Getting there and back

So, I am fresh off the plane from Capri and figured my first blog should tell you about the journey...like they say, its all about the journey, not the destination, right?! NOT!

Getting up at 3am to leave is difficult but I managed to do it and that early in the morning, vaporettos and buses are either on time or they arent coming at all! All was good until we were boarding. They cram you into this bus to drive you to the middle of the tarmack somewhere in order to board a plane (still a strange phenomenon to me in this terrorist age). We sat in the bus for a good 10-15 minutes without moving. Then the driver drove us about 200 feet away to our plane! I am not joking. There was a hush in the bus and then a small riot...I learned some new Italian cuss words at 630am that day!

I arrive in Naples with no trouble. Let me first apologize to anyone who lives there or is from there or happens to like it there. I just dont like it. Its a dump and it scares me--this is my second time just passing through and I cant seem to bring myself to stop. Now, there are some things there I would like to see but so far I havent been longing enough to actually make a vacation of it. On the other hand, I have been treated very nicely by the people in Naples and even more so in Capri. If the Venetians could learn something from them about pleasantness, Venice could become great again, I am sure of it! But enough of that.

I take the shuttle from the airport to the ferry. Never have I experienced such traffic. I thought I had seen it all in Mexico City a few years back but they have nothing on the driving in Naples. This is the first time that cars actually drive on both sides of the median at the same time in both directions at the same time and hop over the median at will. Now, I imagine, there are some sort of 'rules' or guidelines for this, but to the observer its chaos. Jaywalking is apparently supported at all costs as well. The bus stops at the Castle ruins by the dock...and when I say, by the dock, I use that term loosely. It was a rather long walk for shuttle that claims to take you to the port. And I joined in (because I had to) with the jaywalking extravaganza. Woo hoo!!!

Just making the ferry by doing my OJ impersonation running up the gang plank, I settle in for my 40 minute or so ride to Capri. The seas were rough but not to the point of white caps. And I thought I was on a pretty decent size boat...about 300 seats or so. However, we rockin and rollin on that trip. After a vaportetto, bus, airplane, and bus ride, I was beginning to get a bit green around the gills. I was very happy to walk on terra ferma again and enjoyed the short walk up the hill to my hotel.

For my return trip this morning, I got to sleep in until 4am! A short walk down to the ferry to catch the first one out at 545am. This was one of those car ferries so it was really large (I have attached a pic of both of my boats!) and I was thankful for the calm ride after 3 days of being green in the water and on the buses in Capri (more on that later). This particular ferry goes to a different port than the one I came in on, so it was useless to me as far as knowing where I was or how to get to the airport. So, I paid an incredibly outrageous price of 55 euro to have a car waiting for me. Granted it was a Mercedes, but still very pricey. We got to the airport in record time as there wasnt as much traffic at 7am. The flight was only scheduled to be 5 minutes late and we boarded that same shuttle bus to the airplane on the tarmack. However, this time we actually drove a decent distance to justify it. And lo and behold, we arrived in Venice 20 minutes early...just in time for me to get my luggage and catch the bus to vaporetto and the short walk back to my apartment.

So, now you understand why I dont buy the 'all about the journey' hoo hoo! Tomorrow and following days.....the good stuff about Capri.....love that place!