Naples and the Island of Capri

Based on the friendliness of the staff this was by far the best hostel on our trip.  They immediately welcomed us and introduced us to their wiener dog.  Then, the receptionist invited us to dinner the hostel was having that night, a pay as much as you think the cook deserves deal.  After getting suggestions, we walked around and surprise surprise got some gelato, because, please, priorities.  By far, the cheapest city we had been to so far.  We went to the Castle Nuovo, which set us back 6 euros.  Worth it? Not really but still pretty interesting.  The strangest thing though was that it didn’t seem to really fit with the rest of the modern city, not to mention, there was construction completely surrounding it. 

Castle Nuovo

Super old doors with cannon damage

To kill some time before dinner, we went shopping a bit.  Not because we needed to spend money on overpriced clothes but because it was set inside an old train station and absolutely beautiful. 

Old train station turned mall 

Next day….BOAT TOUR! Our hostel had told us wonderful things about this tour and it was a great deal so the entire next day was spent on a boat cruising around Capri.  Though we passed by Valentino's house, the views of the island were much more exciting.  Breathtaking cliffs, grotos, beaches and we were seeing all of this from the comfort of a boat.  Our first stop around the island was to this small waterfall, which poured fresh water into the ocean.  We jumped in and went swimming, not believing how lucky we were.  Continuing around the island we stopped right outside a grotto and he told us to jump in and swim through it.  The day was so relaxed and we were enjoying this paradise.  Our last adventure before lunch was a ride under the Faraglioni Arch (also referred to as the Lover's Arch), a simple yet enormous rock that would make any boat feel insignificant.  Our lunch stop, the café situated on the beach, was scattered with Italian families.  The children were bobbing around in the slight waves and hopping off the small rocks in the shallow end.  Kids are similar everywhere in the world.  They have the same games and throw the same tantrums. The Italian mothers calling the kids in to eat something, then subsequently the children eating that meal as fast as possible before returning to the ocean, reminded me of my childhood at our pool.  We had three hours to explore the town of Capri, lay on the beach, or whatever we pleased.  Our tour group stuck together and went into the town.  The views were gorgeous and the town was filled with pricey clothing, jewelry, and perfume shops. After getting the obligatory gelato, we returned to the boat and told stories for the hour ride back to our train station.

View of Capri

Natural waterfall from the mountain

Swimming through the green grotto. PS this is not our group

Driving under the Faraglioni Arch

Brittany and I overlooking Capri

Capri is gorgeous

Capri

If you’re ever traveling and get recommendations from locals, they’re probably good ones so when we heard we must go to Sorbillo’s, an Italian pizza joint, we were determined.  There were 4 of us, two more from the tour that day and despite being number 7584975482 on the list of people waiting, it went surprisingly fast and made our pizzas that much better.  It’s not even the variety of pizzas that made it so good. One of my favorites was the margherita, which was only tomato, mozzarella, and basil.  The ingredients were fresh, making the pizza unlike anything I’ve ever had in the US.  We were originally planning on getting up early to travel to Pompeii, a city preserved by Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that erupted in 79 AD.  We thought it more prudent to catch up on sleep however and use our last day to relax and explore more of Naples.  We were very happy with our decision in the end because that day we walked along the beachfront, supposedly had the best coffee in town, then made our way toward another castle.  We weren’t too keen on paying another 6 euros to see the inside of an old building again so we walked around it, admiring the fisherman’s wharf.  We noticed that a popular thing to do on a Sunday was to rent a small boat, then sunbath on the boat right off the coast.  The coast was made of large rocks, but that didn’t stop some from finding a relatively flat one and sunbathing there instead.

Sunbathing on the rock and boats

Sunbathing on the boats next to the castle

We continued walking up the coast then took a tram to the top of yet another castle.  It was completely worth the 1,30 euro tram ride because the views were spectacular.  For a while, we stood on a terrace, originally made for a princess, then meandered to the park to read for a bit.  Naples is a little less touristy and we loved that we were surrounded by Italian families, kids in tow.   Groups of parents watching as their kids played soccer, new parents helping their toddlers chase pigeons, and young couples enjoying their last day of the weekend.  While on a search to find another pizza place, we ran into some tourists doing the same.  Clad in a backwards baseball hat, traveler’s backpack, and a giant tabbed tour book in hand, he and his friend were turning in circles looking lost in the middle of a small street in Italy.  We gave some directions then joined them for some good pizza.  Turns out the two guys had also just met.  One from Florida on holiday, the other an Englishman working as a crewmember on a private yacht.  It was nice to share stories from our very different lives and hearing how we all ended up in the same place.  After, we said safe travels, went to bed, and then were off to Rome!

View from terrace

Naples in a nutshell: Great views and in between those great views: castles, markets, pizza and gelato.