When All Else Fails, Follow a Dog

While in Capri, we decided to stroll through Anacapri and do a quick hike to some roman ruins. I had bought a great book with hikes for all over Italy,and felt that it had fairly detailed info of each hike. This hike/walk started at the center of town and would wind through the streets of Anacapri taking us out of town and to the ruins. Easy peasy. It was a nice hike and somewhere along the way we came across a friendly dog, who after a few pats on the head, he continued on his way up the path. One thing we didn't plan on was that many streets would not be marked and that we would get lost. As the six of us tried to decipher where we were on the map, the friendly dog came back and started barking at us. As a joke I said that maybe the dog was trying to tell us something, and he probably knows the city better than we do. But we realized that this dog was always about 20 yards ahead of us and he seemed like he knew where he was going.

So, we decided that we would just follow the dog instead, and see where he would take us. Patches, as we named him led us left and right down cobblestone streets, and past old homes with grapevines and wisteria growing in the yards. Then we turned out of the city and onto a path lined with tall pines. As we continued through the piney trail, low and behold, Patches actually led us to the ruins we were looking for, Villa Damecuta! We think he is a stray that lives on the grounds since there is running water there (and he appeared to be quite the mouser). After checking out the place, Patches followed us to the closest bus stop and waited with us. I felt bad because I think he felt the proper payment for his tour services was a forever home, but unfortunately, we couldn't take him with us back to the US. As the bus pulled up, as if on que, he went on his way, perhaps to look for the next group of lost touristas.

Our tour guide Patches taking in the view of the Gulf of Naples