Marilyn Stowe Blog

Stepping off the treadmill: a birthday on Capri

This weekend I celebrated my 48th birthday. And before some of my readers start to splutter  (especially LocalBarrister, who was a mere stripling at school when I was in the Upper Sixth), may I quickly add: again!

I have reached the age where 48 is the maximum age I will ever admit to. In every gym I visit, whenever my age is requested by one of the cycling machines, I intend to faithfully and without fail pump in my age: 48.  As I did on a cycling machine at the weekend, which was outdoors – and which happened to be in Capri.

My birthday weekend, three luxurious days, was spent on the island. It is the first time I have ever been there; I can’t say the journey was quick and easy, and therefore I wasn’t in a great mood! Not having access to a private plane or helicopter, the two hour and forty minute flight to Italy from London was followed by a hair-raising journey across Naples in a taxi. The panic-stricken taxi driver helped to carry our bags and literally threw them onto the hydrofoil, which was just about to leave, and was our water transport to Capri. Fifty minutes later, we arrived; another taxi driver helped to carry all the bags to the harbour where, after finally scrambling into the taxi and making our way through the packed crowds, we eventually headed out of town up into the hills to Anacapri, and the sanctuary of our beautiful and very peaceful hotel, the Caesar Augustus which has the most stunning views of Capri.

With his exams looming, my son Ben has been quieter than usual. A few weeks ago, on one of his regular laundry drop-off visits, he briefly mentioned that he had decided to go down the solicitor route after he leaves university in June. What he added, however, has had me thinking. Ben said that he wasn’t sure about his future, because he didn’t want to get on the “treadmill” as we had. He said that every working day, all his life, he had seen his parents go off to work every morning and return every evening. He wondered if life held anything more – and if so, shouldn’t he try and find it?

I must admit, I hadn’t thought about my life in those terms before. But I suppose, in common with many of us, I do spend my life on a treadmill. Sometimes, the speed of that treadmill can be difficult to control. Sometimes it goes much too fast and sometimes far too slowly. Every now and then, it goes at a reasonable speed.  I don’t ever get off – because I don’t want to. I like being on a treadmill. It is a discipline, it is secure and most of the time, it feels good. So I am happy here, and not least because I can appreciate extraordinary adventures and places such as this one.

Many people have fallen in love with Capri. The emperor Caesar Augustus is credited with discovering the beauty of Capri and holidaying here; thereafter the Emperor Tiberius set up his government on the island. The painter John Singer Sergeant stayed on Capri for more than a year in the 19th Century. He found a beautiful muse, Rosina Ferrara from Anacapri, and painted her over and over again. Perhaps the most famous painting is Among the Olive Trees.

Jackie Onassis was a frequent and incredibly glamorous visitor, photographed shopping wearing the famous bejewelled Capri sandals. She was also photographed taking the chair lift up Monte Solaro, which we took down – because we climbed the mountain, it took just under an hour. How good it felt to reach the top, my knee standing up to an almost vertical ascent! Prince Rainier and Princess Grace of Monaco, Audrey Hepburn and Marilyn Monroe were all visitors to Capri. It remains the most glamorous of islands.

One particular visitor sticks in my mind. King Farook of Egypt also fell madly in love with Capri. He used to stay at the Caesar Augustus, and he reserved a suite for his use all year round, even when he wasn’t there. Sumptuously wealthy, he was famous for his ostentatious lifestyle. The people of Egypt hoped for great things from him when he became their King, but ultimately they were left disappointed. In 1951 he brought his young and beautiful second wife, Queen Narriman, to Capri  for their honeymoon - and on that occasion, lavishly reserved some 50 rooms in the hotel. As you do!

The following year he was overthrown by Nasser, supported by an enraged people who were angry at how he had squandered his wealth. It was to Capri that he fled, bringing his wife and new son.

But the beauty of the island now meant nothing to him. Apparently he behaved like a caged lion, ate like a glutton according to the newspaper reports of the time, and eventually left Capri. The beautiful island had become his prison. His Queen left him, returned to Egypt and divorced him. He died in exile. He’d had everything within his grasp, and he had thrown it away. He had been given too much.

I was stunned by the ethereal beauty of the sea view when I first saw it. The pale blue of the sea merges with the blue of the mists. The coastline of Italy, the Amalfi coast, the shape of Mount Vesuvius and the isle of Ischia can all vaguely be made out across the bay through the mist. Looking down past the craggy rocks, the sea becomes turquoise. You can see to the bottom and watch the seagulls catching their breakfast. You can drink in the view for a long time.

Three days passed too quickly and now…the treadmill calls. We don’t have the vast resources of those glamorous monarchs and celebrities who can visit or stay when they wish, for as long as they wish. Perhaps in some ways, we are the more fortunate for it.

We know that these moments in our lives are to be savoured and treasured because they are so rare, so short and so incredibly beautiful. When we go back to our everyday lives and that treadmill is once again going too fast, or too slow or feels monotonous, we will still have those memories to recall.

I have fallen under the spell of this island, but for those reasons, I don’t want to return next week. I would love to return to Capri and appreciate its overpowering beauty next year, on my birthday… when I am 48.

Again.

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