A day in Capri - Anacapri

We had pre-booked this tour to Capri and Amalfi Coast tour from home, so it was Wendy's long-awaited excursion.
Up early, we walked the 30 mins to get to the coach pickup point at the Greenline tour offices.
By 8.00 am we had escaped the heavy morning Rome traffic and were speeding south down the autostrada towards Naples.
It was quite a long trip, but it was entertaining to see some Italian countryside one more. Lots of small fields with crops -- many hay rolls for fodder.. but no animals - well maybe one small herd of white cows and two horses..
Lots of rolling green hills and small villages - some perched on the hillsides.
The journey took about 3 hours to Naples .. we drive past mount Vesuvius - and into the very busy port area, where we alighted and swapped to a new guide for the fast ferry trip across to the island. The weather was rather overcast. Ferries take just passengers - at least 400 people, seated inside - like an aircraft. The guide later told us there can be 10,000 tourists per day in peak times, but it drops right off in winter.

Some 45 minutes later we had reached Capri harbour.
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Straight away, we were in a smaller bus for the drive uphill through very narrow winding streets up to the main town of Anacapri.. How the buses and cars don't collide remains a mystery of driver ingenuity..
Having done some homework, we opted not to take the optional row boat trip into the blue grotto.. but most of the group went along.
To see the grotto they were taken by motorboat, then transferred to small rowing boats which were able to pass through the narrow entry to the cave, with the passengers lying on their backs.. time in the cave was about 6 mins !! we decided to spend our morning time exploring..
As we explored the narrow pedestrian only laneways, we came upon the hotel of San Michele.. originally built by[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axel_Munthe| Axel Munthe]] - a folk hero of the island.

Lunch was supplied with the tour and we (I) got to taste the greenish lemoncello alcoholic beverage native to the island.. wow -- packed a kick - and also as I realised when the waiter appeared, made a dent in the hip pocket..

pity they don't explain these things clearly enough!!
So we .. ( I - having also consumed Wendy's share!!) staggered manfully on to explore the rest of Anacapri!

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Came across a beautiful little church with someone playing the organ.. ..
(Personal resolution to enjoy more uplifting / cultural / musical activities upon return to Au..)
We also admired the many handcrafts on display..in the little shops.. sandal making, brightly pottery, paintings, and all sorts of lemony things including soap..
By 5.00 pm it was time to board the ferry and return to the mainland for the long drive back to Rome.. but there was one advantage - we got to be dropped off very close to the apartment so only needed to negotiate the stairs!!