Monday 25 May 2015

A lovely town along the coast - Positano

After we got back to the mainland in Sorrento, we explored a little bit, but it wasn't that cute a place. In the morning, we had a driver pick us up and we did the most amazing tour! We drove all along the coast, stopping at a bunch of tiny little towns and ending in Pompeii! The first town we got to was Positano.
...and all along the way it had been looking a little grey. It definitely was going to rain - but when we got there it wasn't drizzling. The town was so adorable - and we arrived before 9 am so it was super quiet and lovely! I loved Positano the best of all the places we visited. They had adorable little buildings, and little shops. The church was near to the sea, and there were these two sets of steps which go around it, with all these little shops along it.
The church was so pretty too! We went down to the sea, where the beach was. It was a black sand beach, but either way - the view was just incredible from there - all the stacked up little houses in all these bright colours. It was amazing, but at that moment, the sun came out! We walked back up to a cute little bakery where I got the most amazing canoli where we could look over the whole town!

Anacapri

Kerstin's Mummy kept texting us while we were in Capri - about where to go and such. She kept mentioning Ana Capri, which I was reading as Anti Capri. Often in the Greek islands, the pairs of islands are called Capri and Anti Capri - so I was assuming it was a different island.
But, low and behold, it wasnt! So we found out that on a map, it was another little town over closer to the other side of the island. So we asked at our hotel, and they gave us tickets for the bus. We walked over, had lunch and then went to the bus station - which is tiny. We were one of the last people on the bus, so there was standing room only - Mummy was actually up against the door! And the very crazy thing was - there were two more stops to pick people up! So it made Japanese trains
look very spacious. But of course, it was an Italian Bus, so it was winding around these little roads and actually quite scary! AnaCapri really wasn't very exciting, actually, it seemed more run down than Capri town - but it was a much slower way of life here. Mummy and I walked down all these little streets - who knew where they led, and we found some cute stray cats near the church, which Mummy just loved! AnaCapri is also famous for its linen, so there were tons of linen
shops there. We bought a few things, and then headed back into Capri before we would take the ferry to the mainland again!

The pretty, pretty gardens of Augustus

When we got to Capri, I dont think Mummy or I had much idea what we were going to do. So, we went on the suggestions of the very helpful hotel staff. So, after we walked down to the cliffs, allllll the way down and back up, we had a lovely breakfast on the patio in the sun. It had been so long since I
had an Italian breakfast - lots of pastries and jam - and they were good enough to order in a copy of the British Times newspaper. Sometimes a little bit of home can really make a morning! So we sat and chatted, and headed over to these botanical gardens, that appeared to be in the centre of the island. We walked through all the streets - they were so nice and empty, because nothing was open....and eventually we made it to the gardens just as they opened. Instead of being on the middle of the island -
which I guess they were - they were kind of set on this hill where you could see over the whole island - on one side you could see these beautiful path all the way down to the crystal clear blue water - and on the other side you could see the whole island, with all the little houses along the hill sides.
They look almost stacked on top of each other. Mummy and I got a person to take a photo of us together, which is so cute! It made me so happy to have a girly holiday with her! On the way out of the little gardens, I grabbed a lemon orange slushy too!


The Faraglioni of Capri

We were based up in the main town of Capri, away from the port, and our hotel was kind of all the way on the edge of town near these beautiful rocks called the Faraglioni. They are these beautiful stacked rocks which used to be part of the coast and eroded away. In the morning, we got a map from our hotel and wandered over to see them, very early in the day (even before breakfast!) The road dead ended and looks over this beautiful beautiful vista, and these three huge rocks
in the water. The view is really pretty and I planned to just wander along the pathway which was below it. I had intended just to go down there and look and take a few pictures, but it kept going down and down. The path kept going, and the farther along I went, the more beautiful it became...so down I kept going! I didn't really have the right shoes on, but there were little steps that just kind of wound around down this cliff, and I didn't really know how far down I was going, until I got to the
end. It bottomed out where the cliffs were still joined to the mainland, and there was a restaurant at the bottom of it! It must be so beautiful to work there! I had a hell of a climb on the way back - and without food I got very very dizzy! I hadn't realised how far down I had gone!






The Market Square in Capri

We had another long 4 day weekend in May, and Josh was chaperoning the Malta trip with his social studies kids, so Mummy and I headed off to the Amalfi Coast to meet Mummy. Getting there was the biggest hassle ever! My flight was delayed for hours, so I missed my connecting flight. I was stuck in Milan for hours, but at least I was able to get to Venchi for gelato! I finally arrived in Naples, where Mummy had been waiting for hours and hours and almost all day for me. We caught a taxi, which took us to the port....the wrong port. We ran to get to the other port, and thankfully took a little bus. We barely got there in time - we ran all the way through the port terminal, threw the money down for tickets and ran to the ship! We made it to Capri - hours after intended. But we made it! And our hotel was adorable! We walked around the town after we checked in and it was absolutely adorable! I walked up the steps on the side of the town square to get this cool shot of the cafe lighting!