My Amalfi Coast Love Affair – The Island of Capri

My readers often tell me they wish I included photos in my books. The reason I don’t…photographs typically do not show up well in paperback books. So now I’ve decided to post some excerpts and the accompanying Amalfi Coast photos to match. Enjoy.

From My Amalfi Coast Love Affair

An excerpt from

Chapter 3 The Island of Capri

The Italian island of Capri is a place known as a resort for the rich and famous. Plenty of movie stars and celebrities vacation here, and aside from its glitz and lavish prices, Capri is an island off the Sorrentine peninsula and close to the Amalfi Coast. A frequent day trip for cruise travelers from Naples, this tiny island, which is only the size of New York’s Central Park, is always crowded. Despite the reality, I’m checking it off my bucket list today.

After purchasing a round-trip ferry ticket, I board the double-decker boat along with the rest of the waiting tourists. I position myself on the starboard side of the deck, anticipating spectacular photo opportunities as the ferry passes the towns of Positano, Praiano, and other sights on the ninety-minute trip to Capri.

Soon, Capri appears in my view, and I guess I am naïve, but I’m surprised when it’s nothing like I imagine. This huge, rocky island is now directly in front of the boat, and it appears almost mountainous, with steep cliffs, similar to the landscape of the Amalfi Coast. In my mind’s eye, up until now, my vision was of a much flatter piece of land. But as I’m learning, little of Italy is flat—and especially in the Campania region.

At a prearranged time and meeting spot, Vincenzo collects our group in a minibus and announces that we are going to experience the “Mamma Mia” road as he drives us up to Anacapri. He lovingly refers to us as his “family” and seems to take immense joy as he prepares us for the nine-minute, white-knuckle experience on the serpentine, two-and-a-half-mile road up the steep hill. The views along the way are spectacular, even more so than from Capri down to the marina. I don’t know what to expect in Anacapri, but I’m eager to go on this adventure. Once in Anacapri, as Vincenzo predicted, the panorama from nine hundred feet above the sea is even more captivating.

I enjoy wandering around the town and browsing the many family-run shops, taking in the ambience and not feeling as if I have an agenda. This day doesn’t allow enough time to adequately visit the famed Villa San Michele, so I make a mental note to return. Vincenzo also mentioned the funicular ride to Monte Solaro, and although I pass by its entrance, I decide to forgo that too. I can always return and spend more time, I tell myself. I don’t realize it at the time, but exactly a year later I find myself back in Anacapri.

Excerpt from My Amalfi Coast Love Affair.

My Amalfi Coast Love Affair

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