A Part of History

The towns were buzzing with anxiousness and excitement as the selection of a new Pope was underway.  We’d been waiting for what seemed like an eternity and had hoped to see the new Pope last week while visiting Rome and the Vatican City.  Today we were headed to the island of Capri or KAH-pree as pronounced by Italians!  From Sorrento's port Marina Piccola, a hydrofoil (“jet boat”) or ferry was the two options of travel and somehow we were stuck on the latter.  This ferry held what seemed like hundreds of people and took approximately 45-minutes to the jet boat’s 20-minute speed.  I was so excited to see the infamous “Island of Dreams” that I hurried aboard, sat nearest a window and waited to set sail.   

As we navigated out into the Tyrrhenian Sea, it began to rain and I quickly felt the choppiness of the water!  Actually, I was pretty sure I saw cats and dogs coming down from the sky.  The waves propelled against our windows and although I continued to look out, with every thrust, I was sure my window would soon shatter.  I mean the ferry rocked from side to side as if were a 4-wheel truck turning the corner on only two of its wheels.  To my surprise we never tipped, but I thought to myself, “did I board the local version of the Titanic?”  Then I remembered Steve Harvey’s standup in the Original Kings of Comedy… "The band was playin' as the ship went down" - What black band YOU know gon' keep playin...with the darn ship goin down'?  Kool & the Gang woulda been unpluggin' sh!#..!  Suddenly, I didn’t remember getting that brief safety lesson on how to fasten the lifejacket in the event of an emergency.  In fact, I didn’t even know where these lifejackets were located!  I began to panic!  Man overboard is all I could envision!  And just like that, the rain calmed, the sun shown thru and we were docking at the Marina Grande harbor.

We dashed for the ticket booth to catch the funicular up to the actual town of Capri.  The main attraction here is the Blue Grotto, a sea cave with a tiny opening that only a small rowboat can get through.  It opens and closes with the tide and is flooded with a brilliant blue or emerald light.  Since the entrance is small and the tide was high, we were not able to visit so we transferred to a bus and headed for the town of Anacapri.  “Ana” which means “up” is the island’s second town located at a higher elevation.  The small bus to get there seemed only enough to accommodate 3 couples yet there were easily 30 people smashed together hanging on for dear life as we coiled around the mountain while trying to sneak a quick peak at the dramatic views behind us.  

 

Finally here, we strolled down the pedestrian-only streets, peeped in shop after shop and even visited the Church of San Michele.  This 18^th-century Neapolitan style church’s floors were entirely covered with hand painted ceramic tile featuring a grand scene of the expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.  It was quite elaborate yet amazing!  Kudos to the artist that sat there tirelessly drawing then painting all of these animals with human expressions on a floor that could be seen best only after climbing a tiny spiral staircase - barely wide enough to hold only one person!  Dark clouds reappeared calling off our chairlift up to the highest point - Monte Solaro, a 1,900-foot summit with a commanding view of Naples so we headed downhill and on our return Ferry.  The ride back to Sorrento was much more calm than before but, the rain was still coming down.  Once there, we boarded a tiny shuttle headed towards Sorrento’s center and rode it around and around the city until “light” rain subsided! 

Later that evening, we popped into our favorite pizza & gelato shop and chatted with our new friend, the owner.  “Any sign of smoke yet,” I asked.  This was now Day 5.  White smoke in the air meant the Cardinals had finally elected a successor to Pope Benedict XVI while the prior 4 days of black smoke meant they hadn’t.  “Yes, Pope Francis of Argentina, the first Latin American and member of the Jesuit order (Christian of the Catholic Church) was elected to lead the Roman Catholic Church,” said the owner.  He is also the first non-European pope in more than 1,200 years.  In other words, the leader of the worldwide Catholic Church was just elected and I was able to experience that piece of history!  Since there wasn’t enough time to board a train back to Rome and actually see Pope Francis speak, we hustled back to the hotel to watch him address the people on television from the central balcony of St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican only hours after election into papacy.  There were massive crowds and celebratory tears all over Italy as the Pope gave his first speech.  It was much like any city celebrating their local sports teams’ win.  Now I was just touring - visiting places I’d always wanted to see.  I never could have imagined I would be in the same country at the same time as the Papal Conclave, 115 Cardinal-electors representing every continent in the world and the election of the new Pope.  This was truly a momentous and historical occasion!