Banish me to Elba

After three or four nights, Jeff and I started to get a little stir crazy at the villa. One can only take so much serenity. We visited Florence for awhile, and then we decided to take off to Elba, which you'll probably remember is a medium-sized island off the coast of Tuscany. Napoleon was banished to Elba, but now it's a beachy vacation get-away.

Elba is sunny, dry, hilly, and green. You could do some amazing hiking if you could ever get yourself off the beach. I took these as we were coming in on the ferry:










We stayed at a hotel that shared a little private beach with a few other hotels. Our primary activity while on the island was shopping for picnic supplies every morning and hitting the beach.




We became such good beach bunnies that we even invested in some euro-style swim suits. Jeff's was a super short, skin tight, and had pink stripes (I quickly inheirited it, as he refuses to wear it in public). I don't know that I would wear mine back home, as it's very small, but it's also pink and I adore it.

The main beach was a short walk away from the hotel, and it was a little bit of a scene. I took these photos first thing in the morning:







In the late afternoons, we chilled back at the hotel. Our balcony was wonderful. I managed to tear through about 500 pages of my book sitting out there.





(FYI: Jeff is a banjo player, so that t-shirt is referring to picking a
banjo -- not his nose or butt.)

Elba was by far my favorite part of the trip. I'd strongly recommend a visit if you're in Italy. It seems sort of ignored in the travel guides, and maybe that's part of the reason it was so nice.