“How many more steps”...asks my husband after climbing for the last hour and a half.
“I think I can see the top” I replied as cheerily as I can muster.
Normally it’s the other way around - I’m usually the one huffing and puffing asking that same question but today, he’s carrying the backpack with a full day ration of water, food, and miscellaneous supplies.
The 25 minute boat ride from Sorrento to the island of Capri (KAH-pree, as how the Italians would say it) started out innocently enough. Little did I know this hike was almost all stairs. Two main towns branches out from the marina: Ana Capri, which can be reached by a short bus ride or by foot which takes an hour or two if you stop for photos, and Capri town which you can take a 5 minute funicular up or a 30 minute walk up the switchback road.
We did two hikes in both towns since Capri is an island for enjoying its natural beauty, and walking/hiking is my preferred M.O., sometimes you just have to pay the price the next day.
Home to the famous Blue Grotto, which is only accessible during low tide and calm seas, requires you to lay low in a small boat (so you don’t smash your head against the rock) as the boatman pulls on a rope to catapult you through a tiny hole the size of crouching lion.
Hike #2. Natural Arches can be reached by a scenic 2 hour hike from Capri town. A shorter but less scenic walk can get you here in about 30 minutes.
Hike #1. Looking down midway of the hike from the marina to Ana Capri. This is about half way so there's no turning back now.
Stairs that just kept going up, up, up.
It's the light reflecting on the bottom of the limestone that gives the water an incredible blue hue.
Our boat, slightly larger than this one, was small enough to get close to the cliffs.
Speeding through the Faraglioni Rocks
The wind and waves starts to get fierce on the West side of the island around the lighthouse.
Capri Marina
The Church of San Michele in Ana Capri has an interesting mosaic floor that tells the story of creation and Adam & Eve being cast out of the Garden of Eden. Raised wooden walkways allows visitors to walk around the floor for close up viewing.
The upper half of the figure 8 shows the angel Gabriel casting Adam & Eve out of the Garden of Eden after eating fruit from the Tree of Knowledge. Can you spot it?