and quite miraculously the weather cleared up for some more fabulous views. (I know, more views, but you have to admit, they are fabulous!)

We spotted lots of interesting bits and bobs in the island as well, All adding to the charm of this wonderful island.

yeah, a bit of ghost writing to entertain the kids...

Just randomly. In the middle of nowhere. 

Doesn't he look like he's saying 'whatchoo lookin' at?'

Pickwick and his bugs

 

The rest of the trip I'd much rather forget - lets just say involved a lot of chasing after buses only to get off  because we didn't have tickets - and not being able to purchase said tickets because everything was shut! Also muchly delayed flights,  icy landings in zero viz conditions and very very sleepy babies trying to get into random cabs.  

Still, all part of the fun, eh? Took us only a week to recover from this one :)