Isola d'Elba

Before I get into Elba, I had a conversation all in Italian yesterday! I went to buy stamps and here’s what happened:

Man: Ciao
Jess: francobolli? (stamps) per favore
Man: A America?
Jess: Si.
Man: Quanto? (How many?)
Jess: Tre (three)
Man: due cinquentacinque (2.55)
I had him €3.
He gives me my stamps and a receipt.
Man: Grazie
Jess: Grazie
Man: Ciao
Jess: Ciao.

Are you proud of me?

Ok so Isle of Elba!

I’ll let pictures tell the story this time....

Ferry over the island

It was really windy on the ferry. For about 2 days before the trip to Elba we had been having on and off thunderstorms in Florence, so it wasnt exactly smooth seas on the boat!

I'm king of the Ferry!!

Getting my sea legs?

Views from the ferry. The hour ride over to Elba was incredibly gorgeous! The Italian Coast is simple to die for!

This is Porto Ferraio. The ferry pulls up here, its a much more resorty side of the island. We stayed in Porta Azzuro a few kilometers away.

Pulling into Porto Ferraio. It almost looks like the picture is upside down, like the sea could be the sky and the sky could be the sea.


View from my hotel window in Porto Azzurro.

This cat pretty much sums up life on Elba. If you are late to lunch time, ZERO restaurants are open between 3 and 6pm.

Barbarossa Beach. I swam in the Mediterranian!!! Technically its the Tyrrhenian Sea on this coast of Italy, but its all connected, so whatev.

I am trying to point at the rock that I swan out to and jumped off. I'm a pretty hardcore girl like that. I jumped off the back side from probably about 15 feet up. I landed on my knees and it stung a little.


Photo op with some mountains on the walk back to town from the beach. So thats why my shirt is all wet.


The sun is just starting to set over the beach.


A Neptune statue in town. I'm still wet from the beach in this picture.


Hike up Monte Capanne. The circle of buildings in the middle is where we started from, so I took this after about an half hour of walking.

Another view from up on Monte Capanne. This is before we climbed so high we were in the clouds. Monte Capanne is just over 1000 meters high, the highest point on the Isle of Elba.

Check out the rocky and steep terrain we hiked up for several hours. (okay, about 2 hours, but still). It was much more difficult than I had anticipated. Plus I didnt bring hiking boots or tail shoes to Europe so I was hiking in some walking shoes (and they were so white before this hike too!)


View from the top. Its not very impressive, but I liked it. On a clear day you can see to Corsica from up there.


This is the oldest religious building on Elba. And it had something to do with chestnuts.

Me on the docks on the last day in Elba!! I hope know you understand why I not coming home, I going to start my sailboat company on Isola d'Elba!!


I've also been working on a blog about daily life here in Florence, so stay tuned! I'm leaving Thursday afternoon for Cinque Terre and I have high expectations for that place!