The island is 4 miles by 2, so any elevated position gives stunning coastal views. This one, from the edge of Capri town, shows a deep blue sea and, if you can spot it, a turret near the shore was part of the villa where singer Gracie Fields used to live. That won’t mean much if you’re not in our age group, but she became Britain’s highest paid pre-war performer. Husband no.2 died in 1950, so she lived there alone until 1952 when she married a Rumanian-born local who had come to repair her radio!
Then we walked from Capri town, up 1,000 ft to Emperor Tiberius’ palace overlooking the mainland. Tiberius ruled the empire from here for the last 10 years of his life, from AD27 to 37, and it was here that he received the news of Christ’s execution.
This next photo doesn’t look at lot different from one earlier. It would have had great significance had you been one of Tiberius’ victims: they were cast off these vertical cliffs near the palace. Wringing a positive comment from this severe type of justice, it was probably somewhat more effective than ASBOs.
Parts of the island are quite populated, but there are just a few full size roads e.g. between the port and Capri town. The main communication arteries are lanes too narrow for cars. These have good pavement surfaces and take special narrow electrically powered vehicles, as in the example below. As with the APE 50’s, are we looking at the future?
Capri did have a certain magic but we needed more time to savour the quieter parts of the island.
