My last post about Italy is well overdue, and all about our time in CAPRI!
First, a quick recap from my previous posts about Italy. We were there for 10 days total – 3 days in Rome, 4 days in Florence, and 3 days in Capri. We traveled by train between these places, but to get to Capri, an island, we had to take quite a variety of vehicles to get there – including a ferry!
Day One Part One: Traveling to Capri
We planned to take the train from Florence and have a little over an hour to spare to make it to the ferry port about 30 minutes away from the train station by taxi. In reality, our train was delayed, so we only had 30 minutes to get to the port instead. We were FREAKING OUT trying to hurry as fast as possible to the ferry. Adding another layer of stress was the fact that you had to go to an office to get your boarding pass before getting on the ferry, and you were supposed to get there 30 minutes before departure time… yikes. Of COURSE we were confused and had the taxi drop us off in the wrong spot, so we then had to take a random free shuttle (what are the chances of this shuttle existing perfectly for our needs?!) to where we actually needed to be about 2 miles down the road. After sprinting around (carrying all of our luggage, by the way!) we made it onto the ferry with literally two minutes to spare.
We got onto the ferry which was much different than I expected because we were sitting indoors nowhere near a window because we were so late. The boat was super packed and super hot inside. After all the stress of trying to hurry to the ferry, I was really happy to have the 45 minutes to just chill out, though.
When we arrived on the island, all hell broke loose.
It was like one million degrees outside, we were sweating, and there were hundreds of people all trying to catch taxis and buses while carrying a ton of luggage near the docks. I had read beforehand about how to get to Anacapri from the marina where our ferry docked (Marina Grande), so I felt a little prepared to take on the situation, at least.
We found our bus and crammed on with literally zero personal space. This bus honestly doesn’t deserve to be called a bus, because it is more like a large van with like five seats off the the sides and plenty of room to cram together in the middle. I have never been (and probably will never again be) on such a wild ride. This thing was crazier than anything at Cedar Point, with the added fun of fearing death and being all up in a bunch of strangers’ business. Capri is basically one big rock in the ocean, so the roads climbing up it are the windiest little roads that don’t even fit two-way traffic in most places. The bus drivers didn’t seem to be aware of that, though, because they would drive with reckless abandon and whip around the turns like no tomorrow.
My video that attempts to show the size of the bus, but keep in mind this was the one time we had personal space while riding on one of these things
We got off at the stop that our bed and breakfast noted on their website, and tried to find where we were staying. Emphasis on the word “tried” because we were literally so lost. We asked someone working at a store where the hotel was and they didn’t know. A woman working at the tourism desk also had no idea where the hotel was. We ended up calling the owner of our hotel and he came to meet us in the town square of Anacapri to walk us back to the hotel.
To review: we took a train, a taxi, a shuttle, a ferry, and the world’s most wild bus and FINALLY arrived at our hotel in a quiet, green, little corner of the island of Capri. Shoutout to our mans that worked at the bed and breakfast for literally rescuing us and then also carrying Carley’s luggage for her because we might have died without him 🙂
What is Capri and Where Is It?!
The island of Capri has two main towns: Capri and Anacapri. Capri is really high end and has most of the main attractions. Anacapri has more greenery, is a little more quiet, and is further away from the ports. We opted to stay in Anacapri because the buses are really cheap to pretty easily take you in between the two, and it is much cheaper to stay in Anacapri.
Day One Part Two: We Made It!!!
After we had a chance to freshen up at our hotel, take a break, and figure out the very strange bus system of Anacapri, we made it to the beautiful, rocky beach of Faro and got to relax.
Faro is apparently not a super common beach on the island, because it is on a far corner of the island. I am soo glad we went there though because my dream was just to jump off some dang rocks on this island and I got to.
We got sangria and snacks and watched one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen (probably only second to the sunset we saw in Florence from the Piazza de Michaelangelo).
Day Two in Capri
On our second and only full day in Capri we had one goal in mind: BEACH.
We woke up in the morning and had a free but slightly weird breakfast at our B&B, and then caught another godforsaken mini bus down to the main city of Capri. We visited the botanical gardens, which are home to the most beautiful and classic views to be found on the island.
The spot is perfect because you can see all of the boats circling the island, the massive rock formations just off the island, and beautiful gardens all for the small price of admission – either one of two euros (I don’t remember).
It was sweltering hot out, though, and we were already pretty exhausted. We then had to walk all the way down a winding path to sea level to get to the beach. We chose to go to the free beach at Marina Piccola (the smaller marina) after reading about all of the options online. When we got to the beach, we found perfect spots to set up our towels and take a swim. This was definitely one of the most relaxing parts of the trip, and we needed it after days of traveling around and cramming as many sights into a day as possible.
We ate a super delicious lunch right by the water, and laid out in the sun pretty much the rest of the day. This water was definitely the clearest, most beautiful water that I have ever swam in, and from what I remember it was really warm as well. I remember thinking at the time that I had to soak up every moment because I wasn’t sure when I’d ever be somewhere as beautiful again.
The entire beachy experience at Capri was amazing, and the owner of our B&B was right when he told us that most of the people of Capri are honest, and it is pretty much okay to leave your stuff on the beach as long as you keep it within your line of sight and valuables stashed.
The rest of the day was pretty lazy, we took a couple buses back up to our hotel, took a nap, found dinner somewhere within minutes of our B&B and ended up going to bed pretty early.
Last Day in Italy 😦
Our last day in Italy was definitely a weird one. We woke up, ate breakfast, and left on yet another journey of a million vehicles because we were headed back to Rome to catch our flight home. We took two buses, the ferry, a taxi, and the world’s longest, most annoying train ride (accidentally booked a train that made a stop at every station instead of an express train – it took over 3 hours to get to Rome R.I.P.), and a hotel shuttle to get to the airport hotel where we’d be staying the night to get to the airport early the next morning. We did try the finest of cuisines, Italian Burger King, in the train station though, and the experience was truly wild.
We stayed at a Best Western (lol) and I have never been so happy to experience modern luxuries in my life. It had free air conditioning, normal appliances, and no ancient skeleton keys that were impossible to use to get in (I’m looking at you, Rome and Florence Airbnb buildings). We had pasta dinner at a place down the street, went to bed early, and caught our flight in the morning. All in all, a nice and relaxing ending to a perfect, unforgettable trip 🙂
Miss ya already, Italy.
venture with vick 
Great post. It is very different from mine Capri post, which I published today.
Happy New Year.
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