Well, last time I was here two years ago, I didn’t think that I would visit again, let alone so soon. Not only that but in the same Marina, “Marina PortoFerraio”.

After we settle Arctura into her berth we made our way to the office to say hello and pay our dues of €55 per night, the staff are extremely friendly and welcoming. The marina is typical Mediterranean stern to moorings with electricity and water. The WiFi codes provided worked, but were pretty slow and kept disconnecting so we just used our 4g network.

Although we have been here before, we asked the marina staff for some culinary recommendations ( i.e. Where the locals eat ? ). We were recommended a couple of restaurants that we hadn’t frequented last time. One of these was a pizza place called “Pizzeria la Cisterna, via dell Conserve” One of the best pizzas I’ve had and very reasonably priced.

Elba is the largest of the Tuscan islands and was the exiled home of Napoleon Bonaparte. It is steeped with history and the city of Portofarraio has everything a visiting yacht and could need, from hundreds of resturants, supermarkets, fishing shops,chanderlries

After a very restful night on Arctura in the marina we ventured out for an afternoon lunch in a restaurant that we had requested a year ago. It’s run by an English lady call Fiona. She settled here over 18 years ago and married a local Meddician. The food was excellent and although no Vongole on the menu, we were talked into having Sconciglio Linguini, a small sea snail, as picture in one of the photos below. The restraint is called Teatro, located in Via del Carmine.

After lunch we ventured into town for a few bits and pieces for boat repairs, primarily screws for the on board toilet, which got blocked due to a piece of plastic coming loose from the toilet seta and getting suck into the blades of the pump. A quick trip to our local fishing supply shop and also a haircut for Ed at one of the few barbers on Elba, where appointments are not necessary.

We choose our second recommenced restaurant for an evening meal, “Tratoria L Barca delle Matte”, Piazza Della Republican. A great find, limited menu ,but the food was absolutely excellent, especially the sworedfish with capers.

Another restful nigh and early morning start and we slipped lines dead on 0700 for a 60nm journey to MarinaNova in the river Arno, with a view to visiting Pisa.