LEAVING IT UP IN CAPRI. THAT’S NO TYPO
Don’t you just love Italy? The sea, the mountains, the villas, the food, the history, the music, the vibe…
And then, of course, there are the scoundrels, the thieves, the price bumpers, the cons and the worst of all – the tourist trappers.
Yep, Italy got’em all, and no place got more “all” than all of them than the tiny island of Capri.
Placed on the southern reaches of the bay of Naples in southern Italy, Capri is one of those “must see” places for any novice traveler. It’s beautiful, easily accessible, and being Emperor Tiberius’ official gateway, it even got the Roman cred. On the other hand, it’s in southern Italy, a place not usually known for Nordic moral standards. To put it bluntly, it’s a tourist trap of epic proportions.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not the one to whine about being a foolish tourist. If you’re sailing up to Capri you pretty much deserve to be treated like the rotten, dirty, cheesy, MacTourist you are.
Don’t wish to go around feeling like having a big Dollar sign stuck on your forehead?
Well, don’t go to Capri.
Hell’s Dungeon
Every prison has solitary confinement, and so does Capri. Although in the latter case solitary may not be the right expression. Dungeon would be more like it. Since this is Italy, they took care to give it a picturesque name – La Grotta Azure – the Blue Cave.
I won’t go into too many details about it. Many others already did. I would say that while the little place is nice in itself, getting there and back is the thing you’d remember. I would sum it as the “ultimate human-ATM experience” you’d likely to have, in your life. Ever. If you love to be shoveled like a package from one boat to another while paying to a “couldn’t-care-less” boatman every time you’re being transferred, then the Blue Cave is the best thing for you since bread came sliced.
All others better skip it up to Anacapri
In a place crawling with tourist hunters, this RELATIVELY remote village on the other side of the island is RELATIVELY sane. Perched up on the rocks above the main Capri village, Anacapri is not really secluded, nor is it truly authentic. Compared to the frenzy below, however, it can almost be called pleasant. It is, one must admit very beautiful. It also has one added bonus for the cynic observer.
Located straight above the Blue Cave, Anacapri offers a view of the all the poor souls being consumed by the tourist trap below. Some pleasures are truly perverse*
Better go to Positano
* All the apparent snobbism above is a simple ploy to hide the shameful fact that this writer did visit the Blue Cave and was handled like the despicable lump of a tourist he was.