Portoferraio, Elba and Monaco

It was a gloomy, rainy day in Portoferraio on Isola D’Elba, but it was still delightful. The first picture shows our sail into the harbor just before sunrise (not that the sun was going to be readily apparent!) It reminds you of Portofino, although we thought it a lovelier seafront.

Of course it’s hard to talk about Elba without mentioning Napoleon, who resided there for 10 months. We’d always thought he was exiled here by the French government after he was deposed, but that’s not quite right. He was given a choice of 3 islands on which to live: Corfu, Greece, Corsica, France and Elba, France (now Italy). He chose Elba because he loved the people and natural beauty, or so he said. He loved Elba because it was the closest island to the mainland and would be the easiest for escape. The French government also decided that he would be more trouble if they cut him off without a position, so he was titled Emperor of Elba.

He set about making Elba home, assembling 87 staff for his chosen “home” and 1700 troops to defend the island. Although having no money, he lavishly furnished his home and imported plants and trees for his private gardens. He also made changes on the island, which improved the life of the residents. In the rest of Italy today, he is despised for the pillaging of their treasures, but on Elba, the residents think of him fondly for the work he did on the island. After 10 months on Elba he did escape and 100 days later marched back into France and took over the government once more.

His home (as opposed to the summer home he also had fixed up for use when it was too hot in the city…) was located in the fort above the city and had approximately 30 rooms for Napoleon, his Mother and his sister. His wife remained in France with his son and refused to join him on Elba, although he asked her to (rumor has it she was already involved with someone else….) The following 4 pictures show some of the sights on our visit to his home.  Behind and above the harbor, there is a lovely fortified city. The first picture shows what it’s like as you wander up through the narrow streets inside the fort. The second picture is actually the upper fort, inside the fortified city, where the military and Napoleon maintained residences. We didn’t find his home (Picture 3) all that remarkable (and it’s badly in need of repair), but we were fascinated by his private “powder room” , shown in picture 4. First of all, the depth of the seat is very narrow and he was not a narrow man, so we can’t imagine sitting there would be comfortable. Secondly, doing one’s “business” before a large window seems somewhat immodest, until we learned that this was his private garden, which no one visited without permission. We did not go into what happened to anything that was deposited in the hole….

The final picture from Elba shows some of the rocky coastline.

Yesterday we visited Monaco and while we have visited before, the day was so lovely that being out and about was delightful. We toured the royal palace, which is modest on the outside, but very lavish inside, making one wonder where the Grimaldis’ acquired their wealth???? The Grimaldis’ have ruled Monaco since 1297, making them the oldest ruling family in Europe. Their kingdom encompasses a strip of land across along the Mediterranean that is 2 km long. They have the highest per capita income in the world and some of the world’s most expensive property. They are out of space and doing as much as they can to extend into the sea and inside the mountains. Taking a taxi, we went into a tunnel and found a roundabout inside the mountain! They have a treaty with France that provides them with protection and we understand that France can take over Monaco if no heirs are provided to continue the Grimaldi line. Think Albert II had better get busy.

The next 3 pictures show the changing of the guard at the palace, which occurs at 11:55 each day. Rick Steves describes the ceremony as having “all the pageantry of an important nation”. The Palace Square is mobbed for the ceremony, but seemed to disburse quickly following it.

We then had a very peaceful visit to the Cathedral, shown in the next picture, where all the Grimaldi Princes are buried, including Prince Rainier and Princess Grace.

We then had a delightful pizza lunch with our friend Laura (her husband, Jim, was working back on the ship), as the next picture shows, and slowly wandered back to our 200-passenger ship. The last photo shows our ship (on the right) sitting grandly in the harbor. Our room is on the port side, so we awoke to the gorgeous view of Monaco and the harbor and continued to enjoy the view on the back deck over breakfast. By the way, the large ship to the left of ours (and appearing slightly larger) is a private yacht.

On to the poorer regions along the French coast!