Rest day on Elba

May 11, 2022

Today is Al’s birthday and any activity is his choice. His choice: rest. It seems speeding up all those hills as he is wont to do is hard on the legs, especially if they haven’t done much between his last day of skate skiing in March sometime and taking on the hills of Tuscany on a loaded bike in May. There was some carrying of stuff up and down stairs as we moved in to our new place but it’s not the same! I didn’t build many rest days into the tour because I rarely take them, though I did allow for alternate activities like day rides or hikes. I’m tired too, but I have a harder time turning off. I’m writing this in the shade on the beach below our hotel while Al naps in the room, trying to resist getting my proper shoes on and going for a long walk.

We did stroll into Portoferraio proper this morning to check out the bike shop. I need a new water bottle because the drinking cap on one of mine is broken. I didn’t like any on offer (I’m fussy and though I can’t drink out of it, I can carry water to dump into my remaining good one). The trip wasn’t in vain, though. Al found one he liked and some sunglasses too. At a different shop on the old port, I found what I really needed—a straw hat. It can be rolled up so I hope it will survive my pannier since I quite like it.

The beach below our hotel, the Villa Ombrosa at left centre.

Salita Napoleone leads up to one of Napoleon’s villas on Elba. (He had two, one in Portoferraio and one in the countryside.) Here we see a tour group, likely off the cruise ship that’s in port coming down and a class from the school just above heading up. This is not the busy season on Elba, thankfully.

We had lunch at the hotel since we didn’t see anywhere we really wanted to eat when we looked around yesterday. It was good and included one of the tastiest steaks I can remember. They offer dinner too so we booked and gave our choices from the menu. We hadn’t done this for lunch; we just showed up and seemed to be the only guests eating there. There was another table occupied but it seemed to be the family that runs the hotel.

So after writing that I went back to the room to get my shoes and my camera and walked up to a slightly further beach. Below are some results.

The beach is pebbled, marble perhaps, with a lot of vegetation debris. One-Euro coin for scale.

Spiaggia delle Ghaie, below our hotel, looking east toward Forte Falcone

I’m captivated by the colour of the water

These shrubs are everywhere and smell heavenly. But what are they?

Dinner in the hotel dining room was very good. They had a table ready with our room number; other tables had partial bottles of wine so hopefully what we couldn’t finish will be waiting for us tomorrow (sadly less than half). The room was busy, a good sign.

First course: risottino alle cozze e Pecorino

Second course: filetto di orata alla Siciliana with patate Sabbiose and melanzane al fungetto

Dessert: tiramisu (and our bottle of Elba wine behind)

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