← All articles · Italy · 18 March 2016

Capri, Italy: Sailing round the island past the Faraglioni rock stacks

Capri in March 2016: a boat round the island, the Faraglioni rocks, the lighthouse cliffs, a netted lemon tree and a bottle of limoncello for the way home.

We took a day out of Rome in March 2016 and spent it on the water. March means Capri without the summer crush: the sea is a proper cold blue, half the terraces aren't open yet, and the boats going round the island have plenty of spare seats.

Getting out there

Inga and Dileep at a cafe table with a blue patterned cloth, eating pastries and a filled roll with an espresso in front of them and palm trees outside — Breakfast before the boat: pastries, a roll, and a coffee each. We're nothing if not thorough.

Inga on a boat in the harbour at Capri, with the pastel houses of Marina Grande and the green hillside rising steeply behind her — Pulling into the harbour, with the town stacked up the hillside behind.

A white sign lettered Grotta Azzurra, Giro dell'Isola, bolted to the metal railing of a boat — The whole itinerary, bolted to a railing: Blue Grotto, and a loop of the island.

Round the island

The best of Capri is the bit you can only see from a boat. The cliffs go straight into the water, and every few minutes there's another arch or stack or cave that somebody has given a name to.

Dileep on the deck of a boat with the three Faraglioni rock stacks rising out of the sea behind him, the middle one pierced by a natural arch — The Faraglioni. The middle stack has a hole straight through it, and the boats go through.

A red and white striped lighthouse standing on top of pale limestone cliffs above a choppy blue sea, seen from a moving boat — A lighthouse on the cliff edge, and our wake in the bottom of the frame.

A high view over the sea from Capri, with the marina and terraced houses below, the mainland coast and a headland in the distance — Back on land and a good way up, looking across at the mainland.

Lemons, obviously

A lemon tree heavy with large ripe lemons, draped with fine black netting to protect the fruit — Lemons the size of a fist, with netting over the whole tree to keep them there.

A swing top bottle of bright yellow limoncello with a lemon shaped label, wrapped in bubble wrap on a paper bag printed Arrivederci e Grazie — Bubble wrapped for the journey, on a bag that says arrivederci e grazie. It survived.

We were back in Rome by nightfall, walking past a floodlit Colosseum with a bottle of limoncello in the bag.