Doing not very much on Elba
Unbeknownst to us we arrived on Elba the day before Liberation Day, the day Italians celebrate liberation after World War 2. So, we were with the holidaymakers on the ferry across and there was little public transport around the island over the few days we were there. So, we didn’t venture much beyond the beach, our tent and a rock very close to our tent where we sat looking out over the sea. It was just great.
I finished my book, The Piano Tuner by Daniel Mason (thank you very much Ruth). I’d recommend the book and some of you might get it as a birthday or Christmas present from me. It’s about a piano tuner from London in the nineteenth century who gets sent out to Burma to tune a grand piano. He has a most amazing adventure, as does the piano. An insightful, beautiful read.
It’s an Interesting place is Elba
Elba is a really interesting place. Between 1814 and 1815, Napoleon Bonaparte was “exiled” here. The Etruscans, the Romans, the early Christians and a handful of pirates (garrrhh! it be hard to mention pirates without a garrrhh) seemed to have loved the place. And apparently Nelson considered Porto Ferraio to be the safest port in the world.
I only know this stuff because I flicked through a handful of brochures I picked up in the tourist information office. I didn’t actually see much of it for myself. In fact I very rarely got much further than a nice rock for sitting on that overlooked a lovely bay with beautiful, clear turquoise water that was about 10 metres away from where we pitched our tent.
It’s been really nice to just sit still for a couple of days and relax.
I started reading Cannery Row by John Steinbeck again today – for maybe the fourth or fifth time. I just don’t ever get tired of that book. Mack and the boys are just heading off to hunt frogs…