Saturday, July 02, 2011

Italy ~ Capri

Our last day in Italy was spent visiting Capri. I was really looking forward to see La Grotta Azzura. The prospect of that did make me feel rather excited as we made our long journey from Rome to Napoli again. Well a cornetto with marmellata also helped me feel better about having to start our day so early :P So in Napoli, we took a ferry from Molo Beverello to Capri. Here's a picture from Molo Beverello, it looks pretty, doesn't it?

I only have a few pictures from Napoli. You can see them here. Moving on, learning from the time when I got seasick on a ferry trip to Bintan, I took a pill for motion sickness before we sailed. It helped a lot and I was so thankful I took it. Our ferry was pretty fast, around 40 minutes to reach Capri but it was enough to make many people sick. Maybe there's something wrong with the water that day, the wave was rough. Mau herself was feeling rather sick but she made it through without having to throw up. The crew were looking at people and giving them plastic bags, just in a case. We did saw an Indian girl siting a few seats next to us throwing up, poor girl.

Because the water was rough, we couldn't go to the blue grotto. Aarrrgghhh!!! I was so disappointed :( But what could we do about it :( We started the day at the Piazzetta. We were given time to explore the place. The view was really nice from the small piazza. The guide was telling us, the wind was really strong so it caused the wave to be pretty rough but at the same time it cleared the sky, so we did get a beautiful view and we could see mountains nearby pretty clearly. In the piazzetta, there's a church, Santo Stefano. Its wall is all white. It looked so bright and a bit blinding under the bright sky :P I went in and it was all white inside as well, white wall, white chandeliers. It looked kinda rich. After that, I just hung around in the piazzetta, absorbing the view. Then suddenly there was a newlywed and their family walking towards the piazzetta. I think they just got married and they were releasing some white balloons. I did saw a girl walking by with a bunch of white balloons before that and I wondered what they're for and then I knew :P Some of the white balloons got stucked in the wires, pretty cute. Capri is really pretty. I can imagine that the piazzetta is also pretty too at night.

After that, we headed to Anacapri which is basically at the higher part of the island of Capri. We made a stop to try some limoncello first. Holy God! It was pretty strong. One of the American commented, it's like taking a shot :P At first taste, it actually tasted really nice but once it got into your system, it was really really strong :P We had lunch in Anacapri, it wasn't a good one. We found out that there's a Singaporean couple in our group. So we sat with them during lunch. They were friendly. I couldn't remember their names. The husband is a Singaporean but the wife is a Thai who speaks like a real Singaporean :P After lunch, the guide told us what we could explore in the area. One of it was taking the chairlift up to Monte Solaro. I wasn't keen on doing this because it seriously didn't look safe at all :( But I was thinking there's nothing else we could do there but that. I forget how much we paid but I think it's around 9€ or perhaps 15€. Mau was unfazed about taking that chairlift up and I was freaking out. I don't think I have a fear of height but I do have a fear about getting hurt badly. Hence I don't have trouble about taking a plane but once there's heavy turbulence, I will start praying fervently. So with this chair lift, I was really really scared about falling down to my death. Seriously, it's not so safe, you can open the safety barrier yourself during the ride. Mau seemed to think my fear to be rather amusing. I was not making any move at all when the ride started and Mau was turning back looking at me and telling me to relax and take pictures. She herself was taking pictures all around but I was really really scared. I seriously didn't move at all. On the trip down, I did get a bit relaxed, even though it was scarier because the sky turned rather dark and it got windy but I did take a few pictures and one of it is the picture of the chairlift. So here you go.

Tell me, it doesn't look safe right? Alright, perhaps I am such a chicken. I was glad when it was done and I felt so much better seeing the view. It was really really nice up there. It was rather worth the ride up :P Looking around, I think it would have been nicer if we could just take a boat and go around all the different parts of the island. The weather was good when we got there, blue sky all around. However then the sky turned rather dark and so I asked Mau to go down before it started raining. It got really cold as the sky turned dark and weather like this was annoying because you ended up underdressed for the cold air. Anyways, here's a picture I took from up there in Monte Solaro.

The blue water is pretty, isn't it? For more pictures from Capri, you can go here. So that was our trip to Capri. It was rather uneventful perhaps. Again we reached Rome pretty late. We decided to eat at the restaurant next to our hotel again. We had the same waiter again. Since it's my second time there, I guess he was friendlier to me. He served me better, complete with a wink and a smile :P I overheard his conversation with the guests on the table in front of me. It seemed he's from Napoli. We didn't talk much though this time around. It's okay I guess, since I was leaving. I did feel kinda sad about leaving Italy. On the road from Napoli to Rome, I felt sad that I was leaving Italy again. I don't know when I'll be back or if I ever gonna come back (I really hope so!!!). Of course, I felt sad too that holiday was ending :P It had been a long journey and a completion of any journey would make you rather sentimental I guess. We left the next day. Mau left first because her flight was earlier. I had time for breakfast and lo and behold I saw the Singaporean couple. Apparently they were in the same hotel as us. So I ate with them and then I rushed off as they made their way to the Colosseum.

In the Termini train station, apparently the track for Leonardo Express to Fiumicino airport was quite far. Now I knew why 2 years ago, I managed to take the wrong exit! Anyway, dragging my luggage, I made it to the train that I wanted to take. It was like a workout, walking really really fast without stopping while dragging your luggage. In the airport, we had to use the machine again to check in and an Italian lady next to me was complaining of how confusing it was. I told her I didn't like it either and she ranted all the way in Italian telling me how she did everything and it still didn't work and one of the staff quickly came to help her. I think it was rather a silly system. The whole point is for the passengers to do check in themselves easily and yet it does get confusing. A staff had to help a big group of chinese tourists. I felt sorry for the girl who had to help all of them one by one. So anyway, I didn't encounter any problem. I went to my gate and I heard someone called me. It was surprising and it was more suprising to find out it's Mau. She got on the wrong train in Rome and so she missed her flight and ended up in the same flight as me. Poor her. She did leave very very early so perhaps she wasn't totally awake yet when she was at the train station. Our flight was actually for Amsterdam. I planned a longer stopover there because I had one last thing to cross off my life list, which I will tell you more in the next post. Mau on the other hand was staying the night there. On the plane, I was seated next to this young Norway girl, maybe around 17. I think she was stunned to find out I'm 29 :P Her english was amazing that I was stunned to hear her. She said it's common for Norwegian to speak english. She was going back from a holiday in Florence and Cinque Terre with some American friends. She looked pretty tired. All and all, I arrived in Schiphol without any problem. I didn't see Mau anymore though when we landed. Anyway, I'll stop now and I'll continue in the next post :)

:) eKa @ 7:37:00 PM •