h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

The Isle of Capri – May 1, 2007

The camera doesn’t lie. The dates on the Capri pictures are May 1st, our second day out. We catch the ferry from Sorrento to Capri.

The first time we came here, years ago, we walked uphill and found a sign pointing to the Blue Grotto. After a nice walk past some residences we came to an overlook of the Grotto. There are some legends here about some scandalous behavior by the Roman emperors Augustus and Tiberius: debauched orgies, flinging people from cliffs, nymphateums and other politically incorrect forms of behavior.

This time we take the bus and funicular uphill to the main tourist area and then the chairlift to the top of a mountain. The chairlift takes you over rooftops and gardens to a mountaintop. The sweeping views are a little obscured by clouds and mist so some of the photo ops weren’t there.

The island is full of daytrippers like us this time of year. The guidebooks suggest that spending a night or two to enjoy the more laid back evenings with dinner in a piazza might be a good idea.

http://good-times.webshots.com/slideshow/559188879LyFybN

Lots of olive trees?

People run tours to Capri from Naples to Sorrento to Amalfi, a strech of 100 miles. I had the feeling that any local agriculture that once existed had been long since swamped by 20 to 30 thousand daytripper tourists a day waving euros...no Olive trees....

Dang. One of my retirement ideas is to grow olives. Olive trees are looking.

Isn't Capri where Tiberius used to throw people off the cliffs if they annoyed him?

Yes. He also had parties, the like of which were not seen again until Animal House.

Good old Tiberius. A rather decent man in his younger days, if I remember correctly. Then it all went terribly wrong. He turned into a murderous old lech. Or is it lecher? Whatever. Of course, with that mother of his.......

You remember? Wow, you're older than I thought...









Olive trees are definitely . And so much fun to photograph.