Capri

Capri is a little island off the coast of Sorrento that is very exclusive and very expensive. To get there we caught the ferry from the port in Sorrento which took about 30 minutes. It was a big fast ferry but Alice was already starting to feel a little woozy.

As soon as the ferry landed in Capri, I took the advice of one of the private tour guides I was eavesdropping on and ran to the ticket booth that said 'Blue Grotto'. This was actually one of the main reasons I wanted to go to Capri and seeing how we only had 3 or 4 hours on the island I wanted to get this out of the way first.

When I got to the ticket booth I asked the guy "so the ticket price includes the boat ride into the Blue Grotto, right?" He said "Yes". Cool. I paid for the tickets and we walked across to the waiting boat. Before we got on I thought I better double check with the captain. "This ticket includes the boat ride into the Grotto, right?" He replied "Yes". "With the little row boats?" Again he replied "Yes". The reason I wanted to double check is because we'd already been ripped off quite a few times in Italy already (to the point where we were used to it now) and I just wanted to assure myself.

The boat ride started out great. We began to circle the island taking in all the amazing views. Over the loudspeaker the captain would try and explain what we were looking at but really it was useless information. At one point he said "If you look up to your right, you will see a rock in the shape of an elephant's ear". Good to know!

Ali at the start of the boat ride

View of Capri from the boat

The colour of the water was amazing

The Green Grotto

Another shot of the Green Grotto

There were more of these massive yachts than you could count. This island definitely has $$$

After about 45 minutes we finally reached the Blue Grotto but there was a queue of boats already waiting to get in. We paused for a while and this is where it got a bit much for Alice. Because the boat wasn't moving forward, it started rocking from side to side…a lot!

Ali not feeling well :(

She held in there though and after a while it was our turn to jump into the tiny row boat and head towards the Grotto, which is basically a small hole in the rock that was actually made bigger so that boats could fit inside.

We started moving but instead of heading towards the hole, the guy rowed us towards another boat that said tickets. The guy rowing our boat said "you have to pay 11.50 Euros each to get inside the grotto! You pay this guy here!". Are you f*cking serious?! Like I said, at this point in our Italian leg we were used to being ripped off so it wasn't a surprise. It was just annoying that I asked them TWICE before we even got on the boat whether our tickets included this and they both said yes.

After paying the thief, I mean guy, we started moving towards the cave. We had to get down really low in the boat. Water came in but luckily I'd put my camera and phone in my bag a couple of seconds before hand. We edged closer to the ropes which the rower uses to heave us inside. We waited at the entrance for about 20 seconds until the water level dropped enough for us to fit through. 1-2-3 and we were inside the Grotto. It was unbelievable in there and the photos just don't it justice. The only downside is that there are about 5 other boats in there with you and you're in there for a maximum of 30-45 seconds which is no way near private enough or long enough to really take it all in.

Once we got back on the boat, Alice started feeling sea sick again but this time she didn't recover so well. To be fair though, we had been on the water for at least 1 and a half hours by this point and even I was starting to feel a bit funny.

After the tour ended we stopped for a quick snack. Not sure if they sell them in Australia but it was in Italy that we discovered the Cafe Zero by Streets. These have to be one of the best things ever! It's ice cream. It's coffee. But it's so much more. It's delicious!!!

After a short break we decided to walk up to the top of the hill because we didn't want to give them any more of our money and we had a fair bit of time to kill before our ferry arrived. It was about 700 metres to the top. It was pretty much all stairs and steep pathways and it was very hot but the view was great. We stayed up there for about an hour before making our way back to the ferry.

Looking up the hill

View from the top

Cool map of Capri made with brick tiles

Once we got back to the campsite we went for a quick swim before settling in to eat pizza and pasta and watch the world cup final with the rest of the people at the camp site. Not a bad way to spend our last night as European campers.

Me and my 1 litre can of beer before the game :)