Today's adventure is long/there are a lot of photos (several of them are Michael's).
Maybe grab a drink and a snack before you dig into this one.
Last night Michael and I decided it would be fun to explore Ischia. This involved getting up at 04:30 so we could catch the early ferry out and have a reasonable amount of time on the island.
We made it down to the Pozzouli port, where....we didn't exactly know where to go. We parked in a random spot and wandered over to where a gate guard was hanging out. I showed him my ticket and he directed me to the ferry office (through my broken Italian). We got our official tickets and then dove over to the dock to get in line. We were maybe one of three cars who were there the requested one hour before departure time. So we sat and watched people mucking about and about a dozen trucks carrying extremely flammable materials go buy. I think a Michael Bay film must have been somewhere nearby.
06:00 the ferry arrives!
The people who came off it must have gotten up even earlier than we did.
You have to back on to the ferry. My car is little and I was early in line, so I turned around in the ferry. I failed to understand where the ferry guys wanted me to park though and ended up with a nice man turning my steering wheel for me to get me where they wanted the car.
And now for several sunrise photos. Enjoy!
We went inside and sat for a bit. The ferry ride was supposed to be a little over an hour long.
First views of Ischia!
The Ischia harbor.
We decided to drive over to some hot springs that are on the South-West (Sant'Angelo) side of the island. The port is on the North-East side of the island. Michael GoPro video taped the drive. It makes me dizzy to watch.
Views at an overlook. It's still foggy/misty:
Somewhere on the way to the hot springs I turned down what probably really is a pedestrian only alley way. Michael got to do a 37-point turn to get us turned around so I could go back down the alley and go the correct route. I probably should have just backed down.
I also passed the parking area for the springs. There was no turn around so I just backed up down the road a bit. I learned from the previous incident.
The springs are at the bottom of a cliff that has many stairs.
When we arrived the only other person there was a guy setting things up at the restaurant which you can see in the top right of the photo below.
The springs are volcano heated
I was not paying attention to Michael's phone when it was taking photos.
The springs are a mixture of sea water and geothermally heated water. I believe in Ischia's case, it's from an underground volcano. As you sat in the pools you would have to swish the water around a bit to keep it at a comfortable temperature. If you didn't the parts of you within the top few centimeters of the surface would get uncomfortably hot and the lower parts would get cold.
We had the place to ourselves for a good hour or so and then some locals started showing up, and then a tour group. We decided this meant we should move on.
We got breakfast at the hotel at the top of the stairs.
Some graffiti along the stairs.
A view from the hotel parking lot. The hot springs are behind us.
Our next adventure on Ischia took us to find the hotel/restaurant run by Michael's dad's buddy's family. Or something like that.
We found it. They were very nice. We had a lovely chat and then wandered over to the town of Forio to do some more exploring.
The docks by our LEGAL parking spot. I was amazed we found legit parking.
The main town road. It is pedestrian only.
This fountain looks like something out of a Dali painting.
This shop looks like something out of an animated Disney movie.
We had to visit some churches, so we did.
Church of Santa Maria Visitapoveri:
Church of Our Lady of Aid (and view):
This was in the church. Apparently Our Lady is clubbing people who get in her way.
We found the first (as told to us by the other hotel people) hotel on Ischia, which is also owned by Michael's dad's buddy's family. Or something.
I don't know what this weird little structure thing is, but I am happily eating gelato in front of it.
Another view of the harbor in Forio.
Now's probably a good time for an Intermission. Go get another drink, more snacks, use the bathroom, whatever. I'll wait.
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Ready? Okay!
We climbed back into the car and drove around the top part of the island, past our port, and to the Aragonese Castle. We parked illegally this time. For sure. But....so were other people, and we weren't going to be gone too long. We had to get back to the port to catch our ferry home or we would be stuck here over night. Not a terrible fate, just unplanned.
The castle was originally built in 474 BC and as with most things that old, it's had many other owners and occupants. It was mostly destroyed during a British siege in 1809 and later sold to a private owner. You can only explore a little bit of it, but we explored anyway.
Seems like a good spot for a castle.
Boats! Boats! Boats!
Looking back at the island.
We purchased our tickets and then walked through what we thought was the entry way.
It was this kind of sketchy hallway.
And then we got in an elevator that may have had someone stuck it in.
He seemed very relieved when the doors opened.
The elevator had these button options. Two of them are "Don't Touch."
Luckily the elevator took us up to the parts of the castle you can explore.
Oh, did I mention that it reeked of body odor? Cause it did. It was gross.
Views from the top:
Ye ancient courtyard. Now with pretty flowers!
Hey there's a church; let's look in the church.....
Um...What?
They're doing research on mummies and things in the church. That's....perfectly normal.
I totally expected this. Or not. No. Not at all. What is going on here?
We did not find out.
I totally expected this. Or not. No. Not at all. What is going on here?
We did not find out.
Doors!
Who doesn't want to have a drink or something to eat here?
Another view from the top.
My car is that black dot where the dock connects to the road in the top right-ish.
At least it's still there.
Roman or Greek style church thingie.
More pretty views:
When we left, we walked down the cave like stairway that you were supposed to use to get up to the castle. I guess we took a handicap/service entrance. Eitherway, a lot of this was surreal. I'm not sure how I felt about the whole thing.
Ciao ciao Castello Aragonese!
Driving back to the port. We were going downhill.
We got to the port a little early, because I was worried about missing the last ferry back to Pozzouli. We had about 30 minutes to use so we got snacks at a little shop. Michael got nutella crepes and I got churroitos, or something like that. Both were basically sugar. They were good.
Unfortunately, we did not get to see how this truck got on its ferry. It seemed to long to be able to turn around and we wanted to see what they ended up doing.
Ciao ciao Ischia!
A fishing boat has a flock of seagulls following it off of Procida.
A little lighthouse on the tip of Capo Miseno.
We pulled back into the Pozzouli port and headed for home. I think we both may have taken naps or something before finding dinner type food things. I don't remember. It was a long, but fun day.
This concludes our adventure for today.
