After two weeks of getting back into our routine in Geneva, we got ready for a trip to Italy to celebrate my birthday! As I've said before, Italy is one of my favorite countries, and I was so excited to be going there for my birthday as Travers and I had yet to go together since we moved to Geneva. So we woke up at 4am (yikes) on Saturday morning and got on a 6:30am flight to Naples (unfortunately, the only time EasyJet flies to Naples from Geneva). We arrived in Naples by 8:30am and immediately hopped on a bus to take us to the harbor so we could board a ferry to take us to the Island of Capri (pronounced Cah-pree, not Ca-pree). When we arrived at the harbor, we had just missed a boat, so we had a little bit of time to wait for the next one. We walked to a nearby cafe and had some coffee and pastries. When it was time to get on the boat, we discovered that we needed to buy tickets before getting on board. So we rounded the corner to the ticket shop and were stunned by the crowds of people pushing their way up to the two ticket windows that were open. We looked at each other, swore under our breaths, and headed into the masses of people. I managed to work my way up to the window and asked the woman for two tickets to Capri. She responded in Italian that I needed to go to the other window at the other end of the building!! I swore again, and pushed my way out of the people, walked to the other end, and then proceeded to push my way again into the line of people. (By the way, Europeans do not know how to form a line. Lines to them are just groups of people huddled together, pushing and maneuvering their way to beat out the people behind them. Over the year and a half I have been here, I have finally started to do this as well and not care about who I push out of the way or else I'd be waiting in 'line' forever!) Anyway, I finally made it to the front of the second window and got two tickets to Capri. We had missed the 2nd boat, but the next one was not far behind. When we finally made it to Capri it was only 11am, and we still had the entire day ahead of us. Thankfully that 6:30am flight allowed for this ticket line madness.
Once on Capri, we started to relax. We headed to our hotel, a five minute walk up a slight hill to the Hotel Bristol. We dropped our bags and immediately headed back out to take the funicular up the mountain to the city center of Capri. These are pics of Marina Grande on our way to the hotel.
Once at the top of Capri, we took in the breathtaking views of the ocean and island beneath us. Then we wandered the narrow streets for a bit, single file at times, in search of a casual place for lunch. We quickly realized that being such a tourist hot spot, there were really only the super touristy, high-priced, restaurants that didn't look like they had great food. And being we only really had a day here, we opted for a quick panini with mouth-watering mozzarella cheese and prosciutto to take with us on the go. And feeling like we had seen most of Capri city center, we hopped on a bus to go up to Anacapri, another part of the island further up the mountain.
The bus was extremely crowded and only had 5 single seats. I luckily got one towards the back, and Travers got one sitting backwards next to the driver. And as the bus slowly filled, I didn't see him again until we got off at Anacapri! So we both sat, eating our paninis, taking in the views below as we climbed the island on a tiny narrow road. I'm not sure how those bus drivers do it and not hit anyone as there were tons of people on mo-peds and motorcycles whizzing by, going down the hill, and some even passing us going up the hill!
Walking around Anacapri didn't take long, but it was even more beautiful than Capri. Travers had a yummy slice of pizza that he ordered out of a window, and we did a big loop around the area until we found the base of the chair lift that takes you up to Mount Solaro. The chair lifts are just like at a ski resort but they are single seats and you don't have your skis or board to glide on when you first sit or get off, so it was a little awkward for me to just stand there and sit as this chair comes flying at you and then quickly pick your feet up until you're away from the ground. And even more awkward when you arrive and you have to practically jump out of the chair and jog quickly out of the way before it hits you on its way back down the mountain. But the views along the way and once we were up Mount Solaro were worth it. It was just breathtaking.
We walked around the top of Mount Solaro, taking in the views, and grabbed a seat in two lounge chairs while sipping a much needed cold beer. It was amazing to see all the boats below us, looking like tiny white specs on the water, and we could just make out the mainland of Italy through the haze.
We headed back down the mountain and decided to hop on another bus to take us to a secluded beach area on one side of the island. This was recommended to us by the front desk agent at our hotel. When we got there, it was nothing like we had imagined. We walked down several flights of stairs then found the 'beach' area. It was all stone and concrete, maybe 30 feet wide and a steep descent into the water. And, it was packed with people! We searched for a place to put our things, and ended up in a tiny crevice between two old boats that were parked on one of the landings. We took turns, precariously walking down the steep slope, trying not to step on other people and things. At the end of the slope, tons of people stood, gazing out at the water, talking with friends, and debating on whether to jump in or not.I watched Travers go first to test it out and see the best way to get into the water. He squeezed through a few people standing around and just dove head first into the ocean. He popped up moments later, looked up at me and waved. Floating in the crowd of people, he watched as some kids were high jumping off a nearby rock into the water. 
Then it was my turn. Travers came out to watch our stuff, and I gingerly made my way down the slope past all the people. Then without much time for hesitation, I jumped in feet first (I'm a bit of a chicken) and tried not to get too much of my hair wet (yes, i know, i'm a chicken). The water was much saltier than I had anticipated and I felt more buoyant than normal. I swam around a bit, trying not to run into other swimmers. But getting bored all by myself, I came back out to dry off in the sun next to Travers and the boats. What a strange experience to swim in the ocean and sunbathe, but we felt like we were hanging out with the locals, which is something we really try to do on all our travels.
After we were mostly dry, we decided to head back to the hotel to use the pool, rest up and get ready for the night. The pool at our hotel was nice and quiet with comfortable lounge chairs. We bought a delicious mojito for me, and a yummy gin lemony drink for Travers. I snacked on green olives and we warmed ourselves in the sun. Afterwards we sat on the terrace outside our room, researching restaurants to go to for dinner that night, one of our necessary but not so favorite, pastimes. The research paid off and we enjoyed a delicious italian feast at (appropriately named) Michael'angelo Restaurant, which consisted of a whole local fish that was de-boned and served table side, followed by a yummy local dessert called Torta Caprese, a flourless chocolate cake. A perfectly delicious ending to a wonderful first day in Italy!
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