Elba, or when the island and Tuscany beckon.
Hello, this is one of my other trips which can serve as an inspiration for you. Whether alone, on a motorbike, or with family by car. The island is accessible no matter which option you choose.
This time I managed to persuade my friend to come on this trip, with whom I've already travelled around a good chunk of Europe. But when you think about it, I didn't have to persuade him much and he basically agreed to the trip straight away.
For this trip, I chose the month of May, as the temperatures are ideal for travelling, holidays haven't started yet, and so the winding roads of Elba should still be half-empty, along with the surrounding coastal towns.
We planned the journey there for two days with an overnight stay, depending on how far we managed to get. The only thing we suspected was that it would be Austria. However, due to work commitments, we didn't set off until the afternoon. The weather was acceptable, apart from the wind. The journey passed quickly and without complications. We both had the energy and the desire, so we carried on into the night. Around 9 PM, it was time to use Booking and look for accommodation. We found it very quickly, with a 24-hour reception. Later, we discovered that it was all operated by a machine. Which was great, because it didn't matter at all whether we arrived at ten or midnight. It was the first time I had encountered this kind of service. Booking provided a code, based on which I received an access card from the machine, and then it was straightforward. In the morning, of course, we couldn't miss our coffee from our travel coffee maker. MOKA from COFFEE2GO. The start was sometimes around 08:00, but with a bad feeling, as the weather had changed and rain was expected to accompany us the entire way.
Unfortunately, it was. It started to rain about an hour after the exit, at first it looked like a summer shower, also according to my friend it won't rain much and it's not worth putting on a raincoat from the trunk. But let me tell you, after a while we were so wet that it really wasn't worth pulling the raincoat off. The rain accompanied us with little breaks until we arrived at the marina in the early evening. That said, I have to commend the Dunlop trailmax mission tyres, which were able to handle the extreme rush of water from the rain that caught us somewhere in Tuscany. Otherwise, the trip went fine. We had one weak moment where we misunderstood on the motorway and got separated, but after 20 minutes we were back together again.
After that little bit of chaos, it was clear we wouldn't make the 6 pm ferry, so I was on tenterhooks, wondering if they'd take us later. We arrived at the ferry terminal around 6:40 pm. A local employee initially hesitated, telling us we had to sort it out at the office, but thankfully he quickly understood our journey hadn't been straightforward and sorted it out for us over the phone. Perhaps the dripping water from our clothes convinced him. Eventually, we left on a half-empty ferry around 7:30 pm. The ferry was from Piombino to Portoferraio and back. We checked in sometime before 10 pm; the key was waiting for us in the door. We also communicated our lateness to our lovely receptionist Martina. We were staying at Residence Villa Rosi and can recommend this residence to everyone. Everything was clean, there was air conditioning, a pool, a terrace... The only thing that got on our nerves a bit was breakfast, where you could only choose between a croissant with chocolate or jam.
The following days, the weather was perfect for motorcycling, so there was nothing left to do but admire, enjoy, and of course, work, as I needed a lot of material for photos and videos of the portable travel coffee maker. MOKA from COFFEE2GO
Immediately after breakfast we visited Spiaggia di Felciaio beach, which of course was still empty. Our eyes were occupied by a small UNC dredger, which was working and carrying away the floating seaweed. I took a few videos and photos, then we returned. My buddy decided to take a rest and I headed out into the field to work.
Canyon Rosso was the destination of my stop. Anyway, it was a nice visit, but it's nothing special, but it's definitely worth seeing. It's a set of red rocks in one meadow but with a nice view of the Ligurian Sea. Afterwards you can go back to the car park or continue somewhere further. But in between, I discovered this photogenic place called Parcheggio Vigneria, where I made my first series of videos.
I then moved on to the canyon. From there, the path led through the mountains back to the accommodation, where my friend was already waiting. Together we went to the harbour to look around and eat some good pizza.
The second day we had planned a visit to the house where a small, stout man named Napoleon lived in exile, including the Bastione San Carlo fortress. In the afternoon, we visited the town of Lido di Capoliveri. The paths, houses, and atmosphere were reminiscent of typical Tuscany. The town had its own amazing relaxed atmosphere. This time, however, we had coffee in the square at a local cafe overlooking the sea. I would definitely recommend visiting this place, it felt very relaxing to us.
For the evening, I had planned a viewpoint at Tramonto panoramico – Rosa dei venti, where I enjoyed the sunset with waves crashing against the rocks and, of course, combined with work, photos, videos, drone. Sunsets are always fascinating on the coast!
Marciana Marina,
On the last day, we had this port town planned, where we split up because someone had to work 🙂 And so, my friend stayed on the beach, lazing about, while I headed to the mountains to work. 🙂
I chose the mountain summit Monte Corto which I took the cable car up Monte Capanne Cable Car. The cable car ride itself was an experience. I've never been on a cable car like it before and I'd recommend it to anyone who's not afraid. It was about 20 minutes of absolute peace and quiet. You can pay for the cable car by card. The summit was half-empty, so I was able to film and take photos undisturbed again. During the season, it probably wouldn't have been so relaxed.
My mate and I were down at the harbour, I left the motorbike on the coast and we went to chill in a local café where we had to wait out their siesta to move 5m next door to the restaurant. Beppe's Restaurant and Pizzeria, where we enjoyed amazing pasta „Bolognese“. We ended the evening in another cafe just a stone's throw away, where we killed some time, like typical Italians 🙂
Departure day,
It’s always sad because it means going home, but on the other hand, you’re looking forward to seeing family and your little daughter, who I miss a kilometre away from home. In any case, we agreed to do the journey in one go, which I think we both regretted in time 🙂 But that’s part of it too.
The journey passed by smoothly, without any problems. We agreed that around 10 PM we'd find a nice rest stop to rest our heads for a few hours. Position-wise, it worked out to be somewhere just beyond Lignano. Unfortunately, along the way we couldn't find any suitable spot, so we kept going further and further. As we approached the hills, the temperature dropped to around 8°C. We put on everything we had, even our waterproofs. Somewhere around 1 AM, we were really starting to feel tired, so we decided to stop and rest anywhere. We ended up settling down on the wooden floor of a local petrol station. A memorable experience, in hindsight... Sleeping on the ground fully clothed, in balaclavas, and at 8°C. We lasted like that for an hour. We decided we'd rather suffer on the bike than on the ground. We ate something and washed it down with fresh coffee from our Travel Moka coffee maker,and we set off again. We chose Tarvisio as our crossing point again. The temperature dropped to 2°C in the mountains, which pretty much froze our smiles. Somewhere beyond Villach, we'd had enough. So we found a Shell petrol station in some Austrian village. It had a small café, where we parked up for 3 hours and went for it like Superman... Around 8 in the morning, sore and stiff, we got ourselves together, grabbed something to eat, a hot tea, and carried on. Somewhere near the town of Oberwart, we found a closed Obi DIY store. We used an artificial carpet and some sun loungers and had a good kip. An hour's rest = energy for the rest of the trip. This part went entirely smoothly, and the final stretch took us through Hungary. We arrived home at a great time (6:00 PM), so there was still time for a reunion with the family and our excited daughter. Overall, it was a great trip, and we don't regret a single moment spent in the saddle of our motorbikes. And as bikers say, wheels down.
