I started this entry last Sunday, but never posted, so here it is, PLUS an update to today.
It is Sunday afternoon and after a morning of boating around the Island, Luigi and I decided to buy some cheese, proscuitto, crackers and wine for a late lunch on the terrace...ahhhh...such a tough life! While Luigi is having his siesta, I decided to come down to the lobby to update the journal.
Yesterday Luigi made arrangements with a charter boat owner to take us around the Island so this morning, bright and early we headed on a brisk walk to Ischia Porto to meet Mimi' and his boat. It was a cloudy and slightly windy day but we wanted to set out regardless. Mimi' told us, or rather Luigi (in Italian....thus, I got the tranlated version) about the different points of interest around the Island. We saw a huge mansion that the once Italian health minister built...BEFORE he went to jail for just a little bit of illegal activity...I told Luigi...nothing like advertising your patronage payments! In spite of the weather, the trip was enjoyable.
Monday was our last full day in Ischia and we decided to take the ferry to Capri for the day. Capri was much busier than Ischia with the streets full of tourists of every nationality imaginable! As soon as we arrived we hopped on a smaller boat to tour the Island. We were able to get partially into two of the grottos but due to the wind, we could not take the small rowboat tour into the Blue Grotto (there is only a small opening in which only rowboats are able to enter, if waves allow). On the tour we passed by villas belonging to Sophia Loren, the President of Ferrari, Georgio Armani among others. Roger, we took a picture of a villa for you and Mona to put an offer on! After a nice lunch of pizza in a restaurant overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. A hair raising ride up the side of the mountain to Anacapri on a mini city bus to the Villa San Michelle was our afternoon excitement. The road up the mountain is nicknamed the "Mama Mia" road as it is really only wide enough for one way traffic, however just to make it interesting for tourists it is a TWO way road with many busses meeting each other all the way up the mountain....did I say that the view from the one side of the bus is the cliff and the Mediterranean sea below! The trip was worth it as our tour through the Villa San Michelle was extremely enjoyable. The villa was built by a doctor to the Queen of Sweden in the early 1900's. He was a humanist, loved animals (especially dogs) and a collector of art and antiquities.
For our last evening in Ischia we bought some appys and wine to enjoy on the terrace of our hotel.
