Blue grotto mandolino

We got up early today so as to catch the first boat to Capri. We grabbed the prepackaged food from the hotel breakfast and headed for the pier. I decided to take a dramamine this morning and pack one for the return so as not to repeat yesterday's motion sickness fun. And it was a good thing I took it, because the sea was angry today, my friend, like an old man trying to send back soup at a deli. We took the jet boat (LMP company) which got us to Capri in an hour (around 9:45). At the dock, we found the 30 ft boat that would take us to the grotto. About 15 or so people were on the boat as it made its way from the marina to the grotto. Once there all the little rowboats started rowing over to us, but the capitan and the head grotto guy stopped them from taking people from our boat (I guess to wait for the other boat to unload first). After about 10 minutes, we hopped in one of the dinghies along with another couple and the boatsman rowed (standing) us over to the cashier where we payed the entrance fee. Then we were rowed to the entrance just big enough for the dinghy and maybe only 3 feet high from sea level. there is a chain here where after timing at the trough of a swell the boatsman pulls us into the grotto. Once insdie the sight is amazing. The bluest blue I've seen. All the dinghies are hanging out inside and some of the capitans are singing, it's all a little bit nutty like a disneyland ride. When we made our way back the sea had picked up and the entrance was being covered by swells quite frequently. After waiting in line for a few minutes, our boat slipped back out and we got back on the return boat. This was my mistake. Rick Steves says the best plan is to skip the return boat and go direct to Anacapri on land from the little dock at the grotto. I missed reading that and we went back to the marina. It was lunchtime now and thinking that probably the worst restaurants would be on the marina, I started walking in the direction the signs pointed to the city center. Mistake #2. The walk from the marina to Capri is a long uphill walk. They didn't build a cable car here for nothing. After a lot of stairs we reached a little Trattoria that didn't look open because the staff were all sitting at a table eating, but they welcomed us in. This turned our fortune as the food was excellent (caprese salad with fresh mozarella and a wood fired pizza marinara). The seating was excellent, in a patio area with a fantastic view of the bay of Naples. One of the other customers, who came in after us and was sitting a couple tables over, turned out to be a mandolin player. One of the chefs had been sitting out in the patio as well and goaded the old mandolin player into playing a couple Italian folk songs. It was pretty cool stuff. After lunch, we made it to Capri Town and walked around some of the shops. Jadine found a coral/turquoise shop that had some nice but expensive jewelry. We took a bus over to Anacapri to try to ride the chairlift, but it started raining and they shut it down. Jadine found another jewelry shop selling turquoise, but it was not as good quality so we skipped it. We hopped on the next bus to Capri Town which was packed. As it was getting late, we took the funicular down to the marina and got our tickets for the "jet" to Amalfi. The port was a mess with people most of who were heading to Sorrento. One interesting thing is we ran into the same people on the way back as on the way to Capri. These guys were really on top of things calling just before reaching port to get picked up to go out again. Back in Amalfi, we decided to go back to the same restaurant we went to the first night. This time we ordered primi piattis instead of the secondis we had the first night. Jadine got a tasty seafood risotto, I had some pasta with eggplant which I've forgotton how it tasted, but the highlight for me was the desserts and wine. We got parmesan with pear and honey and the local speciality, lemon cake. The cheese was good with the honey and the cake was moist and tasty. We had an Orvieto wine (a whole bottle so the rest of the night was a bit of a blur for me). Tomorrow sees us leaving this quiet little town heading to the largest city in Italy.