2024 05 17 17.08.14
Italy

We are back on track in Italy, and in this post we are exploring the island of Giglio and Elba

After 3 amazing weeks in Norway we are finally back “home” in our boat. We stayed one extra night in the marina in Rome before we sailed over to the island of Giglio.

Giglio

17. of May is Norway`s National Day, so Astor had to celebrate with a swim! Giglio is a small island and we anchored in a lovely bay at the westcoast of the island.

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I made some bread, in Norway we always eat good food on this big celebration.

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***

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And when we are anchoring on the west side of an island, Giglio Campese, we almost always have the sunset.

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It was many boats anchoring in the bay of Giglio Campese. We took the dinghy ashore and parked it next to the small castle.

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I guess this is a busier place in the high season.

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Beautiful beach, but not crowdy in May.

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We walked to the end of the beach (along the road) to find the bus-station. That was easy, and we found a small shop where we could buy tickets. The busride from Campese to Porto (main town) is worth the money, it is steep uphill to the castello and then downhill on the other side of the island.

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In Porto we had a walk around the town.

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A cozy town with shops and restaurants.

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The town seen from the seaside.

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A ferry is going to the mainland. There is a small marina, but in Italy it is very expencive to stay in a marina, so we are mostly anchoring.

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In 2012 it was tragedy right outside the harbour here in Giglio Porto. Costa Concardia had 4200 people onboard, including the crew. The ship was on its way from Civitavechia, north of Rome for a week of sailing in the Med. Everyone could see that the ship was too close to shore, it was all over the news for many days. 32 people died in this accident, and the captain was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to 16 years in prison. I remember this accident very well so it was a bit special to be there.

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Porto

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We found a touristinformation and asked there where it was best to do the hike back to Campese. It is many trails all over the island, but some are better than others. We also asked specifically about restaurants in Castello, because we wanted to have lunch there. And yes, she said, they should be open. Luckily we bought some snacks from Porto.

We walked along the road in south of Porto and followed the route 306 and 303 up to Castello.

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Right after this beach we walked up the hill.

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Someone was following us….

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This hike is not very steep, but some days is not yours. And this day was not mine. I needed many breaks on the way.

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I thought we would have more view on this hike, but it was too much forrest. Well marked all the way!

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When we came up on the top of the hill it was a bike trail to the Castello.

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In the distance we could see Castello.

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Castello – a beautiful old town, laying on the top of the hill.

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And the reason I asked about the restaurants at the touristinformation was that we have been to so many old towns and there are no open restaurants… like it was here. We came to Castello ten minutes before three and one restaurant gave us a tomato/mozzarello salat with bread. Their chef had gone home. They closed at 15.00 and opened again later.

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Small tiny streets inside the castle.

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The view from the castle.

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The square where you can find a couple of restaurants and if you take the bus from Porto or Campese, the bus stops here.

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Then it was time to start downhill back to the bay.

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It was a beautiful view all the way down to the bay, and a lot of flowers around the trail.

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This was a really nice trail, and I will recommend you to try it. But bring water and something to eat! And of course; don`t do it in July/August, it will be too warm.

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Campese is a nice village, and you can find a small supermarket and some touristshops. It is a really good sheltered bay if the wind is coming from all other directions than north.

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The view from the boat towards the village.

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Campese; you can see Castello on the top of the hill.

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Here is a video from todays track:

Elba

After Giglio we sailed north to Elba. Elba is a much bigger island than Giglio. Because of the wind coming from the south, we sailed to the northern part of the island, where you can also find the main town, Portoferraio.

We anchored in the huge bay of Portoferraio and took the dinghy into town.

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Portoferraio is a place many cruiseships are coming to and you also have ferries to the mainland.

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We had a stroll along the marina, also looking for a Swedish boat, but there were no one onboard.

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On the other side of the marina.

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Behind these houses you will find the oldtown.

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Narrow streets, but not much to see.

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Napoleon Bonaparte was the leader of the French Republic as first consul from 1799 to 1804, then of the  French Empire as Emperor of the French from 1804 to 1814, and briefly again in 1815. In summer 1812, Napoleon launched an invasion of Russia, which ended in the catastrophic retreat of his army that winter. In 1813, Prussia and Austria joined Russia in the War of the Sixth Coalition, in which Napoleon was decisively defeated at the Battle of Leipzig. The coalition invaded France and captured Paris, forcing Napoleon to abdicate in April 1814. They exiled him to the Mediterranean island of Elba, and this is the house he lived in.

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A street in the old town close to Napoleons house.

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From the top of the hill/old town you will have a great view to the other side of the town.

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Some places it was steep hills.

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And many nice cozy streets with a lot of flowers.

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Many restaurants to choose from.

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We tried twice to leave the bay but it was too much waves and swell on the outside, and all of it came from north and since this is the northern part of Elba we didn`t had any place to escape.

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But the second time we sailed to the next bay, Golfo de Vitticio. It was a bit of a swell, but we put out a stern anchor and had a good night with a beautiful sunset.

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Parco Nazionale dell’Arcipelago Toscano

We saw on the map it was a trail up in the hill from this bay and we wanted to check it out. We took the dinghy ashore, there are some restaurants in front of the hill, and tied it up to a small dock there.

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It is many turns up the hill, not very steep. But a nice view all the way!

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On the top there is many tunnels from WW2.

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The whole trail is 5 km and most of it is on a good gravel road.

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This was early in the morning and we thought we should be alone here. But no!! So many people walking here, and we also met a couple of school classes with teachers.

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It was so beautiful to walk here.

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At the end of the trail you have Capo D´Enfola. There is steep hill down to the cape, and of course it will be steep hill up again.

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Nice yellow flowers!

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***

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Here is the bay where we put the dinghy ashore and started the hike up the hill. It is 100 masl, but since you walk down to the cape and up again, it will be the double. If you are in the area I will really recommend this hike!

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Here is the track:

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These two islands is really worth a visit. I wish we could have had more time on Elba, but we had to follow the wind. Our next stop will be Corsica and Sardinia, more about that in our next post!

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