One great part of living in Naples is that there are so many wonderful spots to visit for a day trip. One weekend, we decided to take a day trip to the Isle of Ischia, which is Capri’s lesser known sister island. Sitting in the Tyrrhenian Sea, it’s about a 30-minute ferry ride from Pozzuoli. Many Europeans flock here for its thermal spas, hot springs, and volcanic mud. But there is so much to enjoy here, including beaches, little shops, and restaurants in the small towns. We ended up taking our own self-guided walking tour of Ischia. It was the perfect way to spend the day!
Getting To Ischia
Our day started with our first Italian ferry experience. The best way to describe the boarding experience is “organized chaos.” Basically, everybody just gets on, with large suitcases rolling over toes in the process.
And by everybody, I mean everybody: people rolling on scooters, driving cars, steering vespas, and walking on their own two feet.
Everyone goes up the same ramp at the same time. It’s complete craziness, but I guess there is a smoothness to all of the mayhem, since nobody gets killed or seriously injured in the process. This is also true for getting off of the ferries.
Our short trip on the ferry gave us some pretty good views.
Touring Ischia
We didn’t go into the day with a set plan. Instead, we decided to explore freely. Our impromptu walking tour took us to some wonderful spots.
It was in the high 90s, with clear skies and no wind, so we came prepared to visit one of the beaches. I’m sure that would have been beautiful, but we realized it was just too hot to enjoy the beach that day. But, the island was still quite enjoyable!
We walked around for a bit, looking at the cute shops along the cobblestone roads. A woman was pushing a huge cart of lemons in front of us. When a couple of them fell, Jon helped her out and picked them up.
She was very thankful and asked us if we wanted to try two kinds of liquors from her store. Of course we’ll try your liquor!!! Who does she think she’s talking to? 🙂 We also tried one of her cookies and some other sweets. This turned out to be a great start to our time on Ischia.
We ended up spending the whole day walking around the island. The heat was almost unbearable, but we found a number places to step inside and distract us. At one point, we took a breather and had lunch at a pizzeria. Prosciutto, melon, and pizza Margherita were absolutely delicious!
Headed Home…
We ended our walking tour of Ischia with a quick bus ride to the port, ready to brave the ferry again!
Some granita cooled us off some more. Granita is similar to Italian ice, and very refreshing on a hot day.
We took our quick ferry ride back, and called it a day!
