We have arrived on the beautiful island of Elba, the place where Napoleon was exiled to in 1814. In ancient times, it was important for the easily obtained iron ore on the east coast. This is no longer mined but you can still see the old mining towers and buildings that remain abandoned. It is a a mountainous island, only 15 miles long, and very, very lush and green even in the middle of summer.

We have moored in several places including Portoferraio with its ochre and terracotta old town and the main ferry terminal from the mainland. There must be at least 15 ferries a day that come and go though we are not sure where all the passengers are as it certainly doesn't feel busy.
In the 17th and 18th centuries, the fleet anchorage of Portoferraio was coveted by the French, Spanish, Italians and English. Nelson described it as 'for its size the most complete harbour in the world'.
From there, we moored in several other coves and bays making our way along the northwest and eastern coasts. In Porto Azzuro, we met up with our first flotilla holiday group of the year. 10 boats moored in what was already a pretty full bay and we watched in amusement as we remembered our early days on flotilla holidays, knowing that we probably did all the wrong things that there were doing too. We are currently in Marina di Campo (the name of a town, not a marina) on the south coast. The bay here is surrounded by white sand and we will be testing out the water temperature later.

We have very much enjoyed our week spent here but are now getting ready to sail (hopefully) down to Sardinia where we will meet up with my sister and her 3 sons who will spend 10 days with us.