Still My Heart's on the Isle of Capri

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Day Trip to Capri

Marina Grande

    With Frank Sinatra's famous tune 'Isle of Capri' in my head all day, I (along with my sister and her friends who were on their spring break trip and spent two days with me in Castellammare, Sorrento and Capri) set out on an journey to the lovely isle of Capri off the peninsula of Sorrento. We felt the warm breezes and clear skies of summer on our ferry ride over to the Marina Grande, the main port of Capri. I'm fortunate enough to set foot on the island for a second time, as I visited it on a school trip in my junior year of high school. It is exactly as I remembered it, and remains to be my favorite location in Italy so far.

Capri is famous for its cliffs, the blue grotto and its all over beauty. After a failed attempt to rent scooters to tour and scour the island with, our first adventure was to the Grotto Azzura, the Blue Grotto, a cave who's clear blue water reflects onto the rocky ceiling. The boat tour took us all around the island, past the towering cliffs littered with houses, green shrubs, shrines and mountain goats. 


 We arrived at the entrance of the blue grotto, where multiple boats took eagerly awaiting tourists through the minuscule gap between rock and water.
Entrance to the Blue Grotto
Us four blondies (and one red head) piled into a boat, along with an elderly Italian man and of course, the driver/rower of the vessel. Though charming at first with his lulling, Italian voice and entertainment of song, he quickly became obnoxious, making farting noises that echoed off the cave walls. But we laughed. No picture could do the grotto justice, but at least it is an introduction to the unique color. 
Ducking into the grotto

Inside the grotto
   Capri is a large enough and populated enough island that just wandering narrow, white-walled cobblestone streets can entertain you for hours. We stumbled upon a ruin that is now a high school, a church at the top of a hill that was giving away books in exchange for an offering, and the Gardens of Augustus. From these gardens, we had a view that reminds me why I am obsessed with towering vistas.

   We missed our opportunity to take the chair lift to the top of the island from Anacapri, as it closed at 4:00 and we arrived fifteen minutes after. We spent our last few hours leisurely strolling the Marina Grande, before we were seduced into having drinks at the restaurant of a dancing, bald Italian man who was slightly infatuated with my sister.
   The trip ended all too suddenly, and Kelly and her friends had to make their way back to Milan to go home. I've speculated on how I can home back to the island, and have come to conclusion that I'll become rich enough to retire to one of the villas on Capri overlooking the Mediterranean. 
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Italian Word of the Day: Caffè Lungo

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Caffè Lungo is a large espresso drink that is poured into a tiny cup. One is supposed to take a few sips of the espresso and shoot back the rest like a shot of alcohol (though the caffè lungo is a little healthier than an alcohol shot, and probably more socially acceptable at 2 pm in the afternoon)
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Happy in Stabia

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This video was posted recently. It's a montage of the locals of Stabia, the town I am in, dancing to Pharrell William's song Happy and it embodies the culture, liveliness and joy in the town.

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Hiking Mount Vesuvius

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Climbing the Volcano that Destroyed Pompeii
From the top of Mount Vesuvius

              Today, along with a few other JWU students, I made the climb up the famous volcano, Mount Vesuvius, located just outside of Naples. I was under the impression the hike would take a few hours, but the starting point was already mostly up the mountain. It only took a half hour of steep climbing on gravel to get to the top where the crater is.

Climbing

The crater

Smoke coming from the inside

     The volcano is most famously known for it's destruction of the ancient city of Pompeii in 79 AD. The last eruption out of Vesuvius happened in 1944 and it is overdue for another one. If it were to erupt today, the few million people living the Naples and surrounding area (including me depending on the intensity of the eruption), would be buried in lava. Over the years, the eruptions from Mount Vesuvius have destroyed many towns and killed many people, yet the Neopolitans keep rebuilding because they can't imagine leaving the area.
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Castellammare di Stabia: Castle on the Sea

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Benvenuto to Italy!
View from my dorm room, with Castellammare di Stabia below
    I am in paradise. A cold, but sunny and picturesque paradise. Castellammare di Stabia (meaning "castle by the sea" in Stabia) is quaint town 45 minutes outside of Naples, the city where pizza originated (my kind of place). I'm studying and taking classes on tourism management, international tourism policies and tourism marketing while here. Already, it's a nightmare trying to concentrate in class with this view in our window.

   Don't be fooled by the palm trees and constant sunshine. Castellammare di Stabia is much colder than it looks at high 50's to low 60's. Italians are still donning their winter coats, boots and jeans (all dark). Italians aren't one for colorful fashion, and most of their clothes are a stylish black. 

    Being here almost a week, I've made some primary observations on Italian life, and I will post my final observations at the end of the trip as well.

1) The stereotype of Italians always speaking with their hands is true. Whether the debate is passive or lively (it's sometimes hard to tell), Italians will use hand gestures to embellish what they're saying. I think that's why I see elderly Italian men with their hands locked behind their backs when they stroll, so as to stop their wild hands.

2) The young people know more English than I thought. Maybe the Italian gelateria woman doesn't know what I'm saying, but conversing with the people my age is not too difficult. We've met some Italians our age who say they all learn it in school now. Their knowledge of the English language is far from extensive, but it's enough to get by. However, I am learning Italian here and hope to be able to speak to them in their beautiful language soon, which they are very proud of. 

3). In the evening, around five or six pm, many people with go to the center of the town and stroll along the boardwalk. It's called La Passeggiata and is done all over Italy. La Passeggiata is a way of being seen and seeing the people of the town.

4) Siesta's are the best. A siesta is the time between 1pm and 5pm when most shops close down. The period of time is meant for naps and relaxing before opening back up again. In our case, they are a time for naps. A culture that socially accepts and designates a time of day for naps is my kind of culture. Since dinner is around 8 or 9 at night, most people don't go to bed until 12 or 1 am, on a good night. We have to, however, wake up early for class, so taking a short nap during the day is what's going to keep me sane. 

5) People in Castellammare get excited about Americans. Since it is a smaller town that doesn't attract too many tourists, the Italians here are happy to say Caio and talk to you. When I say excited, I mean run-out-of-their-store-to-introduce-themselves kind of excited. Everyone is welcoming. 

Pizza Vesuvio

6) Italian food is everything you've ever heard and more. Our meal plan includes fresh, local ingredients prepared daily in the form of two 3-course meals. The only reason why I'm not going to gain 20 pounds on this trip is because of the steep hill from my school down to the center of town that I walk everyday. The first course is usually a pasta (my favorite so far is a pasta and fresh pesto dish). The second is a meat with veggie meal, and the third is dessert. Decadent cakes and pastries aren't eaten much for dessert in Italy, so fruit is usually eaten. And of course, pizza. I ate a pizza vesuvio (pizza filled with local, mozzarella cheese made from buffalo milk, and ham) and I thought I'd gone into gooey, carby, cheese, indulgent heaven. The classic Margherita pizza, named after Queen Margherita, with mozarella, basil, tomato sauce and the dough, is a staple here. Most of the wine sold is local, and you can buy a bottle of wine for as cheap as a euro. 


        
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