Isola del Giglio

Cala del Arenella Beach

Cala Del Arenella Beach

Walking down from Castello
meditating on boulder behind my hotel
Seagull Ferry escort

Light Tower at Campese Beach

Castello

Campese Beach

crystal clear water behind my hotel

Castello

View from my hotel room

My view from my hotel

Porto Giglio

April 24
Visit with my parents, cook a big breakfast, and catch a taxi to the train station. My train track is so far (20 min walk) that I miss the train and have to wait for 1 hr. After arriving at Borochello, an older couple offers to drive me 20 min to the Porto Stefano to catch the ferry boat to Giglio. The line to buy my ticket for the ferry moves at a snails pace, and even though I am 5th, it takes 20 min to purchase my ticket. I enjoy the beautiful port, the boat ride with the Island and ocean views, and the sea gulls (picture 5) seem to escort us for the 1 hr ferry ride.
After arriving at this quaint port/village of Porto Giglio (picture 10) with its connected multicolored buildings, I lug my suitcase to a hotel on the water I found on the internet. Part of my journey is to be more flexible and go with the flow, and since this is supposed to be the off season, I didnt make a hotel reservation (all of my other travel this year is prearranged and paid for in advance). It turned out to be vacation time for Italians, and even though I found Hotel Saraceno on a cliff on the ocean, with a room with an ocean view the first night, every hotel was completely booked for the weekend except at another hotel with a single room the size of a closet with no view. When I asked the man taking reservations at this hotel what was I going to do, he responded, "In Italy we say, tommorrow is another day". He turned out to be right.

April 25
Have I got a room with a view (picture 9). All kinds of boats in and out of this pretty, tiny port harbor, birds, ferry boat, small sail boats, crystal clear ocean (picture 11), even jelly fish. After sitting outside my hotel on boulders by the ocean, and eating breakfast, I ask again about keeping my room and after much looking at their records, they tell me I can keep my room. Yea!

The weather is perfect, not a cloud in the sky.

I hike from Porto Giglio, 1 hr to the living medieval town of Castello (picture 7,10). The vistas are unbelievable of the big blue ocean, other islands in the distance, boats, little neighborhoods built on little beaches along the coast, and clean fresh air. Castello is a 11th century jumble of narrow walkways, with worn brick and stone walls connecting in the oddest ways, built within a high stone wall. I loved wandering around for 1 hr and bought a cute black T-Shirt

Continuing on to Campese Beach, the longest beach on the Island (picture 6,8)), I hiked 1 hr down a narrow dirt road which turned into an ancient rocky trail. The site of this beach haven town as I traversed down the mountain was spectacular. Beautiful colored wild flowers, huge boulders covered with green bushes and trees reaching out into the ocean, newer constructed buildings, 15 boats from yachts to zodiacs, and a general lazy feeling. I sat by the water, walked on the beach with my hiking shoes, and started back up the ancient rocky trail to the main road, stuck out my thumb to catch a ride back to Porto Giglio, was picked up by an italian who I conversed with in spanish, and returned exausted to my hotel.

After taking a very hot shower, washing my clothes in the sink, and messaging my aching feet, I went out for a fish and vegetable dinner at a resturaunt on the water. There didnt seen to be any menus and it was outragously expensive!

April 26

My hotel is full and my hallway was noisy until 2 am. I wake up tired, have breakfast and go back to bed for an hour. This is another perfect weather day. I walk to the Monticello Hotel, which looks like a small castle, to check it out since I tried to stay there but it was fully booked. From there I walked a few miles straight down to the small, serene Cala del Arenella beach (another small neighborhood), with gently, lapping clear water (picture 1, 2). I hike back up to the hotel, and took the mostly shaded stone path I couldn't find yesterday, up to Giglio Castello. the views were breathtaking! (picture 3) After reaching the top, I came back down the same path , and found a spot to absorb the enchanting view and meditate for a while.

Returning to my hotel, I sat on the boulders behind my hotel and watched the hypnotic, crashing waves for a long time (picture 4). I really enjoy the sound and views of the ocean.

I say my daily prayer in Hebrew, then in English, which says thank you God for giving me life, sustaining me, and bringing me here to this place and time. I also thank God for my many blessings ( children, family, friends, health, ability to travel, etc.) and ask God to bless them and Israel, and for the world to be able to see that Israel is good and needs to be supported in its efforts to survive, and that the world will be a better place because of it, and to give Israeli's the strength and wisdom to do what they have to do to.