Day 5 – The Villa Tour
Wednesday, 19th April
Hello,
I just listened to the song about the Capri fishermen. We did everything wrong. We would have to go to the mainland to see the red sun sink into the sea at Capri. Besides, we would have to wait for the pale crescent of the moon to blink from the sky.
The song describes the very narrow window of time when it doesn't rain, the sun goes down, the moon flashes crescent-shaped in the sky and where Vico and the beautiful Marie are a happy couple.
I would have stayed a little more unspecific, then more people could feel addressed. For example, making a reasonably good-looking mouse out of the beautiful Marie and in double quick time would mean half the nation.
However, the hiking boots are heavy. That's why three evening dresses, a dinner jacket, a top hat with tails and the matching shoes had to stay at home. We would probably explore the island far less diligently if we hadn't made this sacrifice.
So on to the villa tour: Villa Jovis and Villa Lysis.
To the house of the father of the gods, of course, go uphill. We quickly sat down behind all the other tourists who also had heavy hiking boots with them. Even those who only wore sneakers passed us. The last ones to overtake us were those in high heels, evening dress and tails.
After a while the crowd came towards us.
"Villa Jovis is closed," the group's Dutch spokesman told us. "There's nothing to see here."
I had looked at a map earlier and thought I vaguely remembered that there must be a path other than Villa Jovis that overlooked the area. As a Lower Saxonian, Matthias doesn't listen to Dutch anyway.
That's all I needed!
Shaking their heads, the group followed their guide down and we continued on our way.
After about 500 m, Luigi invited us to visit the Garden of Astarita. Luigi has snow-white hair and is the only Caprese who only speaks Italian. Admission was free. There was nothing to see from the garden but the Amalfi Coast and the Faragolini of the previous day.
The group had probably already seen the rocks and coast from the plane and found them boring.
We roamed the park for one hour and discovered a few viewing platforms. As we were heading to a platform with a long descent, Luigi told us it was closing in half an hour.
I don't want to win sport championships, but then I got ambitious: I wanted to do it.
The descent took 5 minutes. Right at the bottom sat a couple enjoying the view. As a German tourist, I naturally shared my knowledge with them. Will be closing in 20 minutes.
Although they liked the view, they didn't want to stay until it opened the next morning. Perhaps they also felt disturbed in their togetherness. Anyway, they released the bank. They really had chosen a beautiful spot: a 360-degree view of the Gulf of Naples.
Despite looking, I reached the exit in time. I'm surprisingly fit. Maybe I should start training for a marathon.
After the park, Matthias and I continued on our way to Villa Jovis. At the end of the street we realized: the villa was closed. At least on this point the group was right.
"Closed for construction" it said.
What can I say? That was also urgently needed. This wasn't a villa. That was a ruin. It will probably be a long time before they can open again.
We found the little path we spotted on the map and walked to the second villa. Let's see if Villa Lysis is in better condition.
It was a steep descent that hiking boots were great for. We encountered a hoopoe, several lizards and a few intrepid tourists.
The Villa Lysis is an industrial villa at the highest technical level of its construction time. It is situated on the edge of a cliff overlooking Capri town. There is a private room to smoke weed and enough space to grow hemp.
What else could you ask for?
Kind regards
Pinky
