Capri for a day

When more than one person gives you a suggestion to visit a place, you should probably go (unless it's something like an opium den.  Don't go to opium dens).  Multiple people told us that we should take a trip out to the island of Capri since we were going to be so close.  Cue a Tuesday adventure!

It's about an hour ride on the ferry to the island from Naples.  On clear days, you can see it from the waterfront, but it has been so hazy here that you can't really make it out.  But that didn't deter us from wanting to go.

As soon as we arrived in the morning, we booked a boat tour around the island so that we could take in all of Capri's natural beauty.  I think it was a great way to spend our first two hours there.  So many people made a bee line to the high end shopping as soon as they stepped off the boat, and I think they really missed out.  But I guess some people prefer to spend their time shopping at Prada.  To each their own.

The pictures we took do not even begin to do the island justice.  But I can try to convey it to you in the ones below :)

We ended up skipping the Blue Grotto, which is one of the main draws of the island.  The wait was around 30 minutes, the water was choppy, it was not cheap to get in, and we were both hungry.  I thought I'd be more upset about missing it, but I'm not.  I think getting to see all around the island made up for that, as did exploring Capri's main square and side streets.

My final verdict of the island - it was only okay.  Before you get your pitchforks, hear me out.

My number one complaint, and I kind of knew this going in, was that it was absolutely overrun with tourists.  I felt like you couldn't breathe without trying to fight through a crowd.  On an island that small, you definitely notice the army of people that get off each ferry for a day trip.  I can't imagine what it's like at the height of tourist season in the summer.  Sounds like zero fun.

The second reason I wasn't blown away by Capri is admittedly a little snobby, but try to stick with me through the next paragraph.  In high school, I spent about three weeks on the island of Corsica to improve my French.  Corsica, much like Capri, has a very similar natural, raw beauty.  To me, both islands have beautiful coastal towns, amazing natural splendor, and stunning water.  So for someone who spent a fair amount of time on a pretty similar island, I was not blown away.  Don't get me wrong - it is still an absolutely gorgeous place that I recommend visiting (especially my North American friends since there isn't anything similar to it in our part of the world).  Mike was in awe of Capri because he had never seen anything like it before.  But to me, in seemed in many ways like a much, much smaller Corsica.

Nevertheless, we had a fun day seeing what Capri had to offer.  Especially the Caprese salad.  You're darn right if you think I got some there.  How could I not?  But I did pass on Capri pants.