Day trip = Italy's redemption

Upon our recent break-up with Rome, we decided to take a day trip to Naples. Now, I will claim this now, Naples sounds much nicer than it is…. Let’s be honest, Naples, Italy… Sounds like a nice place to vacation, right? Lesson #1 of the day: Don’t go to Naples.
We get off the train this morning to another not so pretty city… definitely dirty. Not a good second city to see after the recent disappointment in Rome. I guess I was hoping the train station was in a bad part of town…. but as we walked, it actually got worse, and Kristen and I started fearing for our lives and sanity. (We later heard an unfortunate story of a mugging last night that resulted in a broken arm). We thought we would at least try another metro stop, but when we came up above ground, it looked just as dirty. So back to the train station we went… to buy a ticket to Sorrento!
Now, we heard Sorrento would be beautiful. When we stepped off that train, the rumors proved to be true! We were in Italy heaven. Small coastal town. However, the new spontaneity in our day kept us going… and we bought another ticket. This time, a boat ride. Capri, here we come!
Our day trip turned into not one, not two, but three stops. Our attitudes made a 180 and we were like children on Christmas morning when we boarded our boat! We were captured by the scenery and the beautiful blue water around us! Early afternoon we arrived on the island! However, due to our late start, we only had a short time on the island. We were a little disheartened by the idea of only having a few hours, but at least we were there.
First goal on the island: get some lunch. We were starved by this time; so a little coastal pizzeria was nothing less than perfect for a late lunch. Now, of course Italy is known for its pizza –it is the birthplace, after all. I would beg to say the atmosphere definitely made it taste better. Pizza on the coast of Capri? I’m trying not to boast here… but come on. Everything about it was picturesque. Our host: a white-haired Italian man with a little mustache and charming accent. And our portly waiter, who loved to laugh with us. We sat next to a group of men traveling on “business”… whatever that means in Capri. Rough business trip, huh? It’s nice to meet other Americans while we travel. We usually strike up conversation wherever we are. They chatted with us throughout the meal. Good company. We didn’t want to stay at the restaurant too long, so we said our goodbyes and ventured out to find scooters. What better way to see a 4 by 2 mile island than on moped, right? Unfortunately Saturday afternoon on Capri… scooters are all rented.
We kept walking, and ran into our lunch friends again. They seemed to have experience on the island, so we tagged along. It was nice to have someone to follow instead of navigating ourselves. When we came to another scooter place, it was closed. Not our luck. Don’t worry, when you are in Capri on “business”, international phones are included. So our friends called the owner, and before we knew it…. Charlie was there to give us scooters! I’ll continue on without all the detail, but our short time on the island turned into a wonderful and spontaneous afternoon. We skipped out on our return boat back to Sorrento… and worried about that later. (Keep in mind everything is connected: boat to Sorrento, train to Naples, train to Rome).
Kristen and I strapped on our helmets and jumped on the back of these scooters and set out to see the island. It was incredible. Charlie hooked us up! And, I even got to wear a pink helmet  We were whizzing around the winding streets of Capri, up through beautiful heights and overlooking never-ending ocean views. Sounds like a dream, right? It was.
At the other end of the island, we found ourselves at our new favorite place. Capri is known for it’s “Blue Grotto”. Most people see this by boat. Instead, we jumped off the Italian coast, into the ocean, and tread into the cave. (did I mention we weren’t planning on swimming so this swim was actually done in clothes) The Blue Grotto might be one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. It is said to be the bluest water in the WORLD. You enter through a small opening, and find yourself on the other side, inside a cave. The deeper you go, the more blue you see. The light comes from sunlight on the other side of the cave, but inside the cave, the only light is from the water! It illuminates the entire cave and is utterly unreal. We spent quite sometime here. We may have been on a Capri-high from all the surprises throughout the day and found ourselves laughing with sheer joy.
The afternoon ended with a cliff-jump from Kristen… after she came over to accompany me. However, she was the only one to make it down. I shouldn’t have stood there as long as I did and just jumped. Maybe next time.
So… day trip turned into adventure on Capri! And we loved it.
We made it back for our train to Rome…just on another boat than our original one. This boat actually went straight back to Naples which ended up saving us a train ride. See it always works out! Note to self: never get round trip tickets. All in all, an amazing day. A lot of laughs, a lot of surprises, and one of the most beautiful places. Thanks to our new friends we ran into who led us to the Blue Grotto and shared scooters… Capri was amazing.