ISOLA D'ELBA

Thursday morning we packed our bags and went to the train station for a 3 hour train ride to Piombino and then a 1 hour ferry to the Island of Elba.  We passed the time with general nonsense talk and games of scrabble which made me realise that maybe Jules isn't quite as smart as I thought he was haha!

Elba is famous for the fact that Emperor Napoleon was exhiled here in 1814.  This was seen to be a seemingly safe open prison, some 15km from the Tuscan coast, however he managed to escape a year later.  

Napoleon would think twice about fleeing today though.  The island is a paradise of rocky beach-laced coves, vineyards, crystal clear waters, amazing hairpin-bend motoring and amazing views from many mountain peaks.

coming into the town of Portoferraio, the main harbour town and also where we were staying

We stayed at Hotel Villa Ombrosa, in a great location only a few minutes from the main town and right across the road from Le Ghiaie beach.  I had been a bit sneaky and only booked our room for two people, saving us 60 euros a night.  This required a few stealth missions to get Anna in and out of the hotel which a few stealth missions which were very funny.

We were lucky enough to have a great balcony set-up and although I had only booked for two single beds, the room came with a fold out couch, so everything was going according to plan!

First thing was obviously to go for a swim, followed closely behind it, a few beers on the balcony!

That evening we walked into town to have a look around and admire the big boats that were in for the night.  Anna was the scrabble champ for the day, so she got to choose the restaurant.

There was nothing that really stood out, so we all just decided to for the one in the best spot.  Although the setting was great, dinner was a bit of a let down, but i guess you can't win them all!

Included in our accommodation was a pretty good breakfast, so Jules and i went down to the restaurant and then smuggled bananas, yoghurt and toast back up to our room so Anna could eat something as well haha.

Once we looked at a map, we realised that Elba was actually quite a large island and with almost 100 different beaches to choose from along its 147km-long coast, we smartly hired scooters for two days, and weren't they a lot of fun!

For the best part of half a day, we zoomed around the coastline looking for the perfect beach, it was a lot of fun.  Unfortunately the further we went from Portoferraio, the worse the weather got.

We had a great lunch at a "pub" (there was no chicken parma on the menu, so it should not be allowed to call itself a pub!) in a town called Procchio and then scootered all the way back to a beach called Sorgente, about 2km from our hotel.  The highlight of the ride home was the road along the southwest coast.  Legend has it that Napoleon frequented the same spot to swoon over his native Corsica, which is visible across the water on a perfect day.

We spent the rest of the day at Sorgente beach, lapping up the sun and swimming in the beautifully blue water. A guy also came past and sold us some of the freshest pineapple we have ever tasted!

It was nearing 5pm and Jules and I were both ready for "birre ore" so we called it quits and headed on back home, via the shops to pick up some beer and I also bought a snorkel as I thought it would come in handy over the next few months.
Once we arrived back at the hotel, Jules and I went through the front door, whilst Anna snuck around the side and took the elevator - the perfect plan!

I had studied the lonely planet guide thoroughly that day and realised there was a restaurant called Osteria Libertaria just near where we were the night before that was supposed to be really good, so we gave it a shot.

Right on the water front across from all the fishing boats, they had an outstanding seafood-driven menu.
Anna and I both had tonne in crosta di pistacchi (pistachio encrusted tuna fillets) which were awesome and Jules had the gnocchi with swordfish which looked equally as good.

We sat on one of the two outside communal tile-topped tables and struck up an interesting conversation with the other people on our table who were amazed that there were Aussies here so far from home.  The lady even asked us to come to their place for drinks the next day, but we had a full day of beaching planned that we did not want interrupted so we politely refused.

The next day we went to Sansone beach which was just picture perfect.  The cliff-ensnared, white shingle and pebble beach stood out for its turquoise water just made for snorkelling (lucky I bought a snorkel the previous evening!)

The morning was quite windy, so whilst Jules and I lay on the pebbles almost in the water, Anna spent the first few hours up under the cliffs out off winds way.

Amazingly my phone had internet reception, so Jules and I listened to the 2nd half of the Melbourne v Essendon match.  What a great game and about time the Dees got a win on the board.  I was so excited that I didn't care about where I was and sang the theme song along with the crowd back home.  The Italians on the beach looked at us like we were freaks!

That afternoon the wind died down and the sun really came out blazing, so finally Anna came and joined us near the water.  Coincidentally, at the same time, one of the huge Mediteranean seagulls that I am so obsessed with came and joined us.  It was great to finally see one up so close, if only I had some food to give him*!

* for the purposes of this blog, I have assumed the seagull was a he

It came to about 5:30pm and we were all starting to get burnt, so we called it a day.

We then realised that we didn't have enough beer to last us until we went out that night, so we went into town to stock up and also walked out onto the jetty to check out the town from a different angle.

Jules and Anna were both tired (not sure how, all we did was lie on a beach!) so once we snuck Anna back into our room, I went back down to the beach out the front to catch the last few rays and enjoy a cold birre with the local marine life.

you can't make it out, but that's me waving from the water

Anna thought that I looked lonely, so she came down and joined me and I tried to teach her how to skim the flat rocks across the water.  It was quite funny, about 99% of them just plonked straight into the water, but she would be angry if I didn't mention that at least one managed to skim 2 or 3 times  across the surface haha.

As had become the norm over the previous few nights, we enjoyed a few cold beers out on the balcony, listened to some tunes and tried to talk to the seagulls that flew by (literally hundreds of them!)

Walking into town that night, Jules and Anna were so excited when they came across a boat named after their favourite drinking establishment, the dirty Arcadia.  If only Anna's friend Steph was here, they could have all hopped on and re-lived many drunken nights on the dance floor!

Dinner the night before had been so good that we decided to go back again.  We were lucky enough to score one of the outside tables again and this time didn't hold back, ordering entre's, mains, sides, wines, you name it.

This time Anna and I both tried the gnocchi with swordfish and it was a masticating sensation.  The only problem was it was quite a small serving!

So it came to Sunday and our last day in paradise.  I got up pretty early around 8pm for breakfast and then went into town to look at the amazing boats docked in the harbour.

I also climbed the spiderweb of narrow streets and alleyways and the 140 wonky stone steps to get to the salmon pink 'Forte Stella'. With deserted 16th-century ramparts to wander around and scores of my favourite seagulls floating above, it was a great spot to look out over the old town below.

the small 15th-century 'Torre del Martello' on the left hand side of the port entrance is where Napoleon was imprisoned at the start of his fleeting exhale on Elba.

I then met Jules in town to hand our scooters back and then we went back to our hotel to back our bags, checkout and then head to the beach for a few hours before having to catch the 4pm ferry.

Jules took care of the checkout and very kindly paid the bill to say thanks for having him, which was completely unnecessary, but very kind.  He said that they made no mention of our special third guest, so just like Napoleons escape in 1815, it was a great getaway!

One of the funniest things I have seen in a while was the so called "lifesaver" on the beach.  A big obese, fat, overweight, Italian man that would have enough trouble putting his bathers on, let alone save someones life!  One can only hope he isn't called into duty that requires any rigorous activity!

The time came for us to hop on our ferry and bid Elba goodbye.  A great 4 days and well worth the hassle of getting there and back from Florence!

There were at least 50 seagulls that hovered above our ferry as we slowly moved our way out of Portoferraio, I think they recognised me as the one who was feeding them pringles on our balcony.  Unfortunately for them, all I had was a cola flavoured calipo and they weren't getting any of it!