AMALFI COAST - SALERNO AND CAPRI

SALERNO

We did our last two trips to Salerno on Wednesday and Capri on Thursday.  Salerno appears to be a newer city and is definitely a larger port, with apartment buildings/condos on the waterfront.  We did not take any tours in Salerno but strolled along what seemed to be the main thoroughfare with lots of stores similar to those you find in the US or Canada.  The only vehicles allowed along that street were delivery vans.  Here are a few pictures of Salerno which are really only of the coastline.

CAPRI

Some would say I've saved the best for last but I have mixed feelings about the island of Capri.  It is certainly beautiful but what a tourist zoo!!!  The ferry took us around the island and it's beautiful from every view.  We took a tour of Capri but really, all I can tell you is that it's crowded, with lots of stores and restaurants.  There is a chair lift - and it is literally a single chair per person - which you can take to get a top down view of the island.  I chose not to do that.  I did want to see the Blue Grotto but it would have meant waiting for up to two hours for your turn to go in as well as when the tide cooperates; much of that wait would have been in a small boat and that did not appeal to me. 

On the way to Capri, this island represents the legend of the Three Sirens who lured sailors to their death.  If you look closely, the rock on the right looks like a face turned upward towards the sky.  The hotel(s) here go for about 20,000 Euros per night.

The above rock formations are just off Capri.  We actually sailed through one of them, although the aperture was larger than the ones in the pictures.

The four pictures above are different views of the island.

What would Capri be without the inevitable yachts!!

The lighthouse on Capri.

View of a different part of the island.

A hotel atop one part of the island.

Another view of Capri.

The three pictures above were taken from the tour we took.  We were visiting the Villa San Michele museum, the historic residence of the Swedish physician Axel Munthe, an avid collector of Roman antiques as well as from other archaeological sites.  The villa is perched high on the island.

This was the last of our Amalfi Coast trips.  Our next trip is to Bari in the region of Puglia where we have a few tours scheduled.