Siena and Elba

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Hi all,

Well bit of a break between blogs, but have found the Island of Elba which some of you have been to and will know what a special little place it is. Arrived and it was overcast but have found accommodation for 32 euro each per night including breakfast at Hotel Thomas.

Elba was reknown for its iron ore deposits and mined by the greeks and romans the fires from the smelting of the iron ore use to light the night sky for many miles. It is also famous for Napoleon Boneparte I being exiled here for 285 days and he bought in many social reforms here as although exiled he was made govenor of the Island with his own armed guard. When he escaped he then went on to Waterloo a few months later.

More recently the island was occupied by the Germans in WWII and the French army supported by Allied forces recaptured the Island in 1944. You can still use some of the walkways etc the Germans put in to get around the place.

On arrival we arranged for two nights but have extended now until Monday morning (6 nights) as it is great to slow down and actually have a holiday in amongst the ruins and travel. Also with all the hot tomalie walking around the place why would you ever leave. Lochie and I have hooked up with Uma a Kiwi now living in London (ex Melbourne) and her partner Chris, ex Melbourne. Enjoying each others company giving them a lift when we leave on Monday. (More about the car and driving in Italy soon). Uma's dad was a doctor in Feilding and was mine as well as Stefan and Brendan's family doctor. We have another connection too, her sister lives with my friends Graham and Brenda's sister in Melbourne where she is a doctor. Graham and Brenda live up in Helensville, near my old place.

Spent a lot of time on the beach and today we did the walk up to Monte Capanne the highest point on the Island at 1018 metres above sea level. Absolutely fantastic views and the photos will not really do this place justice. The climb was very steep in places and we had to cross large shale slides, which had been made mostly safe. We came down the steep walkway which has metal guideropes attached and in some places is near vertical. We were jumping around and enjoying it, bit of adventure. All down safe and sound.

Very German and local Italian oriented tourism here - which is great cause you dont get the louder type tourists, you can guess who I mean I am sure. There are large numbers of family groups who come here and every second woman is pregnant or just had a baby. It is funny to watch the younger Italian children as they vent their feelings to their parents " Momma Poppa, etc etc" with all the hand gestures - to watch it you would think they were discussing serious politics with them.

We have come across a number of people who when they find out we are Kiwis personally congratulate us on Team NZ win in the yacht racing.

Yesterday we hired bikes and we all rode to the other side of the island to a secluded beach and found a great rock about 2 metres up, to dive straight into the water from - the water here is as clear as clear, but as tide turn bits of rubbish come in and float around the top.

Prior to arriving in Elba, we drove from Rome to Siena, having uplifted a Peugot 307 with 8 ks on the clock. GPS is a modern wonder and is the best thing we invested in.

We stayed at Hotel Millie Migelia in Siena and it is owned by a former Italian racing car driver - Vittorio, who is apparently a national identity. He was great and sorted us out a restaurant on a Monday night when most are closed and then plied us with fine Tuscany wines on our return to the hotel, slow start the next morning, - I think so he could practice his English.

Next day we went into Siena proper and had a barber shop shave, you can see how easy it would be to slip he barber some money for a "hit" on a client. While waiting for Lochie to have his head shaved - a big job - I was flicking through the Italian version of People magazine and there is Vittorrio, our hotel keeper from the previous night, in the magazine as he dates this incredibly beautiful woman and has left her husband for him - according to the barber - they also great sources of information.

Next we went up this medievel tower in the Piazza Principale in Siena and climbed the 83 metres or 400 steps to the top, the passage was so narrow that they had traffic lights down the bottom and was quite claustrophobic to start with, but worth every step with the view over the Tuscan landscape.

We had parked in a street near the centre and when we returned we had our first parking ticket, for 30 euros, oh well car is hired in Lochies name anyway.

Anyway with GPS we set the system for Piombino the port to get to Elba and we chose the shortest route over the fastest route. I was driving the car and getting use to left had drive and other side of the road and the system took us down tiny country lanes, which if you visualise a milk tanker track on a dairy farm, with olive trees scrapping the car and having to pull into gates to let tractors and other vehicles past. A real experience but worth it as we believe we past a nuclear reactor in the middle of nowhere but it blended into the country side scheme of things.

Well best go and have some dinner now. I hope all is well with you as we fight the elements over here - it is not all sunshine, beer, olives and skittles you know - havent seen any skittles at all yet. Speaking of olives - these here are the best and marinated octupus, feta cheese and pane for lunch is just the best.

Take care and will write again soon - when we leave we are off to Terre Cinque and then off into France and hopefully catch up with Lesley in Nice for he Triathalon, before we head to Barcelona.

Love to all
Paul

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