Finally in Procida
I have chosen Procida to be among the first destinations I write about, because it was one of my first trips with my daughter and also our slowest trip ever. L’Isola di Procida had been on my bucket list for many years. In 2007 I was dating a man from the Amalfi coast, so I spent more time around there than usual. The whole area enchanted me, and I wanted to discover every corner of the coastline. One day I saw a photo of funny colourful houses on what seemed to be a tiny island, I had never seen this view before.
It was before all this social media hype, so we got the info mainly from guide books and tourist brochures. I asked my boyfriend and he told me the place was Procida, the smallest island in the Bay of Naples. We decided to go there, but every time we wanted to go, the weather got grey and rainy, and for an avid photographer like me, it would have been a complete disaster. I needed sunshine and great lights in a place like this, I wanted to take the same photo, with bright colours and blue sky. So we never went.
In 10 years many things changed in my life, but my desire to go to Procida never faded. So when I saw cheap flights to Naples for June, I bought 2 tickets right away, for my daughter and myself. I knew it could be a perfect time of the year with great weather and before the busiest holiday months. And it was. Warm weather, but not too hot, hardly any tourists, blue sky and the best lights for 10 days, a photograper’s dream.
So on June 5th we jumped on our flight, in Naples took the Alibus from the airport to Molo Beverello, and just arrived in time for the next hydrofoil to Procida. Most ferries go to Procida first and then to Ischia island. There is Caremar and SNAV, we just picked whatever came first. We are both prone to seasickness, so took our pills, but the waves were big that day. It only took about 40 minutes and I can tell you, it wasn’t a joy ride, we were very happy to put our feet on land. The windows of the ferry were dirty, we did not see much, so the usual „stare at the horizon” method did not work here.
As I looked around I realized that nobody else cared about the dirty windows. It was late afternoon and the ferry was full of local people commuting to work or school from Procida to Naples, every day. Sounds romantic, but with my seasickness I’d rather commute by car or train. Anyway, all these people did not really care that they couldn’t enjoy the view that would have been amazing, as they saw it every single day. They were sleeping or staring at their smartphones.
So, we finally arrived at the Marina Grande in Procida. The late afternoon lights were at their best, houses happily colourful, a harbour full of life, what a great place to arrive at.
We just had to walk a few steps to find the ticket office and stop for the local buses. These small buses run around the island, there are four different routes in total. Our host told me which bus to take, so it was easy. Finally it was the last section of our long travel that day.
Sitting on our bus, only a few minutes away from our accommodation, came the first surprise of the island, the insane traffic. We got off at Piazza Olmo, which is a central square on the island and after walking for a few minutes we arrived at our cosy apartment, which would be our home for the next ten days.
The owner, Salvatore gave us a warm welcome, a map and all the info we needed. He is a fantastic guy, I’ll rave about him later. We walked back to Piazza Olmo to pick up some groceries, found a cute little alimentari shop right on the square, where we kept going back for ten days. Two ladies were running it, I guess mom and daughter and after two days greeted us like old friends.
In the evening we took the bus to the other part of the island, to Ciraciello beach, to watch the sunset. There were maybe two other people on the beach. Remember, it’s June, and still so wonderfully quiet! While I was taking photos of the sunset, my daughter was playing with everything she found in the sand, shells, stones and twigs. We both had a great time.
After the sun disappeared we walked to the cute Chiaiolella harbour, and picked the Crescenzo restaurant, which turned out to be a great choice. After a long travel day I deserved an Aperol Spritz. We just ordered a Margherita pizza, and it was probably the best pizza on the island. The waitress lady was also very nice, joking a lot with us.
From the restaurant we took the small bus again, it dropped us off at Piazza Olmo. For my daughter it didn’t take long to fall asleep, it was a long day. I spent some hours on our huge balcony, enjoying the night view of Procida, the sea and the lights of Ischia island in the background. As I am running my own travel company, doing everything by myself, I work every day even when traveling. But I am passionate about what I do and I love the freedom and flexibility of being a digital nomad. In June of course I had many emails to answer and bookings to make, but what an amazing office I had!
