The Isle of Capri

 We drove our rental car from Rome to Vesuvius to Pompeii to Sorrento--one of the most beautiful locations I have ever seen.

Italian traffic is remarkably like a game of Mario Brothers except the surprises come out of nowhere, leaving you grateful to be alive.  No one signals for lane changes, you're supposed to ignore motorcyclists who seem to take care of themselves.  I'm not sure if any rules at all apply to them.  I have been impressed at the competence of the motorcyclists--at least those who have survived this long.  That may sound overly pessimistic because in a weeks' travel through really, really, scary traffic, I didn't see a single accident. We did see several ambulances blast past with sirens blaring their European alarms--which sound to me like a braying donkey--but no real accidents. 

I have always pronounced the name of the island off the coast of Sorrento as though it were a French word with
the emphasis on the second syllable: CaPREE'. Our guides explained that it was originally settled by Greeks who raised goats there--hence it's called 'CApree--the word for goats.  Rather than being a romantic French getaway, it's merely The Island of Goats.  But this island is surrounded by the bluest water I have ever seen. There are lemon trees everywhere, wild flowers growing up through cracks in the pavement and billions of tourists. To say that the vistas from the sea, around the island, and from the mountain atop the island are breathtaking doesn't quite capture the beauty of this place. I'm surprised that anyone left this paradise anciently.  

On the island are a couple of separate villages, and a road above the village of Capri leads to Anacapri (which is Greek for upper Capri) where a gondola ride takes people to the summit of the island.  Our taxi driver up to Anacapri stopped a few times to let us take photos of the village below; but the view from the top was absolutely spectacular.

We noticed that there was a historic cathedral in Anacapri and so we went to see it before meeting up with our taxi driver who had roped us into his personal tour. The floor of the cathedral was a giant display of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden. Produced in the 1700's it too was worth the price of admission.  The artist had apparently never seen some of the animals portrayed, but it was nonetheless impressive--even with a unicorn.