Enchanting Elba

Our journey from Corsica to Elba was a hard slog given that the islands are so close to each other. We caught a ferry to Livorno, a taxi to the station, a train to Piombino and a ferry back to Elba, but as soon as we came into the harbour at Portoferraio, we were enchanted with the beauty of Elba.


We walked from the port across to the beachside where we found a hotel with a room overlooking a quaint little beach. A swim soon washed away the hassles of our journey.

Exploring the town, we climbed to the citadel where we visited several forts with their spectacular views over the harbour and beaches. The place seems little changed from Napoleon’s days and we visited the theatre that he had constructed, the Duomo, an old Roman villa and the archaeological museum.

We have given Napoleon a blog entry of his own but we think he did not get too bad a deal being exiled to such a beautiful spot. Can’t imagine why he did not want to stay here!

                                           View of the town from the citadel.

                                         View down to our beach from the ramparts.

       What do we have in common with Mick Jagger?  We have all had our photo taken with Nonna Adua.