Mind you it is a bit dear, the ferry alone was £999.00! Not bad for an hours crossing each way!
Today is a long day and we have arranged breakfast to start at 06:30 ready for a 07:15 departure. I don't normally like these early starts when on tour but we have to today if we want to have enough time on Elba to enjoy it. And at boat prices like that I will enjoy it even if I don't like it!!
From Viareggio it takes us about an hour and forty minutes to drive to Piombino, where our ferry sails from. We are booked on the 09:00 sailing.
I have already printed off our tickets before leaving England but as with anything new am not sure of the loading procedure.
The port is bigger than I thought it would be with a lot more sailings than just one an hour to Elba.
We drive directly onto the loading area and wait for our boat. Which is late!
There are two companies operating to Elba - Toremar and Moby Lines. We are booked on the Toremar line.
There are quite a few coaches travelling, mostly German, and we are the only English bus.
Myself and the passengers walk on while Brian drives the coach onto the Oglasa, the name of our ferry.
I spend most of the crossing on deck with Barry and Jayne watching the mainland fade away and the Isle of Elba appear ever larger ahead of us.
We dock in Portoferraio and I drive down the very steep ramp to wait on the quayside for the passengers and our guide for the day.
Elizabeth, our guide, is the first to arrive followed soon after by the passengers.
We start our tour in a mixture of cloud and sun but thankfully dry.
The scenery is pretty without being spectacular and I find it exciting being on new roads and new destinations.
Our first stop, for coffee, is in a small port of Marciana Marina. There are only four parking bays and we are lucky enough to grab one before they are all full. This seems a nice little town although Brian and I don't get much further than the cafe across the road!
We continue from here on our tour and stop for lunch at a resort on the southern end of the island - Marina di Campo. The coach park was closed but we managed to park in a nearby road.
From here Elizabeth walked the group through the small town to the beach and then to an area where there were a few restaurants. She has recommended one on the seafront and most of the group follow her there. We stay back a bit as there is also a German group with a guide doing exactly the same (the commission must be good here!) thing. Myself, Brian, Barry and Jayne decide to go to a quieter establishment close by.
Here the other three enjoy mussels while I have a spaghetti with clams. We all had a good lunch and the food was very good. Not that we really need a big lunch with the food at the hotel!
Everybody makes their way back to the coach and we have another drive around, dodging the rain as we go, and make a last stop in another pretty town called Porto Azzurro. Brian and I don't see too much of it as we have to park a little way away and we aren't here for very long.
From here it is just a short drive back to Portoferraio and our ferry back.
I have enjoyed today and am glad to have seen the sights I have. As I said earlier the scenery is interesting without being spectacular with a lot of history about the island's most famous resident, Napolean Bonapart. He wasn't on the island for long but seems to have left a lasting impression.
As we are waiting for our boat the heavens open and it rains very heavily, just as we are due to walk on!
As with crossing coming over the boat is late and we don't arrive back at the hotel until 19:50. Dinner is not until 21:00 tonight so plenty of time to wash and change and also to park the bus.
We have to park quite a way from the hotel so are reliant on taxi's in the morning and evenings.
Of the dozen or so taxi's we use during the week the price was always different!
We would have been back half an hour earlier tonight but I sent Brian past out turning to the next one, which is closer, only for it to be an exit coming the other way! What a doughnut. We ended up going to the next town and then back down the coast road! Still I'll know next time.
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