Spaghettoni alla nerano

We went to Capri today - such a beautiful island like a jewel in the Mediterranean! As soon as we arrived by ferry we bought tickets for a round-the-island boat trip which included swimming from the boat. It was great to see the island from the sea. We passed the white grotto, with its little Madonna inside on a ledge, and the emerald grotto, but we couldn’t get into the famous Blue Grotto, because it was closed today. Apparently this was because the waves were too high, which amazed me because they didn’t seem high to me at all - I presume it’s because the cave mouth is very low and narrow. There were lots of other small caves, one of which the skipper pointed out was a rather rude shape, although I wouldn’t have noticed without him exclaiming many times in English and Italian, “I won’t tell you what it looks like!” This produced much ribald laughter from the passengers, who were mostly Italians. The swim was great fun. The skipper lowered a little ladder over the side of the boat and in we went. James dived in beautifully and I was very proud of him. The water had a bit of a current so if you didn’t swim quite hard you were swept behind the boat. One man couldn’t swim fast enough and the skipper had to throw him a rope and pull him aboard! It was so refreshing and the sea was azure blue. Once we were all back in the boat we continued round the island and as we approached Capri town again, the skipper led the Italian passengers in a loud sing-song, I didn’t recognise the song at all and I forgot to ask him what it was. They certainly all enjoyed it!

We had ice cream sundaes and cool drinks in a café near the harbour; they were startlingly expensive. Then we went for a pleasant walk, winding our way up the hill to the top of Capri town, where we had even more expensive drinks in the beautiful Piazza Umberto I. What a great atmosphere it has, with little streets around it lined with designer shops, and lots of people strolling around wearing gorgeous clothes. Back down the hill we went in the funicular, and headed along the pier to where we thought our ferry would be waiting for us. However there were no signs to clarify which of the several ferries was bound for Sorrento, and then we spotted another ferry approaching and hurried round in the other direction to meet it. Well, it turned out to be the next ferry after the one we were booked on to Sorrento, and by then we were far too late to make it back to the one we should have been on before it departed. So we ended up returning half an hour later than intended, but it didn’t matter because we had no reason to rush and nobody but ourselves to please. Later on we had dinner in the wee shopping street in Sorrento and relaxed while watching the world go by. Tonight I chose spaghettoni alla nerano con pioggia do caciotta, which is spaghettoni (slightly thicker than spaghetti) with courgettes and flakes of local cheese. It was lovely; quite oily with the courgettes sliced very thin. It’s a local dish, so simple but cooked to perfection.