On our last full day on the Amalfi Coast we decided to venture over to the island of Capri.  Although the morning started out a little cloudy, the sun soon broke through the clouds to give us one last perfect day of Italian weather.  We boarded a ferry that an hour later landed in the main harbor of Capri Town.  The port was bustling, and with eight of us (we made two new friends on the ferry over) it was a little hard to get our bearings at first.  We were quickly approached by a guy who does private boat tours of the island, and we decided to go for it.  Turned out to be one of the best decisions we made on the whole trip!

Complete with a handsome Italian guide/driver (Alessio!), we toured around the island on a small motor boat.  The small size of the boat allowed us to enter some of the lesser known grottos of Capri – like the Emerald Grotto – and go through Capri’s famous Lover’s Arch.

Of course, any visit to Capri would not be complete without a visit to the Blue Grotto.  It’s a bit of a racket, with a $4 entry fee and then another $8 to take the small rowboat in, but hey…you’re already there, so why not?  I won’t say it was life-changing, but I’m definitely glad we indulged our whim.  You have to lie down to enter the Blue Grotto because the entrance is so low, and then all of a sudden you’re in a pitch black cave – or at least it seems that way till your eyes adjust.  But, once they do, you’re in for a real treat – the water below you is illuminated an ethereal blue color – it almost looks like the water’s glowing beneath you.  You can definitely understand how the Greeks and Romans attributed this spot with special healing powers.  Click this link to get a glimpse of what we experienced.

After our boat tour of Capri, we only had about an hour to take the funicular to the top of Capri Town and get back down before our ferry left at 5 pm.  It’s unfortunate that we didn’t get to see more of the town, but we did taste some yummy gelato at the top.  The village seemed very charming – however, it would be hard to spend much more time in Capri without going broke.  The prices on food were ridiculously expensive – even compared to Positano.  After a short break at a cafe, JR and I headed back down  to the harbor only to find out we had missed our boat (the rest of our group had wisely chosen to catch a later ferry)!  After a few choice words, we begrudingly bought two more ferry tickets for the later boat and waited while the rest of our family arrived to ride back with us.  As my mom always says when something doesn’t quite go as planned, “We’re making memories!”  And make memories we did.  As we headed back for our last evening in Positano, I couldn’t help but smile at our frustration at missing the earlier boat…you know life is good when your biggest worry of the day is being stuck on a picturesque island off the Amalfi Coast.  Ahhhhhhh Capri!