We got up bright and early and headed to the main town of Amalfi in order to get into the boat that we had hired for the day. It was a bit of a struggle to find but when we did find it, the skipper and the manager of the company helped us onto his little boat and off we went. Our skipper was absolutely lovely and answered any questions and helped us plan the route. On the way to Capri, we stopped off at many grottos, which were so appealing and striking and even explored within a large grotto. Now, being a keen-o geographer myself, you can imagine how thrilled I was when I saw all these grottos and all the cliff faces and knowing exactly what has happened to them and how they've been formed and what will continue to happen to them in the future (don't worry, I won't bore you with details) so that made me very happy. What made me even happier was the beautiful blue sky, the sun shining and that glorious turquoise blue sea. It was so surreal. I mean, I've visited a lot of countries around the world such as the Caribbean and Australia and this sea matches those seas in beauty. I especially love the colour of the sea against the white cliffs. After sailing for a while and seeing multiple grottos, we decided to go full speed ahead to Capri.
When we got to Capri's "Marina Grande", the water glistened and reflected off all the various super yachts owned by celebrities, big boats, small boats, normal sized boats... you get the picture, there was a lot of boats and I was instantly in love with this postcard picture perfect town. We hopped off the boat, with the help of our skipper, and were given a 3 hour trip limit (if we wanted to see everything else we wanted to see on our trip). The first thing we thought was - f o o d. We found a place just off the marina to eat, which was delicious, and then after looking around the various shops at the sea level base of Capri, headed up the funicular to explore the rest of Capri. Apparently Capri, being a prime tourist spot, can get pretty crowded in the peak summer months but fortunately, it wasn't packed at all, especially in comparison to what I thought it would be like. The top of the funicular was like entering millionaire dream world and I would estimate that 90% are designer shops with those ridiculous price tags. Nonetheless, it's an experience to glance in the windows of all these designer shops, especially when you can appreciate the beauty and quality of the garments (and dream of, some day, having your name on the front of one of those shop fronts). Other than that, there are a few gelateria's (which is ALWAYS a good thing) and a beautiful art gallery, which is definitely worth a visit. Also, just having a wonder around the town is quite nice but there's not a lot to see. If I'm honest, Capri is perfect for millionaires with money to spare for expensive accessories etc but for the people who aren't quite at that millionaire status yet, there isn't a hell of a lot to do except from window shop (which may get a little boring, well... it did for my dad haha) and appreciate the beauty of the view, which is very beautiful indeed. Therefore, I really wouldn't recommend it We didn't have much time in Capri and so after soaking up the views of the landscape around us, we went back onto the crowded funicular and got back onto the boat in order to continue our travels along the sea to the main town of Positano.
We stopped off at one more grotto just below Furore and then made our way to Positano rather pronto bella to make the most of our trip. We had an even shorter trip to Positano, limited to about an hour and a half, as we over stayed our welcome in Capri so we decided just to wander around the main and side streets and really get a feel for the town itself, as we'd already seen it from above (see my blog post on my first trip to Positano here). There was a lot of little stalls selling handmade jewellery and original watercolours and oil paintings too lined along a lovely pebbled side path with vines intertwined along the walls and woven roof, it was truly beautiful. Down the side street there was a little turning where you could see the entrance of another gallery which displayed the art of an architect turned artist who's paintings clearly presented his education. The colours he used really complimented each other. I have his card somewhere, if I ever find it in my mess of a bed room, I will update this post with his name! Overall in Positano, we visited 2 galleries. The other was a little cupboard of a shop which had a set of stairs which lead to the biggest, most beautiful balcony with a magnificent 360 view of the sea and all the other surroundings. It was a beautiful place to display art. To finish our short trip to the picturesque town of Positano, we had a gelato at a sweet little cafe bar which was light and creamy but not too creamy (nocciola, of course) and then wandered slowly (and late) back to our boat in order to sail back to Amalfi and sadly, end our boat trip. My overall opinion of Positano was better than that of Capri and would probably have preferred to spend 3 hours there rather than Capri because the town was a lot more quaint, modest and subtle in my opinion. Either way though, the boat trip was great and I loved every second of it.
I really would recommend a boat trip to anyone because they're a great way of seeing a few towns in one day, especially if you're in a rush to see a lot in a little time. Another reason I would recommend is that you get to really experience the sea and all that comes with it such as the beautiful grottos, without having to do any sailing yourself and it's relatively cheap (well since you have a boat and a personal skipper for about 7 hours!)
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