Italy Day Five ((Island of Lemon))

After saying goodbye to Jenna the night before, Michelle, Paul, and I woke up early and made our way to the Island of Capri. It’s known for the Blue Grotto and everything lemon. We took a 45 minute boat ride over to the island, and it was so much more touristy than expected. The Island itself was very pretty, and again, pictures just don’t do it justice. We walked around aimlessly for a while, and then found tickets for a shuttle ride up the huge mountain to get a better look at the island from up above. For lunch, I ate REAL pasta (not a seafood alternative with tentacles. I am still grossed out by that, and I like seafood!)…ravioli and then we spilt an amazing dessert filled with chocolate ice cream, nutella, and mint topped with whipped cream and chocolate syrup. Oh man, was it amazing.

Once we reached the top of the mountain, we decided to find out what was up with everything lemon. Italy is apparently known for its Lemoncelli, so we went into a store and asked where we could find some to try. The ladies behind the counter said they would give us some free samples. So, I took my sample and chugged it down, honestly thinking it would taste like a fruity lemon drink. Oh my. I choked and sputtered and winced, as did Paul and Michelle after sipping theirs. It was the worst taste and burned my throat like something horrible. The women chuckled at us and told us that we just drank 32% alcohol. I about coughed it all back up. My stomach lining burned from that sample…Paul asked the women what they would mix the Lemoncelli with, and they actually laughed out loud. “We drink it straight!” Italians are hardcore. Hard. Core.

After exploring the island a bit more, and after buying a decent amount of lemon chocolate to soothe our burning stomachs, we got back in line for the shuttle ride back down. The wait was about a half hour with a bunch of sweaty Europeans and Americans, so I had a little time to glance around. The guy in front of me had the biggest bicep I have ever seen, so I pulled out my camera and proceeded to take a picture of it. Michelle laughed, and apparently his girlfriend kept glaring at Michelle for the entire half hour, which I found amusing. Then when we were about to swipe our cards through the machine to get on the shuttle, a person kept bumping up against my back. Every time I would inch forward (closer to the Big Bicep Man), this person would be right on my back. I eventually turned around, and was utterly disgusted. It was an older man who had sweat dripping down his face into puddles at his feet. He wore a fisherman’s hat, and his Hawaiian shirt was unbuttoned all the way, letting his protruding, slick-with-sweat belly rub all over my bag. I felt the Lemoncelli and lemon chocolate rise to my throat. It was sweaty nastiness.

We did not get the chance to ride in the Blue Grotto, which I really wish we had done, but that means I will have to come back. We rode back to land and practically sprinted to the ship with twenty minutes to spare before we received dock time. Thank goodness. The crew prepared a ship-wide 4th of July celebration BBQ around 6pm and everyone wore red, white, and blue and stuffed themselves with ribs, burgers, potato salad, corn on the cob, and the most amazing desserts. It was nice, even though we were celebrating on July 5th, to be unified for that short amount of time.
And when we left the port of Naples, I was ready to leave.
I did not look back.

A.