Summer Vacation: Next Stop – Capri

The first thing I learned is that Capri is mispronounced.  It’s not  ka-PREE which is how I always hear it, it’s KAH-pree – that’s how the Italians say it.

Capri is everything you think it is.  It’s beautiful, it’s magical, it sparkles, it smells good like the streets are perfumed and was a perfect stop for us on the second leg of our trip.

My first impression wasn’t exactly as I pictured it.  Landing at Marina Grande, it seemed a little tacky.  Lots of day trippers from cruise ships, touristy shops but when you take that funicular up to Capri town it’s a whole other story.  Picturesque with views to die for, beautiful people, VERY expensive shops, the piazetta which is cafe society to the max.  Just what we were looking for!!

We had three picture perfect days.  So what do you do in Capri?  Well, some people like to hike and see historic sites, not us.  We like to people watch, for one.  Stroll the beautfiul streets, sit in a cafe for hours watching the people come and go, eat too much, drink too much and for us it was all about being on the water.

We spent two days at two different beach clubs.  Reserve a sun bed, an umbrella, have lunch in a restaurant overlooking the water – for us it’s heaven.

 

And again, it was about the people we met (and the food!).  But the food takes a whole separate post!

This is Paolo who’s brother owns a tour boat company.  The day we spent with Paolo in a gizzo which is a boat fashioned after the local fishermen’s boats was amazing.  We cruised the coast, jumped off the boat into that azure blue water, stopped at Positano and then Paolo said he had just the place for us where we could have a great lunch.  Life shouldn’t be this much fun!!

Nerano.  A small fishing village with a few hotels and no Americans to be seen.  Perfect.  Lunch, no menu.  Just big plates of amazing food brought to us and a local bottle of rose (I’ll talk about that later).

This is Salvatore.  His family owns Maria Grazia, a restaurant that has been serving food in Nerano for generations.  We had one of the best meals of our trip at Maria Grazia.  If you arrive by boat you can either jump off onto the pier or a little skiff will pick you up and drop you off.

 

This is Giancarlo – beach waiter extraordinaire.  We don’t have anything like this in the US.  He set us up at Faro a beach club  at the tip of the island in AnaCapri where we spent the day and stayed for the amazing sunset.  Whatever we needed (as you can see), he was there.  A great guy who loves his job and it shows.  And what does he do in the winter?  Goes to Westchester County, NY to work in a restaurant owned by someone from Capri!

 

The guy on the left is Mohammed and he’s from Egypt.  He’s a maitre ‘d at one of the waterfront cafes, that I poo-pooed when I arrived.  He loves his job and everyone that he comes in contact with.  His attitude is everyone is good and if you’re nice to him, then he’s nice to you!

There’s more from Capri.  I need to talk about the food!

So see you at the bar….