Capri Azure

Stella

Day 28 – Today we went on a ferry ⛴ to Capri. The ferry ⛴ was about half an hour ride. It was very enjoyable. For some reason it made me feel quite grand – da da da daaa.

When we got there, we started exploring the town of Capri. We looked in all the souvenir shops.  Then we went on an amazing  boat  ride. There were quite a lot of other people on there.
We saw some amazing  things and we got to go under and in and through three caves. It was very exciting. My absolute favourite thing I saw was the statue of the person on a very high cliff.

Then we went down on the beach , had lunch and ended up having a swim ‍ because mum brought our bathers. I had a swim ‍ and then I made a castle out of stones.

Then we did this long walk We didn’t end up doing all of it because it was so far up. So then we got on our ferry ⛴ and said “bye, bye” to Capri. When we went home we looked around for a good place to eat and we found a nice place near the beach but we didn’t go into the water. Instead we ate dinner… mmm. I had some steamed vegies and chips then we went looking around and I bought a  little handbag with flowers on it for seven Euros. Today was fun .

Daisy

Yeah! Today we got up and had breakfast…mmm chocolate cake! Just kidding, we had that for lunch  and surprise, surprise we’re coming home early (only two days though) because you guys were missing me too much! I know, I know, oh stop flattering me  tee he tee he. We’re still not going to school though!

Today we went on a boat tour. It took us around the island of Capri. First we saw villa Jovis (home of the great Roman emperor), next Grotta Bianca (white cave) and then we saw Arco Naturale (natural arch). After that we saw Marina Piccola (where the rich people go to holiday). Next we saw Grotta verde (green cave) and soon after that we saw Grotta Azzurra (Blue Grotto). Finally, best of all, we were back to where we started – the harbour tee he!

Jac

We fast ferried to Capri today and then did a boat tour around the island. The landscape and colour of the water near the grottos was amazing, as captured in our photos.

I ran into a school friend a few years ago and she mentioned that she was living on the Isle of Capri. Very impressed, I said “It must be great living in Italy”, until she told me it was the Isle of Capri on the Gold Coast”! A significant difference between the two Capris is the alphabetical listing of resident celebrities- A listers and D listers. The Italian version of Capri is full of A listers including Georgio Armani and Sophia Loren and as our tourist guide pointed out, many other “unidentified” celebrities (likely from Roswell!). There is an exclusive area on Capri that costs $45000 Euros per square metre and celebrities only venture out at night to avoid the swarms of tourists during the day. It’s hard to think of any A lister on the Gold Coast Isle, however “Old Coaster” Warwick Capper would probably pass for an Italian playboy in a pair of short Armani shorts, given his liking for gold hot pants!

I estimate that the number of selfie sticks visiting Sorrento, Pompei and Capri is more than the number of French, American and Australian tourists combined. Whoever patented the “ its all about me” hand extenders, must be making trillions! I’m not a great fan or taker of selfies but this doesn’t mean I haven’t picked up a few tips on our European trip. My top tips are never pose with a background more captivating than you, position your head at the same angle as your pouty lips, and finally if your “good side” isn’t perfect, then designer shade with a pair of expensive looking sunglasses!

Dan

I am wondering if there’s something called ‘Tourism Fatigue’, where operators of services in high tourist areas no longer remember, or care, about why they do the work they do i.e. ensuring visitors get the information they need to enjoy their paid experience so much that they share with others and plan return visits.  I have been frustrated these past couple of days, particularly with ticketing staff, where I have been under the impression that I have purchased everything required, to then find out later on that something was missing.

At Pompeii yesterday, we got off the train and were steered to an office to buy tickets for the site.  We were told that we only needed tickets for the adults, under 18s did not have to pay, and it was cash only (lucky I had been to the bank and had that sorted – lesson learnt from Venice!)  After going to the entrance and showing the entry tickets to the person on the gate, I was then told we had to go back to another ticketing office to be issued with separate passes for the kids!  Frustrated, but compliant, we lined up for a good 20 minutes at least to get the passes (which took all of 5 seconds when we eventually got there!) The most annoying part of all of this, however, was that people in the second queue were using credit cards to purchase their entry tickets…

Another case in point happened today, at the Sorrento ferry terminal ticketing office.  From all information given by various people over the previous days, we understood that, unless we wanted a private boat tour (at a huge cost of 85 euros per adult, 75 for kids without even landing on the island), there were only two companies selling tickets for Capri; a fast ferry with a much more flexible timetable than a second slower one (which had only one return ferry after 1.30 which was at 6.45pm).

We wanted time to explore the island, so decided to take the faster option and have more flexibility for the afternoon return trip. However, when I finally reached the front counter to purchase tickets I was told that the only ferry back was at 3.30pm – the rest were sold out due to the number of tourists making the most of today’s great weather. I asked if there was another option for the return trip and was told no, and to go to the other ticketing counter to sort it out.  I then told him that I would take the return time of 3.30pm and purchased what I thought were return tickets for the 4 of us.

After our fun in the sun and on the water at Capri, we turned up to the ferry ahead of schedule (another lesson learnt) to find out that the tickets we were issued were one-way, and when I looked at the Euros paid that was indeed the case (pity I didn’t pay more attention to that this morning!) So, thinking in the back of my head about what the ticketing guy had said about all ferries being sold out – and not really wanting to contemplate finding accommodation on Capri for the night – I set off to the ticketing area to see what I could do.  It turned out that there were ferries from other companies leaving regularly for Capri, seats available and at a cheaper price than what we paid to come across! If we had known that was the case, we would have gladly paid for one-way tickets first up!

Of course, we are now much wiser than when we first started travelling, although Jac was a little worried when I negotiated and paid cash for our boat tour of the island this morning whilst standing in line for the ferry!  She even took a sneaky photo of the ticket seller, just in case!  The kids loved swimming, we all loved the boat tour and who wouldn’t love a kiss under lover’s arch to seal a lifetime commitment to each other! I think all couples on our boat took up this opportunity under the direct instruction of the ship’s captain!