European Snorkeling Road Trip Part 2 -- Our snorkeling destination. Coast of Italy to Elba Island

Thomas in Viareggio Tuscany

This is part 2 of our trip to Elba Island in Tuscany.  We had split the trip into 3 hour drives because we took our dog Pearl.  After the first stop at the Lake of Lugano we had planned to stay on the coast of Italy near Carrara (where the marble is cut from the hillsides).  When we arrived we did not like the area.  It was very industrial.  There were newer block high rise apartment buildings and our hotel choice turned out to be untenable.  We quickly left and decided to drive South on the highway closer to our ferry town.  We ended up staying Viareggio on the coast in an inexpensive little hotel (less than 100 Euro with breakfast included).  If you like Miami, this might be your place.  The view of the beach is blocked by a street of shops -- and in between you can see the beach clubs.  The beach is wide and flat and filled with chairs.  The shops were nice.  However, we found that this part of the Italian coast was not our cup of tea.  We ended up walking in the marina to find a restaurant.  Thomas loved looking at the huge yachts.  We ate at Ristorante Il Porto with okay food and a breathtaking view of the sunset.  

We drove to Portoferraio to catch the ferry (about 137 Euro for round trip) for the approximately 45 minute long journey to the Island of Elba.

Pearl on the ferry to Elba.

We landed in Riomarina and set off for our house near Portoferraio Italy.  The port town of Portoferraio has an old city at it's heart with a more industrial surround.  Yachts are parked in the harbor and the old city has one street that borders the marina.  It so happened that the world's largest sailing yacht, Yacht A, was docked there.  The masts could be seen for miles around.

We drove on steep mountain cliff roads with breathtaking views of the sea to our house on a cliff outside of Portoferraio (about 30 minutes from the ferry).  We had an apartment with 2 bathrooms, a bedroom and a sofa bed.  It had a kitchen and a roofed patio with a fireplace/grill for about 194 dollars a day. The property was lush with bougainvillea and agapathus.  This was the view from our AIRBNB apartment.

Our view -- steps outside of our door in Elba.

We walked down a steep path to snorkel every day.  The beach was made of white Carrara marble pebbles and the water was perfectly clear.  One day Christian saw a baby cuttlefish in the shallows and it immediately turned color to blend in with the marble rocks.

Pearl walking down to our beach.

A view of our snorkeling place and beach, a short hike from our apartment.

Unlike our Caribbean snorkeling, the colors here were muted.  There were vast fields of swaying sea grass.  It was difficult to capture in a photo but was breathtaking.  It soon occurred to us that without the colorful coral, any colorful fish would be immediately detectable.  The fish were accordingly colored for camouflage in this green, blue and white world. 

Sea grass.

Another view of the beach from above.  The dark patches are fields of sea grass punctuated by patches of white marble and vast areas of sand.

The longer we looked, the more fish we saw within the sea grass.

Thomas spent hours above the fields of sea grass.

Flounder hid in the vast sandy parts of the sea bottom.

There were deeper parts with huge rocks that had spilled from the cliffs.  Here we would find a rare red or black sponge on the rocks -- see below.

Exciting to finally see one colorful sea star and that same day finally a colorful parrot fish.

Sea star.

In the evening we ended up most nights in Marciano Marina.  As we drove from Portoferraio, the scenery became more lush and beautiful.  The town had stone streets and original old buildings like the ones that are so famously beautiful in Portofino.  The sea and clear water were visible from most restaurants and from the small shops.  The shops closed after lunch but were open in the evening until 8 pm.  Most dinner reservations started at 8 pm.  Everything was also open on Sunday (unlike in Switzerland).  Many restaurants had sea views and almost all had outside seating. We had a great dinner at Salegrosso (translated as course salt); just one of many. The prices were extremely reasonable throughout the island with a bottle of prosecco costing only 20 Euro at the table.  We went to Portoferraio for drinks one night and had a tequila, a prosecco, and free bar snacks on an outside table on the ocean/port for a total of 9 Euro!!!  

Marciano Marina 

Marciano Marina

The harbor and town of Marciano Marina -- the water is exceptionally clear even surrounding the city.

We wanted to see the other side of the Island and had booked a snorkeling tour there.  The weather was harsh that morning so they took us out of Marciano Marina instead.  Our goal was to see the cliffs and to snorkel inside of the caves.

Cliffs near Marciano

Cliffs

A cave -- inside were colorful sponges.

Inside a sea cave.

Unlike the Caribbean snorkeling tours, there were no visible life vests nor was there any sort of instruction or bothersome talk of safety and the like.  The patrons were suitably adorned in designer bathing suits fitting with the stylish wooden boat. Thomas noted a Gucci hat and a Louis Vuitton back pack among the 8 or so guests.  Of course there was food and plenty of wine, as well as the obligatory stop at St. Andrea beach for a cappuccino after lunch. Oddly, but in keeping with the fashionable snorkel tour, I found a very large diamond earring on that beach and turned it into lost and found.  If you have a chance, visit the unusual smooth finger like cliffs near this beach in the off season (too many people in high season).

Christian with his snorkeling gear.

Cliffs and caves on the snorkeling tour.

A final picture of our little part of the sea on Elba Island -- miss it very much.

Weekend trip to Paris in the fall with teenage cousins.

We stayed near Place Vendome in an apartment in the 1st arrondissement in Paris, France. 

First night immediately after arrival - visit the Eiffel Tower at night and walk back to the apartment through the Champs Elysees. 

Saturday
Louvre - Egyptian Exhibit (or Sunday morning - it is free)
Walk through Gallery Vivienne 5 Rue de la Banque

Walk through Les Halles

Lunch at Kong http://www.kong.fr/_en#brestaurant

Walk to the Le Centre Pompidou at Place Georges-Pompidou and then past the Stravinsky Fountain  

Walk through the flower market at Place Louis Lepine on the Isle de la Citi.  On Saturdays there is also a bird market there. 2 Rue Aube

Towards the Sorbonne and to Boulevard Saint-Germaine where we turn right.

Right on Rue de Four and a short left on L'Abbaye to Henri Le Roux Chocolatier.
If we have the strength we will also visit Pierre Herme bakery the other way o Rue de Four and then left on Rue Bonaparte

The most important -- a visit at Deyrolle, 46 Rue du Bac (right off of St. Germain).

Stop at Les Deux Magots Cafe.

If we have time visit the Berthillion Glacier on Rue Saint-Louis en I'lie.

Later or on Sunday possibly visit the Natural History Museum and ride on the Dodo Manege in the Jardin des Plantes

Escaping the 2018 European heat wave -- Summer trip to the Italian Alps - the Italian side of Mont Blanc

This summer -- 2018 was our hottest ever. Temperatures in Switzerland and most of Europe were in the high 80 and 90 degrees Fahrenheit for weeks on end without a break. There was almost no air conditioning in Switzerland so we decided to head for the hills to try to get a break from the heat. Courmayeur Italy near Mont Blanc was a little over 3 hours to drive so we made a last minute reservation at an inexpensive hotel (about 110 euros total per night, breakfast included) for the three of us and our dog Pearl.

We escaped to the sixty degree temperatures. We were also lucky with our hotel.  The Tavernier was a five minute walk (but uphill) to the shopping/restaurant district in Courmayeur and right next to the glacial stream coming from the mountains -- Fiume Dora Báltea. The staff and owners of the hotel were incredibly nice and kind to us.

This was the view when we came out of the top floor of our hotel and walked over the bridge to town (following 2 photos).  The video is taken from our hotel balcony a few steps out of our room.

Courmayeur was a beautiful little town with older buildings and nice small restaurants. There was a grand hotel in the middle of the town -- the Grand Hotel Royal e Golf. Very old school with an English butler type waiter in a suit serving drinks outside.  It has a grand lobby filled with marble and stag's horns. We had cocktails on their lovely outdoor terrace overlooking the mountains. We tried to go to the restaurant Cadran Solaire afterwards, but will make reservations for dinner ahead next time.  The other restaurant that we went to looked nice and was inexpensive but the food was unremarkable -- it was restaurant Mont Fretty.

We looked at the map and decided to hike up to a mountain lake to swim. Here are pictures of Val Veny and our attempts to hike to Lago Delle Marmotte (marmot lake). We never actually made it because it was starting to rain and it was very long steep hike. We were afraid of getting stuck in a storm so we went back down before reaching the lake.

Photos from the hike to Lago Delle Marmotte (marmot lake)

Thomas and Christian near one of the glacial steams on the hike to Marmot Glacial Lake.

We had to take off our shoes and put our toes into this cold wild glacial stream on the hike to Marmot Lake.

Thomas pausing to rest on boulders -- hike to Marmot Lake.

We only made it to this bridge and turned back.

On the way home we stopped to check out the cross country skiing in Val Ferret for future reference. 

Here are pictures of our hike.

Mountain top - Val Ferret 

 Val Ferret 

Glacial stream - Val Ferret

Christian also used to para-glide in places like this mountain in Val Ferret. 

Thistle - Val Ferret 

wild alpine lily

Perennial Cornflower 

European Snorkeling Road Trip -- Our first stop on the Lake of Lugano

The view during our drive along the lake of Lugano.

Our stay at Stella D'Italia on the Lake of Lugano

We decided to go snorkeling and our ultimate destination was the island of Elba just off of the coast of Tuscany in Italy.  We took our dog Pearl so we wanted to break up the trip into short drives. We drove about 3 hours from the Zurich area to the Italian part of the Lake of Lugano.  We drove on the road on the cliff above the lake for about 20 minutes to reach Valsolda. We passed through small villages along the lake and finally arrived at the Stella D’Italia hotel.  Our room had a gorgeous view of the lake. The hotel was traditional and beautifully decorated. We ask where our dog was allowed to walk in the hotel and the concierge said “Wherever she wants.”.  

The view from our room.

Our immediate concern was to go swimming in the lake.  We put our suits on and walked through the grounds to the deck.  Only a few people were there laying in the sun. A women was in the outdoor cafe working on a laptop.  We thought that she must have been a famous writer staying here to work on a book. She looked very serious so we did not bother her.  Even the pictures don’t fully capture the beautiful blue color of the clear lake water framed by mountains and by arbors full of roses and bougainvillea.  After a time a family of ducks rested under the deck chairs. When they went back into the water they marched over several feet to the ladder as they had seen the hotel patrons do and jumped into the water from there.  There were also swans further away near where the water transit boat stopped to take people on tours of the lake or to other towns.

View from the hotel grounds and dining area.

Looking up at the dining area rose arbor.

The hundred year old rose bush - Belciana rose.

We had a long dinner that night under the rose arbor.  It was a large structure covered by several very large rose bushes that were said to have been around 100 years old. Each rose plant was as large as a small tree. The view was breathtaking. The appetizer of melon and prosciutto had a surprising addition of burrata cheese. It was a creamy fresh mozzarella-like cheese that was so good we bought several while still in Italy to take back to Switzerland.   We ordered an entire bottle of prosecco to share -- grateful for the gentle prices after drinking 20 dollar glasses of wine in Switzerland with insanely expensive and unremarkable Italian food at our small neighborhood restaurants.

We had also walked our dog Pearl along a brick path that follows a mountain stream and another time up stone stairs that go to a church and then beyond.  We left the next morning to drive through the piedmont to the coast of Italy near Piombino where the ferry goes to Elba.