Capri Part II, Gardens of Augustus

After finishing lunch this afternoon I wandered around Capri some more and visited the Gardens of Augustus there. That wasn’t what I planned to do when I first decided to go to Capri. But reality got in the way.

My original tentative plan for the afternoon was to take the bus from Capri to Anacapri after lunch. and then take the bus down to the port to catch the ferry back to Sorrento.

On the only time I’d been to Capri before, I went to Anacapri by bus from Capri. I recall it as being much smaller, quieter, and less pretentious than Capri. I also seem to recall some great vistas from there or near there, but I might be misremembering that part. That trip was more than a decade ago, so misremembering is certainly a possibility.

The point is, I think I liked Anacapri very much and I wanted to go back and refresh my memory and relive it.

But, as I said, reality intruded.

I didn’t get to the restaurant where I had lunch particularly late. Indeed, I think Italians would consider it a little early for lunch. But I lingered enjoyably over it for more than an hour, which got me out of the restaurant when the afternoon had already made a decent start on moving ahead.

I’ve come to enjoy lingering over flavoursome lunches while travelling. So I don’t regret that part.

Then there was the problem I mentioned in this morning’s post. I had to buy a ticket on an earlier ferry back to Sorrento than I wanted because the later ones were sold out.

The upshot is, by the time I got out of the restaurant I had only a few minutes more than two hours to get back to the port. Anacapri was out of the question.

For one thing, I’d have to find the bus stop. In my morning wanderings, I didn’t see a road that a bus or any normal vehicle could drive on, let alone a bus stop. (See this morning’s post for a description of non-normal vehicles.)

I tried searching Google Maps and Apple Maps for bus stops in Capri. Neither could find any. I know the bus still runs despite it being more than a decade since I last took it because there was an office down by the port selling tickets for the municipal bus.

Even if I could find the bus stop and buy a ticket for the bus, I didn’t know how frequently it runs or how long it takes for it to get from Capri to Anacapri and then from there to the port. I think the answers are reasonably frequent; not at all long; and a little longer than from Capri to Anacapri, but not especially long. But I don’t know.

But even if all that worked out, I probably wouldn’t have enough time in Anacapri to make it worth my while.

So I spent what little time I had before I had to head from the hills to the port wandering around central Capri some more and visiting one of its guidebook-recommended sights, the Gardens of Augustus.

Wandering

There’s not much to report from the wanderings. The laneways were still as pleasant and shop/restaurant-lined as the ones I walked through this morning, but I walked through some different ones in the afternoon.

I did pass by a hotel that I hadn’t seen this morning. It looked large, grand, and probably expensive.

I also passed through a small square that I didn’t see or didn’t notice this morning.

And this afternoon I was able to add to the inventory of luxury brand stores I inventoried this morning. I can now add Hermes, Yves Saint Laurent, Ralph Lauren, Bvlgari, Versace, Louis Vuitton, Brunelli, and a regular Dolce & Gabbana store, as opposed to the Dolce & Gabbana Casa store I saw this morning. And probably a bunch I didn’t notice.

I get the sense that if you love shopping, particularly women’s clothing and accessories shopping, and you feel a desperate need to burn through your credit limits on multiple credit cards, you’d probably have no trouble sating that need in Capri. Fortunately, none of that—not one element of it—applies to me.

Despite this afternoon’s wandering being similar in look and feel to this morning’s wandering, Capri is still a very pleasant place to saunter aimlessly through.

But enough aimlessness. It was time to walk purposefully to the Gardens of Augustus.

Gardens of Augustus

The Augustus that the Gardens of Augustus refers to is the Roman Emperor Augustus. I’m not sure, but I don’t think Emperor Augustus still owns the gardens outright, what with him having died in the year 14 CE.

But if he still does own the Gardens of Augustus in Capri, he was nice enough to let me visit for the low, low, low price of just €2.50. Geez. Times must be tough for long-dead emperors if they have to charge the plebs €2.50 just to go into their gardens.

The Gardens of August is rather small, but has very pretty flowers and statues. The vistas of the sea, mountains, geological formations protruding out of the sea, and just general loveliness from the gardens, on the other hand, are spectacular.

I know I’ve overused the phrase “spectacular views” or something synonymous with it on this trip. But it can’t be helped. They have been abundant. I’ll see what I can do to avoid more of them for the rest of the trip.

At least two or three tour groups visited the Gardens of Augustus while I was there. There are a few different vista points in the gardens offering different panoramas in different directions. Most members of each tour group felt the absolute need to position family members, friends, and/or just other tour group members (it was hard to tell the relationships) such that they were perfectly blocking the available views. The person with the camera (smartphone or otherwise) typically then spent considerable time positioning themselves and their subjects to get what they considered to be the absolute very best shot possible of their subjects against the backgrounds.

All I wanted to do was take a gander, grab a quick picture of the panoramas, and quickly head for the funicular station so I wouldn’t miss my ferry. I did manage to do some gandering and get some good shots. The pictures appear here.

Back to Sorrento

After leaving the Gardens of Augustus, I did a reasonably quick march to the funicular station and managed to catch my ferry with plenty of time to spare.

The ferry I was on back to Sorrento was from a different line than the one I was on this morning. This one was much larger than the morning’s ferry. Consequently, the ride back was much smoother than the one over. I like the closeness to the sea of smaller boats, but I like the absence of the feeling of seasickness on the bigger boats. It’s a conundrum.

Just to put a bow on the day, allow me to sum up by saying I wish I had more time on the island of Capri. As I said, I would have liked to get to Anacapri. Plus, there are walks on the island I didn’t get to take. In addition, there are several small boats offering tours around the island to the “Blue Grotto,” a colourful hole carved out of the rock by erosion. I took one of those tours the last time I was in Capri and I remember enjoying it. I would have liked to do it again, but there wasn’t time.

When I planned this trip, I thought about spending a couple of nights in Capri because I liked the island so much from my one other visit there. But I thought that, with all of the other places I wanted to visit, it would have made the trip longer than I would have enjoyed. So I settled just for a day trip. I regret that now. Oh, well. I guess I’ll have to try to get back one day.

So many places in the world I want to see, so little time, and finite funds. We’ll see.