Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Capri/Naples

The main purpose of our trip to the region was to visit the island of Capri which is just 45 minutes off the coast from Naples via hydrofoil. Shauna visited Capri previously and found it to be romantic so she wanted to incorporate it as part of the honeymoon. Ryan's impression is that it's a big rock overridden with cruise ship and package tourists so it resembles more of a Hollywood set.



The Blue Grotto is probably the most famous site on Capri so it was the first thing we visited as soon as we landed in the harbor. To get there we had to transfer to a motorboat and once near the entrance, to a small rowboat.

As you can see below, the entrance is very small and requires all the boat passengers to lay down in order to squeeze under. The boat has to slide under when the tide dips so as to not smash us up against the rock.

Once inside, the sunlight reflects upon the white sand bottom and through the very clear, blue water for a dramatic effect.

There isn't much sunlight which gets through so the blue effect really shows up, better in person of course than in the photos we took.

Back on the outside, the below photo clearly shows how steep the cliffs are of Capri.

To get up to Capri Town from the harbor, we took a funicular for the brief ride.



The scenery is truly spectacular and Shauna was right about it being romantic.


Back in Naples in the below photos....we really consider Naples to be a third world city.


Our neighborhood where we can comfortably walk around without really any problems at all time because plenty of others are also out.


The island of Capri is in the background of Shauna, you'll probably have to click on the photo for it to enlarge to really see it.

If we had more time, we would've liked to have visited Pompeii which was destroyed by Mount Vesuvius that is pictured below. It's always good to leave something to come back for and see so we'll have to return when we have more time.

For a late lunch, we ate at what is regarded by multiple sources as the best pizza in Naples. We HAD to visit because Ryan though that it would be a life changing experience but it proved to be nothing special. Initially it looked great, the staff didn't speak English, mostly locals and only two types of pizza served: margherita and marinara, which turned out to be just red sauce on top of the thin crust dough. The key to pizza is generally the sauce and in this instance it was tasty and fresh but again, it wasn't the best we've ever had.

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Capri is so beautiful, I remember visiting there before and thinking it was romantic. i need to bring my future girlfriend there. The water in the Blue Grotto is the bluest I have ever seen!

Unknown said...

Glad you enjoyed the beautiful island of Capri and nearby Naples. The Blue Grotto is lovely. We love Italy, will go there in a heartbeat. Li Li especially enjoyed the Naples pasta and the cruise along the Amalfi coastline.

Jessica said...

Indeed, Capri looks romantic! Love the blue grotto -> water is sooo blue!

Jessica said...

Is that gelato Shauna's eating - what flavor? It must be good, seeing her grin widely!

Jessica said...

I just noticed Shauna's white frame sunglasses - the 'lips' mark on the side is so cute! Wouldnt have noticed it if I didnt click to enlarge the pix. Where did you get this from?