Day 2, Rome/Capri:
We started the day with an excellent breakfast, repacked, and headed out to Termini where we caught a train to Naples. There are machines at Termini to purchase tickets, but we choose instead to wait a short time in line to purchase from a live person. A note about train tickets: if you have a seat reservation you will find the seat number noted on your ticket where you will also find your train car number. If you don't see them, ask. Be sure to walk to the numbered train car outside the train. Once inside the train it's not so easy to move from one car to the next.
Rome, Capri and Amalfi
April 2009
La Minerva was the most beautiful hotel on our itinerary. We reserved "superior" rooms and were given lovely, spacious rooms with lounge furniture on large private patios (rooms 31 and 33). The location is close to the center, but in a quiet spot along a road with other hotels. The breakfast was very good. I'm not an egg eater, but the other ladies enjoyed having scrambled eggs cooked on request. A big plus for me was the fresh-squeezed OJ. They have an outside area where they typically serve breakfast; as it was early in the season we were seated inside. Our rooms once again included terrycloth slippers and robes. The cost for this slice of paradise was 200 euros (about $260) a night for each twin room.
We settled into our wonderful hotel and wandered around Capri town. I knew about the high-end shopping, but you're more likely to spot me in Costco than Versace. My purchases on the island consisted of a kitchen magnet, a pink tee shirt with CAPRI spelled out with rhinestones, and a tacky hat that sported CAPRI across the top. The ladies bought jewelry.
About three miles off the coast of Naples is the island of Capri, offering craggy cliffs, white beaches, charming villas, olive groves, fragrant lemon trees, narrow winding roads, garden terraces filled with flowers, and spectacular views of blue water. Its history dates back to the Bronze Age. In the Middle Ages the island underwent a number of invasions by the Saracens, who habitually pillaged the towns of Southern Italy and deported the inhabitants as slaves. In the 16th Century Capri was an important strategic base for control of Southern Italy and was continually attacked by the Ottoman fleets. In the 17th Century, Capri was hit by the plague, wiping out a large percentage of the population. In early part of the 19th Century landscape artists frequented the island, and by the end of the century visitors were members of various royal families, aristocrats and politicians. Today tourists from around the world come to the island in search of an escape for a few hours or a few days.
Left to right: Marian, Mommie, Maritza. Hotel Canada
Capri Harbor
La Minerva Lobby
Our room at La Minerva
La Minerva breakfast
Hydrofoil from Naples to Capri
La Minerva
We lunched on the patio of Villa Verde (Vico Sella Orta, 6, down a side street). We were pleased with our meals and we were off to a good start on the island. www.villaverde_capri.com
We wandered the town some more and settled into dinner at Buca di Bacco (Via Longano, 35) where I had an enjoyable dish of pasta with seafood. I must say that I liked the food on this trip, but it didn't live up to the meals we had a few years ago in Tuscany and Umbria.
Marian, Mommie and Maritza at Villa Verde
Maritza, Marian, Diane and Mommie at Buca di Bacco
My impression of Termini: it was a nice train station with two levels of shops and fast food options. I saw two pharmacies and we visited both of them. I stopped for a tube of Voltarene -- a wonderful anti-inflamatory cream. It served me well on this trip as I had sprained my ankle not too long ago.
Once in Naples we took a taxi to the port just as a hydrofoil was getting ready to depart for Capri. And then another taxi at Capri harbor up to Capri town. (There is also an inexpensive funicular from the harbor.) There are no cars allowed in the town and taxis can take you only so far. We knew there were luggage porters in the piazza to take our luggage to our hotel for four euros each, but we didn't see them, so we walked our luggage to our hotel...at least it was downhill. Chalk one up for traveling with only carry-on luggage. Alternatively, you can pay ten euros to a luggage porter at the harbor to deliver your bags to your hotel as you take the funicular up to the piazza.
