April 21 - Portoferraio, Elba, Italy

This morning we ‘ve docked in Portoferraio on the island of Elba.  This makes two days in a row we’re someplace of significance in the life of Napoleon.  This town was founded by Cosimo de’Medici of the famous Tuscan family.  The island itself is one of the islands in the Tuscan Archipelago and part of the province of Livorno. (Just a little tidbit of information, one of the other islands in the archipelago is Giglio which gained notoriety as the place where the Costa Concordia ran aground and sank.) I like legends so I should mention that the story goes that the seven islands in the Tuscan Atchipelago were created from seven pearls lost from a necklace owned by Venus when she emerged from the Tyrrhenian Sea.  That sounds much more romantic than they were created by geological forces.

Moving on, I decided to take a short tour today to a couple of villages and a winery.  Our first stop was Porto Azzurro, a town on the other side of the island from our dock. As we drove along our guide Giovanna (not German!) told us a little about the history, specifically about Napoleon. In the spring of 1814 after a string of defeats of his armies by the allies, Napoleon was sent into exile on May 4, 1814 on this island of Elba. Napoleon being true to form began planning administrative reforms, building projects and improvements to the island’s mining and agriculture industries.  In the latter months of 1814 Napoleon received reports that King Louis XVIII was very unpopular with the French and that he (Napoleon) was to be moved to a remote island somewhere.  In late February 1815 with 1000 troops he escaped from Elba and on March 1, 1815 he and his party landed on the French mainland and began what was to be his 100 day rule as Emperor ending in the defeat at Waterloo on June 18, 1815.

There you have a short history of Napoleon on Elba. So back to Porto Azzurro, a beautiful little fishing town.  I have to say that the water around the island is that beautiful sapphire blue which we don’t usually see at the shore at home.  The town had a few narrow cobbled streets and a promenade along the waterfront.  Unlike the village on Mahon that was all white-washed, here there were a variety of colors on the stuccoed walls.  (I wish I could upload some photos but so far even the IT officer on the ship hasn’t been able to figure out the problem.  He’s working on it for me.)   After I’d walked around a little I had an espresso at a waterside café – boy did that ever jolt my system! - and enjoyed the lovely morning.   On the way back to the meeting point I passed a tiny little bakery from which the most wonderful aromas were wafting.  Some wonderful almond cookies had my name written all over them so how could I resist?

Our next stop was a vineyard called Tenuta la Chiusa.  It was an absolutely lovely setting by the bay across which we could see our ship tied up in Portoferraio.  We heard a little about the place and the type of wine they produced and then we went into an open-air tasting room where we had some snacks including local cheese and sausages to try with our wine.  The wine was pretty good, not great, and the cheese was delicious.  I sat and chatted with a very nice Russian couple who live in St. Augustine, Florida.  After this brief interlude we boarded our bus and drove to our last stop, the town of Capoliveri.  The town is perched atop a mountain with wonderful views of the Mediterranean below.  It’s evidently a big place for bikers (the bicycle kind not Harleys) to start rides around the island.  There were bicycle sculptures dotted around the square and lots of bike rental places.  Bicycle riding around this place is not for the faint-hearted.   The roads are narrow and there are lots of hills.  Giovanna, our guide, told us that like Corsica there are a lot of wild boar on Elba and there are frequent accidents because they run across the road.  She had an accident while driving one morning.  I don’t think a bicyclist would come out on top in a collision with a wild boar.

After our brief visit to Capoliveri we headed back to the port and I reboarded the Ovation.  Some friends had walked to the fort at the top of the cliff next to our dock.  It was twenty-two stories worth of steps!  I envy them their stamina but that’s not for me.  It was a nice day capped off by dinner with some new Australian friends and time spent listening to my favorite duo up in the Observation Bar.  I haven’t been in a dancing mood for the last  few nights.  The group playing in the Club after the show has been playing lots of techno music which I don’t really care for.  I don’t think I’m alone in that because hardly anyone has been on the dance floor.  Oh, well some other night perhaps they’ll change their playlist.

I’m sorry I still can’t upload photos.  I met with the ship’s IT officer just before I started writing this and he can’t figure out what the problem is either.  He said he would try to work on it some more and let me know.  I wonder if it has something to do with the EU and its very strict internet privacy and content rules.  More later…