Today we set off by train to Sorrento which was only about ½ hour away from Pompei (or Pompeii) as there appears to be two ways of spelling this town.

We didn’t know that Sorrento was on cliffs, but as ever we migrated down to the port which was really busy – but it’s not really suitable for yachts.

Coastline off Sorrento

As the Island of Capri was only a short ferry ride away we decided to go over for a quick look around. Now in our heads we had visualised Capri as being a lovely quite undeveloped island. Boy did we get a shock as it was absolutely manic with throngs of people and nonstop ferry traffic bringing more people in and others leaving……..pop went our wee bubble!

Arriving at Capri

The local Taxi’s are kind of neat with their bimini’s instead of roofs!

While in a cafe we got chatting to a couple from Brisbane in Australia, and they suggested as we were only over for the day to get a ½ hour boat trip to the Blue Grotto where you transfer into small rowing boats and go through a really low entrance into the Grotto. We weighed up going round Capri town, but with the place being so busy we opted for the Blue Grotto.

This turned out to be a lot of fun, as the boat took us along the coastline where there are no roads, and we duly arrived and had to wait for our turn to get into a tiny rowing boat and had to sit on the floor, both for ballast and balance and also lie back to get in through this really low entrance.

As you can see from the following photo it’s easy to see how it gets its name.

The other thing that was neat today was seeing the “Royal Clipper” as I remember watching a TV programme about this boat, and how an old steel boat was purchased and then lengthened. It’s quite remarkable that the square rig is fully electronic and controlled via a console with no need for hands to go up the masts. The last two masts double up as funnels and I think it would cost a pretty penny or two for a holiday aboard her……

Really good day, but we were both a bit tired after walking about Rome and Pompei so it was a really nice change to have an easy day.