Elba anyone?

Monday morning I left my house at 6:30, hiked to the bus statation, took a bus to Chiusi, then a train to Florence, another one to Pisa, then another one to the coast! Then I got on this lovely boat and an hour later I was on dry ground on the Isle of Elba.

The ferry

Woohoo! I made it! Once in town, I had to find my hotel. Hm. The tourist office had never heard of it, so I started asking random people around town. "Oh yes, it's about a kilometer up that road." So I started walking. No hotel. I asked again. "Hotel Etrusco? Umm... Yes, about one kilometer further." Ha! Still no hotel. Then I went into a grocery store and the lady in front of me checking out knew a guy who knew a guy. That guy happened to be across the street, and that guy also owned the hotel! He drove me right to it in his mercedes (about another kilometer), checked me into my room, and later I saw him and his wife making dinner for their guests. I smiled.

After getting settled in I walked back down the mountain into the town to check things out. This dock went from a mine out to the boats, but I could tell it hadn't been used for years. Notice how the supports aren't even touching the ground anymore! It was all rusted over, and quite a sight.

Rio Marina was interesting. It was full of kids and old guys. Everyone was very cute :)


I hiked up to another town called Rio Elba, and it was beautiful. It sat way up in the mountains, and had great views of the ocean and Rio Marina

View from the top!

Yesterday I took a bus from Rio Marina to Portoferraio, and the drive was gorgeous. We went way up in the mountains, and back down to sea level multiple times.

I went to the beach

Portoferraio was way ritzy. Private yachts galore.

Sadly I had to leave the lovely place :(

Goodbye Elba! Thanks for the adventure!