If the weather changes, drink Prosecco!

Europe has had a hot summer and we were expecting lots of very toasty temps. Fortunately, a weather front has come through bringing some, at times very heavy rain squalls & winds, but lovely temps in the mid 20s. The rain hasn’t been a problem, but the winds and sea state that prevented us from docking in Corsica yesterday made using the ship’s tenders at Porto Santo Stefano today into quite a “sporting experience”.

Rules 1-9 of using tenders when seas are rocking and rolling: Only attempt to board/de-board when the rolling seas push the tenders up as high as they go and then move really, really fast.

Once ashore, we had a morning tour at a centuries old family run farm and vineyard to sample their wines, cheeses, breads & ridiculously tasty olive oil. They were preparing the vineyards for harvesting in a few weeks by hand trimming all the lower leaves to expose the grapes to the salty winds blowing in from the ocean as a “finishing flavour profile”

The region is a very, very upscale real estate market with the wealthy from Rome, Milan and Florence having their yachts and summer estates here. Some very beautiful villas around the town of Orbetello.

And of course it wouldn’t be a day in Italy without a pause to sit in the local piazza, watch the world stroll by and sip some Prosecco . . . and celebrate Nancy’s birthday!

In keeping with this trip’s Napoleon Bonaparte sub-theme, there is a small archipelago just off the coast and one of the islands is named Elbe, where Napoleon was forced into exile before his “1815, I’m Back Baby Tour! ” to make even more history at some obscure Belgian town called “Waterloo”✅Read more