Ciao Bellas!

Well, I’ve found home ladies and gentlemen. Ana Capri was one of the most beautiful places I have ever been in my life.

We arrived after a string of transportation modes (walk, bus ride, train ride, taxi ride, ferry ride, bus ride, walk) to our place of residence at the top of the island, Villa Eva. We expected two rooms in a string of others close together, like a hotel. What we found was a sweet little independent unit with handpainted floral patterns on the doors and mismatched sheets. We could walk out and in a couple steps be at either a small pool or a little bar. We made ample use of both, spending the first day soaking up sun and taste testing the different tropical options. The lawn chairs on the island had little things on top that would shade just your face. I got through 78% of my book, The Other Boleyn Girl, on just the first day.

Our first trip out was peacefully uneventful. We bought a few souvenirs and ate a darling lunch at an outdoor café. I had my first Caprese salad; I will never be the same. That junk is amazing. I had one at almost every meal for the remainder of the trip, until I realized that my “salad” was supposed to be a main course and was costing me 8 Euro in addition to my main course. Way to not look like an overindulgent American, right?

Speaking of indulging, let me tell you about the great sandal adventure. As we were strolling along a little side road, we passed a little shop with leather shoes and belts littering the front of the building. We fell in love with the shoes and eventually ended up buying half the store. The man who makes the shoes had made other pairs for Gwenyth Paltrow (who was there last week) and Julia Roberts. The ones I got were designed for the Ferrari president’s wife.

One of our last hurrahs was the Blue Grotto fiasco. I only say “fiasco” because of the great ordeal it took for us to actually get in the water. After carefully observing the sign that said “SWIMMING IN THE BLUE GROTTO IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN,” we obviously peeled off our clothes and prepared for the swim. I was the first in after a few minutes of careful debate. I launched into the cool Mediterranean water with the grace of a bull elephant and upon seeing the entrance to the cave, proceeded to walk on water to get back out again. After a few more unsuccessful tries and some choice verbiage, I hopped back in and managed to convince Whitney and Julia to get in with me. The jeering Italian men above the Grotto were helpful in pressuring us to go in. They kept yelling “just go!” like that would actually help.
The three of us meandered over to a little chain that led into the grotto. Once we were in the cave, it was all worth it. The blue glow beneath us was spectacular. We were in awe, but also acutely aware of the steadily rising tide. I stayed in for one more visit when the other girls (Sarah, Christin, Jennie Lee and Lesley) went in, but was quite happy to get out.

Speaking of fiascos, there was the lemoncello debacle. We got a free round of Capri’s famous liquor and managed to take a few pictures cheers-ing with it before anyone tried it…
…it tasted like acetone. We didn’t want to be rude, so we all downed ours (with some excellent facial expressions along the way). Oddly enough, that tiny amount of liquor was enough to have us all giggly and knocking over tins of breadsticks within five minutes. We’ve really made mature impressions on this island.

My other favorite experience was a taxi ride. Seriously. We took a convertible taxi (all seven of us) from Ana Capri to Capri. The driver put on some Louis Armstrong-esque music and we cruised past gorgeous views with wonderful new friends and took about 400 pictures between the seven of us. It is hard to explain, but that taxi ride was one of the happiest times of my life. Strange, but if I’ve learned anything about traveling abroad, it’s that you can’t expect these moments of grace. Sometimes they just happen.