Elba, September 10th-20th, 2021

A nice 10 days on Italy's 3rd largest island, Elba.

The fortress at the town's main port, Portoferrario.

Elba is just a one-hour ferry boat ride from the town of Piombino, an island that was once home (and for just one year) to Napoleon Bonaparte who had been exiled there in 1814 (the Brits had also been there).  Interesting his former home as well as the museum.

You can also see the islands of Montecristo (off-limits to many people, something which tied to an old treasure on the island) and also Corsica.   Nice beaches and crystal-clear water but the island is a bit cumbersome to drive around (we brought our own car as we dragged along our inflatable kayak) because of the winding hill-mountain roads.  Some prices can be a wee bit high, such as 1.50 euros for an espresso or up to 30 euros for two sun-beds and an umbrella (years ago in Greece the same would run you as high as 5 euros!).   

A nice island to visit but I can't imagine what it must be like in July and August.  It'd be better to go, if one can, in mid-September as the weather's still nice in Italy (but not too hot).  

All-in-all, a pleasant island but for my money I'd perhaps rather spend it on the Greek island of Milos (been there twice out of the 8 times we've been to Greece so far and to 15 islands).  While in Elba we found out that Milos was chosen as THE no. 1 island in the world (all pics taken with a small Nikon Coolpix and Fuji waterproof digital cameras)!

Nice also Portoferraio and its Bonaparte museum. 

Some of the small towns on the island. 

It's a wee bit tricky trying to manoeuvre an inflatable kayak on the high seas as the winds can easily change direction.

Rather nice our residence at the Marciana Marina beach area which also has a fairly large port.   

Hitchcock's best friends!

The small port at Porto Azzurro.

While we were there they were shooting the series, "I delitti del Barlume".