David fondly remembers visiting the island of Capri during the summers, when he was a boy. It was, however, Laura’s first time. And, what a time it was.

We were on a cruise out of Civitavecchia, Rome’s port. The ship docked at Naples the first morning of our cruise. It was a short walk from the cruise ship to where the ferries and hydrofoils left for Capri. David had already booked tickets for a hydrofoil online, which resulted in a voucher by email.  At the hydrofoil wharf, we stood in a short line to use our voucher to pick up our tickets. Then, we went to the spot for ticket-holding passengers to wait to be admitted to our hydrofoil. The spots where you wait at this point are wide, with wide swinging gates that resemble cattle gates. An hour or so later, we were on Capri.

Straight off the hydrofoil, we hopped in an open-air taxi that whisked us up the hill to beautiful Capri Town (more on the taxi ride and the town later). We walked through the main square and into the warren of tiny alleys and narrow streets.

We were headed to the very top of the island — where there was a view fit for an emperor. The emperor Tiberius, to be exact. We got lost only once.

The adopted son of Rome’s first emperor Augustus, Tiberius was the son of Augustus’ wife, the Empress Livia, by her first marriage. Tiberius was said to be a rather difficult and unhappy person. It probably did not help that he had been forced to divorce his beloved wife and marry Augustus’ scandalous daughter Julia, whom he did not like. Later in life, he preferred staying on Capri to living in Rome. In fact, he owned a number of properties on Capri, but his favorite — now known as Villa Jovis — was the most remote, and it was where we were headed. (If you’re wondering, the ‘J’ in Italian is pronounced like an exaggerated ‘I’ — think of the German ‘J’. While we’re on the subject, David can’t help himself but to point out the island’s name is pronounced CA-pree, and it’s only the pants that are pronounced ca-PREE. What you do with this is up to you.)

The streets of most of Capri Town are too small for cars. There is one weird single-passenger vehicle that is reserved for locals, so your choices for getting around are bicycles or walking.

We chose to walk — and it was a very long, uphill walk. Appropriately, the route is on Via Tiberius. We passed defibrillators along the way (no joke). It’s not hard to figure out why. It should also be obvious you need to wear comfortable walking shoes!

 

 

As you walk, you pass some of the most amazing villas and gardens.

 

 

 

We passed some furry residents lounging in the sun.

Almost there…

Then finally, we arrived at the ruins of Tiberius’ great villa.

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see from the photo at the top of this post, the view from Villa Jovis is incredible. The tiny white speck in the water way, way down below, is a ship.  This is a such a beautiful, remote, quiet spot. No wonder Tiberius loved it here, living in this once-sumptuous villa.

While the journey up to the villa is on surfaces smooth enough for walking, many parts of the villa’s grounds are not. You will need to watch your step in some spots. Proud of ourselves for having made it all the way up to the villa, and then for not twisting an ankle at the top, we headed back down for lunch in Capri Town. Going downhill was easier than going up.