Part 2 - Trip (more) Southern Italia

Today it smelled like the smokey-fall smell I love, and we went to what is quickly becoming our very favorite place for aperitivo - Cuculia. Yesterday, after a month of agonizing and searching and debating, I purchased both black pepper and black boots. Tomorrow, our dear friends are going to make ricotta gnocchi and meatballs for weekly group dinner. Life is grand.

But back to the trip. When we left off, Jennie and I were huddled in our teensy B&B (glorified hostel) room in Sorrento. It was Capri day and I was excited to head out; but not before fortifying ourselves. Our accommodations may have been spartan, but they put out one hell of a spread. Which is to be expected I guess, as it also served as a cooking school. We ate the goodies, talked to some of the other guests (one of the perks to being in a hostel environment), and gathered ourselves for our day. The B&B actually offered tours to Capri but one of the purveyors had been rude to Jenn, so we had decided not to take them up on their expedition offer the night before. Turns out they weren't even going out the next morning because it was "too rough" to take the boat. Obviously experienced seamen, Jenn and I scoffed at this example of worry-wartyness and headed towards the Marina to catch a ferry.

I should point out that the Marina is down below the town, like down below a cliff. You have to climb a series of steep stairs. I wish I had taken a picture to post here, but take my word for it that it was long and perilous; 6 minutes to get down, but you could halve the time if you rolled. I wanted Jennie to test it, but I didn't think she would be receptive to the proposal. At the bottom we bought a ticket and waited in line to board. Once on the boat we settled in...and realized that perhaps we should have listened to the folks back at the Hostel. Luckily neither of us are particularly susceptible to motion sickness because it was rough kids. The crew started handing out free sick bags and there were quite a few shaky hands raised to receive them. I didn't actually see any vomiting (which is good because though I can handle a rough sea with the best of them, the minute someone regurgitates in front of me I join in like backup singer), but I was glad when we finally docked.

Jenn and I were the first folks off the boat, basically running away from the hordes, and made it to funicular...just in time for it to start raining. For anyone that doesn't know, a funicular is basically is the hybrid of a glass elevator and chair lift. It took us from the big marina up to the town of Capri itself. The ride up was nice...if cloudy. But the downpour did not actually happen until we got off Mr. Wonka's glass elevator -- and we had not brought our umbrellas because they were deemed too "heavy". BAD choice. We ran to a cafe to wait out the storm. I ordered what was probably the most expensive, if completely delicious, hot chocolate of my life. Then we wandered the mountainside.

I have to be completely honest, I really, really enjoyed the vistas of the small marina and famous three rocks (see the pics to each side); they are beautiful. But I was a bit put off by the lack of an actual town; it was more a conglomeration of couture shops. My never ending search for real, relatively untouched mountain/island hamlet was stymied again! But it is a beautiful place for sure.

After wandering around Capri for a while, the weather actually cleared up and we headed down to Anacapri. Anacapri is the smaller town below Capri. It was basically more of the same, BUT we discovered the most magical thing -- a real live chair lift that took you up to the very tippy top of the island! The ride itself was awesome, if a little scary. We were hauled up, individually, in what looked like elementary school chairs, complete with movable "desks" - see Jennie in the picture to the left. When we got to the top we had the most amazing 360 vista of the whole island, with Ischia and Vesuvius in the background. There was also a little cafe and lots of lounging space, which we most certainly would have taken advantage of if the rain had not threatened to roll in again. (Jenn says I win for worst weather she's had while visiting Capri). Instead we hopped on the next chair back into town.

All in all, I really enjoyed my trip to the isla, rainy weather and all. We returned to Sorrento, triumphant and glad we had decided to brave the elements after all. We sprinted up the stairs (due to a housekeeping issue) and were completely winded by the top...and hungry. Which was perfect because we had big plans for dinner - a full traditional Italian feast!

We changed and headed back out, to drink prosecco and watch the sunset from a "secret" cafe Jennie and her parents had discovered on a previous visit. It was beautiful, watching the sky above the cliffs work through all the shades of Easter (and my wardrobe). And there were fireworks!! We aren't sure why, perhaps the heritage days? But it was perfect.

And then we ate. And ate, and ate, and ATE. We started with bruschetta, moved on to a seafood salad with octopus, mussels, clams, squid and a liberal topping of lemon juice. Then lasagna for me, carbonara for Jen, mussels with pepper, and finally to finish with lemoncello in a chilled glass. I moaned and groaned and thought I would die. But what a delicious death. I was so full that when we returned back to the B&B, a few fellas struck up a conversation with us girls and I couldn't even concentrate. We shot the shit, drank some wine (I actually crammed more inside my already swollen belly), and then when it was possible to get away, basically ran back to our room. They were culinary kids, normally right up my alley, but my stomach was acting like an unruly child and demanded all my attention. I'm glad I did it, BUT NEVER AGAIN.

And that is it for the second installment! I hope you enjoyed it. As an update on the mosquitoes, after a lull in activity I woke up with FOUR bites on my face today. Sweet, looks like I have chicken pox. No amount of poison in the air or citronella candles appear to deter them. Any other genius ideas?

Love love!