Some of My Favourite Holiday Places- Capri

 Many of us have favourite holiday places, these are places that are memorable, sometimes we visit only once, others we return to again and again. I always think that there are too many wonderful places in the world to just keep doing the same thing each year. But its personal. As I haven’t travelled now since Autumn 2019, I have been thinking more aboutt past holidays destinations.

Italy is a beautiful country with lots on offer, I think my favourite place is the island of Capri. This small island is just off the coast of Naples on the Amalfi coast.  Some may feel that’s it's an expensive over-commercialised destination crammed with day-trippers. But no-one can deny that Capri has earned it's fame for many reasons. It’s natural beauty, delicious cuisine, world-class shopping, walking trails, historical buildings and stunning vistas.The combination of island simplicity, natural beauty yet with a busy, cosmopolitan lifestyle, offers something for everybody.

There are two separate towns on the island of Capri as well as the port. Capri town, with its well-known attractions and famous shopping streets has a tangible deluxe feel to it. Anacapri (Old town) is more residential with quiet lanes and a traditional feel. From here you can take the chair lift or funicular to the top of Monte Solaro.I am scared of heights but this was worth it. So take a few deep breaths.

This peaceful Mediterranean retreat yet fashionable meeting place has been popular since roman times. Despite its size it was a destination on the grand tour attracting everybody, from philosophers to princes, wanting to spend at least a week, if not months, experiencing the dramatic land and seascapes and the hospitality of the islanders. Many of these visitors decided to stay for the entire year. It was the place to see and definitely the place to be seen. You can fully understand why it has been a long preserve of celebrities and the super-rich needing a hideout to rest and let their hair down for a few weeks.

Steep cliffs rise majestically from an impossibly blue sea with elegant villas covered in wisteria and bougainvillea. If you take a stroll along via Tragara, this is the path that takes you past the once luxurious private villas that are now 5-star hotels. You will discover the Faraglioni rocks, the symbol of the Isle of Capri and be rewarded with spectacularly, wonderful views. Take a bench seat, they are s placed around the lookout area and marvel at the view of the glorious coastline and sheer drops.

In this unique and enchanting spot, Villa Lysis, was built in 1904 by Count Jacques d'Adelswärd Fersen. Villa Lysis is as eccentric as the nobleman himself, who withdrew to Capri in self-imposed exile to escape a series of scandals in his home country. Edouard Chimot, was commissioned to design a Neoclassical decadent refuge, which Architecturally was mainly  in a Art Nouveau style, his elegant, luxurious home was both reserved and opulent at the same time. The villa was Dedicated to the youth of love and the Latin inscription above the front steps “AMORI ET DOLORI SACRVM” was a shrine to love and sorrow. In 1985, Villa Lysis passed into possession of the Italian state and the building was restored in the 1990s by the Lysis Funds Association (founded in 1986) and the Municipality of Capri. In 2014 the Apeiron Association began a restoration program to transform the house into a cultural centre and event venue. I visited in the mid-90s and loved the feel and vistas of this romantic villa, having seen the more recent pictures perhaps it has lost a little of its charm. 

Close-by, is where the Roman emperor Tiberius had built his Villa Jovis two millennia earlier. Tiberius made it his home when Rome became too hot. If his biographers are to be believed, he got up to all sorts of scandalous behaviour inside his imperial cliff-top villa. You can still visit the ruins of his villas. For more than a decade in the early part of the first century AD, this picturesque Italian island was the principal home of the emperor, Tiberius. (Known as the Tyrant)  He lived a life of extraordinary debauchery, fortified by the finest food and wines served by nude handmaidens. Troupes of beautiful youths of both sexes, gathered from all corners of the Roman world and he hosted endless summer orgies, so by all accounts a good time was had on Capri.

In equal measure to his lechery, however was his bloodlust, he watched his enemies being tortured before being thrown 300ft off the cliffs into the sea below. Close to the Emperor's apartments was a precipice called Tiberius Fall, because from it, he would dispense with unwelcome visitors or disobedient servants, rumour has it even unwanted wives. Putting aside the gruesome history, its still one of the stunning places, I have seen and there is a peacefulness. (Even with the hordes of tourists)

Capri is definitely worth visiting, whatever your budget as you’ll enjoy some sublime moments and take lovely photographs, it what must be one of the most iconic photographic settings.

The History of Wine-Making in Spain

It would be impossible to talk about travelling in Spain and not touch on wine,as its history is so relevant to both the country and culture. Spanish wines are some of the richest in the world both delighting and challenging the drinker and are highly revered by international connoisseurs. Spanish wine production forms a vital part of the country's economy both in terms of exportation and tourism. 

Owing their prominence to a turbulent history, unique topography and the incredible spirit of the Spanish people. Spain is the third largest wine producer in the world and has 69 distinctive wine regions. Spain is a large country geographically and has more acreage under grape cultivation than any other country in the world although many vineyards are low-yielding. Firmly rooted in tradition and steeped in history but at the same time modern and vibrant, Spain is a study in contrasts and just like the climate and geography offers a spectacular variety of wines. Grapes are grown throughout every region of the country with Castilla-La Mancha having nearly half of the planted acreage followed by Extremadura, Valencia, Castilla-Leon, Catalonia, Murcia and Rioja. About two-thirds of all wines produced in Spain are table wines with about one-third comprising of high-quality wines. Red wines tend to outnumber whites. Jerez is famous for Sherry and the sparkling wine known as Cava is from Penedes.

During my time in Spain, I was involved in grape picking, worked in a small bodega, where I saw wines been made and was invited into a small Andalusia village to try wine from a private bodega. Many villages have their own vineyards and everyone takes part in grape-picking and the wine gets shared out. I visited a wine festival and tried, for research purposes only, many wonderful local wines! Holiday companies now offer tours around Spanish wineries and vineyards and I can see the appeal of visiting the breath-taking countryside and sampling the wines of Spain along with tasting the traditional cuisine. From rustic to refined, to innovative, red, white, sparkling and fortified. A feast for all the senses you will never forget.

The history of wine in Spain is so old that no one really knows who first brought vines to the area. Though many archaeologists believe that grapes were first cultivated sometime between 4000 and 3000 BC. By the time the Phoenicians arrived 3,000 years ago and founded the trading post city of Cadiz, viticulture was well established and Spanish wines became widely traded throughout the Mediterranean and North Africa.

When the Romans conquered Spain, they brought new wine-making methods. Under Roman rule it  was a golden age for Spanish wine. The two main production areas were the areas now called Tarragona and Andalusia. After the decline of the Roman Empire, the barbaric tribes from the north of Europe invaded the Peninsula and there is little information about wine history during these times. Most probably these tribes drank some kind of rustic beer or wine.

The 8th-century invasion by the Arabs meant there was a religious ban on alcohol. Although, they never prevented Christians from producing their own wines. In fact, the Muslims like to eat the grapes that grew on the vines, these were dried out and consumed as raisins.

The Middle Ages brought monks from different orders from all over the world to Spain. They played a very important role in the establishment of wine cellars and wineries.The monks also brought new types of vines (different from the Spanish types of vines) and new techniques. Wine-making flourished with the rise of Catholicism. The Reconquest also reopened the wine exportation business and the city of Bilbao positioned itself at the head of it. Most of the wines sold at this time went to the English markets, where they were as highly valued as French wines.

The discovery of the New World by Christopher Columbus opened up the exportation options and the Spanish conquistadors took Spanish vines with them in order to start wine production in the new Spanish colonies. This was the beginning of wine history in the New World. The 15th and 16th centuries saw a huge rise in the popularity of Spanish wines, which were being produced in almost every area of the Iberian Peninsula.

With the arrival of the Industrial Revolution came better machines for wine making, and Spain saw a decline in the exportation of its wines. There was a brief respite when the vine louse- Phylloxera destroyed most of the Northern European vineyards during the 19th century. It was a dire time for Europe and Spain was its salvation. The plague hadn't reached the Spanish vineyards so there was plenty of wine to export to the parts of Europe where all the vineyards had been destroyed.

Winemakers from France crossed the Pyrenees Mountains bringing with them new grape varieties, modern techniques and tools. The north of Spain, specially Navarre and the Basque Country especially benefited by this and their wine tradition was much richer during this time than the rest of Spain's, because they had access to the great French wine making culture.

However, the luck didn't last, as the Phylloxera bug arrived in Spain later that century. Due to the country's geography, the plague took longer to spread, so when things started to look really dire,the cure had already been discovered. It consisted of grafting tougher vines, like the American rootstock which was immune to the bug, to weaker vines, to create a hybrid that could stand against the epidemic resulting in less damage to Spanish vineyards. If it weren't for this remedy, it's likely that wine-making tradition in Spain would not be as important today.

The wine- making industry would still face more problems before reaching its modern- day postion. World War I paralyzed the European trade market, which made exporting anything almost impossible. Then the Spanish Civil War froze the country, and while the different sides were fighting each other the vines were left unattended and some of them were even torn up to plant wheat and other cereals used in basic foods. Even when the war ended, the problems did not cease. World War 11 immobilized the European market and made it impossible for the industry to take off until the 1950s. It was around this time that some of the vineyards were replanted and the wine-making tradition began to be restored in some parts of Spain.

The first half of the 20th century left Spain wracked by war and economic disruption. Since the 1950’s Spain’s winemakers have worked steadily to improve the quality. In the 1960s came the international rediscovery of Jerez and Rioja. But the real resurgence arrived when Franco died in 1975 and the transition to democracy began. The economic freedom gave way to a growth of this market between the middle Spanish classes and the revolution came to the wine industry at the beginning of the 1980s. The tourist industry introduced wines to many who had not drunk this before. 

When Spain became a part of the European Union in 1986, this brought economic aid to the Spanish wine sector and new legal standards for wine were put in place. The 1990s gave way to the acceptance in the use of international varieties of grapes like the Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay, and the ban on watering which had been imposed during a drought period was lifted in 1996. This meant new places to plant, more grape varieties and more profitable ways of production. The golden age of Spanish wine had started. Now, a new generation of winemakers have quietly begun crafting spectacular wines, including organic, and experimenting with varieties that would have been unthinkable only a short time ago.

Wine remains an important commodity and an integral part of Spanish culture and tradition. So why not contribute to keeping this great history alive by enjoying a glass of wine in Spain. 

Who can resist, well I can’t, make mine a large glass of Rioja please.