The Island of Procida

For regular readers of my Blog, today is a Water Element day. Yet another ticket booked on line in Australia which was easily exchanged for an actual ticket when we arrived at the Caramar terminal at Calata Porta di Massa. As mentioned yesterday, the plan was to walk to the terminal as the easiest option. A regular pace walk saw us at the port in  25 minutes, in plenty of time for the 60 minutes before deparrture check-in.

The ferry also tranports cars and goes on to Ischia after dropping off foot passengers on Procida. We found a shady spot on the top deck but in the open so masks weren't essential. The 60 minute trip sailed along the coast of the Bay of Naples for a distance before turning towards the open sea. Most passengers were young people heading for  the beach.

Procida is only a small island (4.1 km 2) and extremely appealing with it soft colours and natural ways. It is not spoilt by tourism, however the recent award of Italy's Capital of Culture for 2022 could change that. I hope not!

Arriving on the island we had a quick cappuccino then walked along Marina Grande - a collection of bars and restaurants, small shops, several fresh fish shops, a church and lots of fishing boats, electric bikes (few cars) and pots of flowers.

Lingue di bue, the local pastry delicacy.

We then headed towards the centro storico, under the decorative archway and up towards Terra Mura.

The movie Il Postino was filmed here. 

Along the climb you get the best views of the pastel coloured fishing village of Marina Corricella. With lots of old boats, fishing nets and other paraphenalia of a fishing life, there are also great fish restaurants and bars. No cars, not lots of tourists, a perfect place for a long lunch .

One last steep climb and we arrived at the old walled town perched on the highest point. It has the remains (some parts restored) of houses, an abbey, a church, a palace cum prison and a piazza. Great views too.

Being a waiter here would require extreme fitness as this one was running up to Terra Mura from a small bar below.

Once down from Terra Mura we took another colourful turn down to Corricella

We quickly located a fish restaurant to suit us and had a most delightful, if surprising, long lunch. It was a fairly simple order and when this plate to share arrived we were delighted. Five varieties of seafood and some bruschette. Delicious.

And from the other side of the table!

This photo below shows the HUGE glass of limonata for me. It was so big I could hardly lift it with two hands, but oh so perfect.

We ate all that and sat back saying how wonderful it had been. 

Then along came the waiter with two more plates for us. Kel said 'More?' The waiter smiled and walked away. Some time later this arrived!  We gave it our best effort, in fact we had already eaten quite a bit before this photo.

After lunch we walked along the marina before  heading back to the port area.

Twelve and a half hours later we returned home very happy people.

On the corner of our street, and just over our first floor  terrace wall, is what must be the best business in Naples. It is a tiny shop selling granita. Granita is a frozen dessert made from ice, sugar and flavour, with lemon being the most popular.  

These photos were taken about 11 pm when the queues were still not reducing. People double park to get a granita, queues go out onto the road, families arrive in large numbers all in one car, even workers and essential services people stop by. It is so amazing to watch.