Thursday, October 29 Anacapri, Italy

We arrived on time in Napoli and took a harrowing drive by taxi to the Molo Beverello (quay for departure to Capri, Ischia and Sorrento by hydrofoil). From my brief glimpse by night of the area around the central train station, Naples looked third-worldish with garbage overflowing, people gathered around an open fire on the sidewalk, and our taxi driver dodging motos and running red lights, passing on the right!

Night falls early here now due to daylight savings time which began last Saturday, and the fact that we are further east than in Brussels. By five o'clock the sun is already setting now. Capri is lovely and sunny with spectacular views in every direction. We made "the pilgrimage" to Axel Munthe's villa San Michele (www.sanmichele.org/indexEN.html) yesterday after breakfast, and I was enthralled by the beauty of its natural setting. The house itself was somewhat dark and uninviting, but the gardens carved out of the rocky premonitory provided an idyllic atmosphere for reflection and meditation. The San Michele chapel with its view over the Bay of Naples, guarded by the Egyptian sphinx from the time of Rameses II was the 'punto culminante.'

Vladi had to leave yesterday afternoon to return to Brussels, so Sophia and I accompanied him on the minibus that makes the twisting drive down the cliff from Anacapri to Capri. There we said goodbye and headed along a path that hugged the eastern edge of the island. The elegant villas here are envelopped in mantles of bouganvillea and ivy, and dotted with citrus and palms. The center of Capri has been dedicated to ultra chic and expensive designer boutiques producing an overall effect akin to an airport dutyfree zone. Once you move beyond this, however, the island's unique blend of Italian arquitectural elegance and natural beauty prevails.

We reached the view of gli Faraglioni, the massive rocks engulfed by the sea that were once part of the island. Following the via Pizzolungo, we glimpsed the modernistic Villa Malaparte, a long narrow red house built on barren rock and accessible only by a steep stairs twisting its way up the perpendicular wall face from the sea. The Italian author Curzio Malaparte had it built in the 1940's. We continued along the path through abundant vegetation, reaching the large Grotta di Matromania, a natural cave with Roman remains still crumbling, and the picturesque Arco Naturale which reminded me of Lexington, Virginia's Natural Bridge, except that on Capri the arch frames a beautiful window of azure blue. Everywhere you fix your gaze, the brilliant blue of sea and sky dazzles. When the sunlight strikes the water's surface it shimmers and sparkles like a mantle of diamonds.