We walked right along the marina front - the air was still and already beginning to get warm. Several hundred yards from our ship we turned left through a stone arch and into a central walking square with steps leading in three directions.
We took the center stairway and passed apartments/houses with laundry hanging from the upper windows or with window boxes blooming with geraniums. We continued up towards Napoleon's villa, now a museum, which contained some original furnishings, dishes and his hat. With gorgeous views over a garden and out to crystal blue seas, and to the right a stone lighthouse which stood slightly higher as did a fort to the left, it didn't seem so bad a place to be in exile.
We walked up to the walls of the fort, but you couldn't actually enter the interior. From there, we found another way down - stair after stair.
Bryce was hoping to rent a scooter to explore more of Elba, but at noon it seemed they had all been rented, and we were getting a bit cranky. One place still had a car available so when Carolyn knocked him down 10 euros, we rented it and I handed the keys to Bryce while I handled the navigation. Bryce converts easily from right-hand to left-hand drive (or vice versa) and he did an admirable job of maneuvering through the narrow corners and especially the densely parked streets leading to Bordido. You almost had to tuck the exterior mirrors in to pass each other. But since the parking would have required an hour's walk, we continued on to Porcchio, where we found a parking lot first and a restaurant for lunch, second.
Then we made our way to the beach and found a patch of sand at the far end which was big enough for we four that wasn't controlled by a beach hotel. We swam and sunned for about 2 hours, and then drove back to town, returned the car, and boarded the ship with about 1/2 hour to spare before we set sail. As we set sail, we performed a sort of water ballet with our sister ship, Wind Star, as we crossed each other's wakes while everyone waved and took pictures.
Dinner again at the Bistro (you're only supposed to go twice, I think we did four) for the steakhouse experience. Carolyn and Bryce had surf and turf, Ash and I just did the turf, mine preceded by a caesar salad and a cleansing sorbet. On the side, I had the double stuffed baked potato with bacon - Wanda will have to kick it up a notch!
Ash headed to bed, Carolyn to an art lecture, and Bryce and I to the casino. $100 plunked down, I stayed about even until the dealer began pushing my 20 or 19 with his 20 or 19 and then pulling 4 or 5 cards to a 21. Down about half, I retired.
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