Elba

La Isola d'Elba: A Lovely Place for Exile

Napoleon didn't do too badly when he was exiled to Elba as part of the peace treaty enacted when France retreated from Russia in 1814. This was after Napoleon had pretty much annexed the rest of Europe. This small island off the west coast of Italy is shaped like a rather twisted United States:
Notice "Florida" for instance. Seriously, doesn't that peninsula on the south look somewhat like Florida? And to be sure, it is edged with sandy beaches. I definitely see the Pacific Northwest up there, and I can even stretch the bay near Portoferraio in my mind's eye to represent the Great Lakes. But - let's recount the myriad ways in which Elba is different; that is far more interesting. The first and foremost difference that strikes me is the presence of palm trees and beaches on *all* sides. Then, of course, there is the rampant use of the Italian language, and the delicious, strong, creamy Italian espresso. There seems to be a lack of any real traffic jams (or perhaps we just didn't get stressed out by them because we were on a palmy island in the Mediterranean off the coast of Italy?) and, pleasantly, a lack of 8-lane highways. Perhaps the only deficit of Elba is that there is just one wine appellation on the whole island (albeit one that produces tasty wines and even puts pictures of Napoleon on the labels).

Yay for Friends!

Before I extol further virtues of Elba and tell of our enjoyment there, it must be said that the *most* marvelous thing about Elba is that it had our wonderful friends Mez and Natalia on it at the very same time we were there. Yay for friends! Russ and I arrived with a hotel address in Marina del Campo clutched in our hands. It took us two trains, a ferry, a bus, and a walk to get there. If only we hadn't been distracted by the purveyor of local wines and tasty goods on the way from the bus stop to the hotel, we wouldn't have been caught in the torrential downpour. We were grateful that we'd be spending two nights in the same place, and that it wasn't a youth hostel dorm, so that we could empty our packs and hang everything up to dry. We had plenty of warning from the sky and the air pressure before the rain began... but we justify our mishap with the *entire wall* of wines produced on Elba. I suspect the storm was Nature's way of scolding us for letting our Bacchanalia delay us from connecting with our friends. The old man who owned the shop kept pointing at my backpack, and then at the clouds, saying "Forza! Forza!" It was very sweet of him. We waddled off into the storm with smiles on our faces and a few extra pounds in our packs. Mez and Natalia had come from a wedding in Lucca - Russ and I were wondering whether the Tuscan wedding was an outdoor one... we were relieved to hear that all went well for the wedding.

I just realized that in all these words I have only covered about an hour of our time on Elba. I will try to speed things up, but it is such a pleasure when I actually am staying in a place where I can take out my laptop and leisurely walk through a part of our journey in my mind...

We were upstairs, relaxing and drying out, when Mez and Natalia returned from the beach (taking cover from the rain near the beach, actually). It was so wonderful to see them! We have seen so many amazing sights in our travels but laying our eyes on family and friends trumps them all.

Napoleon's Villa

Portoferraio, the port town of our inbound ferry, is where Napoleon lived (er, was "exiled" in his villa with lavish French furnishings). We (Russ, Mez and I) saw his iconic black felt hat
and learned more about this incredible force in European history. Napoleon was responsible for substantial improvements in Elba's civic life, including public works such as road systems as well as government style (Napoleonic code). Russ shared a story with us of Napoleon's 100-day return to power upon escaping from Elba: He arrived on the southern coast of France, and Louis XVIII sent an army of a couple thousand to fend him off. When they arrived, Napoleon presented himself to them unabashedly, and dared them to strike him down. His legendary charisma won them over, and Napoleon, fortified now by the army sent to keep him away, moved toward Paris. Upon hearing this, King Louis XVIII sent another, larger force to accomplish what the last had not. Napoleon won them over as well and continued to move north. In a snarky but probably well-earned episode of "I told you so," Napoleon sent a letter to his cousin, who was the commander of France's army saying "Thank you cousin for the troops, I have all I need, please don't send any more." What a great story.

As we left the villa, the sky darkened and then burst on us, so we waited it out before returning to the south side of the island. As we drove back, I jokingly suggested that Natalia had been sunbathing on the beach in perfect sunshine all day. Well, that *is* the nature of islands, and when we returned to the hotel, we indeed found a note from her directing us to her spot on the beach! Not a drop of rain had fallen there.

Island Clubbing

Or not. Both nights we spent on Elba, we intended to go out and hit a few of the dance clubs--perhaps Inferno with its funky mosaic bar, or Morumbi the Brazilian style club or Club 64, tucked to the side of a main road in the middle of the island like a club on Ibiza. Both nights, after big dinners and the requisite "when in Rome" carafes of wine, we tired out. We even powered down a few espressos after dinner to rev us up. All we got out of that was restless sleep. But hey, we are on vacation here, and that means relaxation!

Beaches and Vistas

We had two main objectives for Sunday: 1) explore Capiloveri, a town on the southeast portion of the island, and 2) find one of the nude beaches indicated on our map. Capiloveri is a town that has been known historically for its artistic, fresh culture (I say fresh, some say hippie). It was a gorgeous spot, with hills that afforded novel views at every turn. From one high point, we could see the Mediterranean coast on both the north and south sides of the island because the land narrowed so much.
We strolled through shops of local artists and enjoyed some gelato. It was a quiet, pleasant Sunday. That is, after I got over my nausea from all the incredibly twisty roads that make it possible to get from one town to another over the naturally mountainous terrain. I am grateful that Mez's response to my carsickness was to simply toss me the keys for the rest of the day (I am certain it made things easier for all of us).

We left Capiloveri and aimed for the nude beach on the east side of "Florida" (see map above ;) An hour and about 20 turns-around later, we finally learned from two returning sunbathers that the beach we were seeking was in fact where we had tried to find it--it was just the small matter of a dead-end road and an hour-long hike. Well, it was pretty hot outside and suddenly the regular ol' beach sounded just right. We enjoyed the sun, the salty spray, and the antics of children on the beach. Eventually, our weekend in exile had to come to an end... Soon we were back on the continent, with the four of us and all of our baggage crammed into the sporty little space-pod Fiat Mez and Natalia had rented. They were sweet and dropped us off in Pisa on their way to Milan so that Russ and I could catch a series of trains into Siena. That lift to Pisa allowed us to arrive in Siena two hours earlier than we would have if we had parted ways at the ferry dock!