Erice

After breakfast yesterday morning, Papa and I set off for Erice, an ancient hilltop village just a few miles from Trapani.  Even though the distance is short, the drive is slow, with a very winding road and switchbacks every few meters.  The higher up the hill, the more spectacular the views became!

Erice has been inhabited over time by the Phoenicians, Greeks, Arabs, and then the Normans in the 1100's.  Its location invited religious settlements, so the village has an abundance of churches plus two castles.  We visited lots of churches, had amazing cannoli, and explored the immaculate stone village.  The churches were particularly ornate and quite beautiful.  We left by early afternoon and drove along the coastline to San Vito Lo Capo.  The Sicilian coastline north of Trapani is very dramatic!

Trapani

We left Vulcano early yesterday morning, on a hydrofoil to Palermo.  It was a 4.5 hour ride over a rough sea.  We took a bus to the airport and picked up a rental car.  We promptly set off for Trapani, a city we've visited before while on a cruise.  Trapani is at the far southwestern point of Sicily.  It is a working port city, a bit gritty with the old part of the city very grand and mostly Baroque.  Trapani is Sicilian, not touristy.  We joined in the nightly passeggiata, or evening promenade, walking up and down the streets of the old city, with restaurants and bars teaming with activity.  It was a beautiful evening and we had fun.

We were up early this morning to ride hotel bikes.  We are staying near the port and the fishermen  begin selling fish by 7.  We stopped for a coffee and pastry, rode through the port and along the boardwalk, then dropped the bikes and went back to the fish market, with fruit and vegetable vendors open by 7:30 and fishermen mending their nets.

More Vulcano

We rented a Moke yesterday morning, to take a ride around the island of Vulcano.  We took the advice of Luigi, the rental owner and we went to the most southern point, Gelso, with its lighthouse, and north to the tip.  We had lunch at a place that's become our favorite, Ficodindia, in Porto Levante Vulcano.  Their food is fresh and delicious with a modern twist.  We've eaten lunch there three days in a row!  We enjoyed our hotel pool, with the big volcano overlooking, and we had dinner at the hotel.

We were up by 5 this morning, to trek up to the volcano crater.  We did a 4 mile round trip hike in just under three hours.  It was slow going up and down, as the surface is crushed volcanic rock, similar to beach sand, and the path is very steep.  The view from on top was incredible, just after sunrise, and the fumaroles were steaming.  A beautiful sight!  The volcano erupted in 1888-1890 and has been hot and smoking since.

Vulcano

We took another hydrofoil, this one from Lipari to Vulcano, where we'll stay three nights.  After a late, delicious lunch, the hotel driver picked us up at the port, to take us to the hotel.  We settled in, then walked to the nearby black sand beach, past the stinky sulphurous mud baths, and into the little village of Porto di Levante for a lemon granite.  The whole island of Vulcano is overlooked by the smoking multicolored Grand Cratar.  We took the hotel's advice and hiked up a nearby hill to watch the sunset, with a view of seven of the Aeolian Islands.  Breathtaking!

A Lazy Day on Lipari

Yesterday, we had a delicious breakfast at our hotel then walked into town by mid morning.  Papa got a haircut from a local barber.  We walked about the fishermen's waterfront, went in search of sunblock, found the fenced Greek and Roman ruins, went back on top the Acropolis, and then had a very leisurely late lunch.  Our impressions of Lipari and the Aeolian Islands are very different than our preconceived notions.  The people are busy, working to please tourists, keeping the islands clean (there are groups of three recycle bins all over - plastic, paper/organic, and glass), living in beautiful homes with big views, and a very long history.  The Aeolian Islands are quite dry, with rain primarily in winter, yet there are blooming bougainvillea everywhere, as well as other dry loving flowers.  Everyone eats well - great pasta!, granita, and fruit carts take the place of ice cream carts.

We went back to the hotel and relaxed in late afternoon, enjoying the infinity pool overlooking the city.  We watched the lights come on as the sun set.  A wonderful day!

On to Lipari

Early yesterday afternoon, we took a hydrofoil from Santa Marina, Salina, to Lipari, the largest of the Aeolian Islands.  Our hotel had a driver pick us up at the port, to drive us up the hill to the hotel.  We have a magnificent view of downtown Lipari Town and its Acropolis.  We set off quickly to explore the town.  We first went to the Acropolis, which houses the Aeolian Islands Archaeological Museum. What we found far exceeded our expectations of a museum.  The museum was houses chronologically by major time period, in eight buildings plus there are additional churches, cloisters, cemetery, theater, etc.

Human settlements on the island have been traced back to the Neolithic period, around 5500-5000 BC, through the Bronze Ages, to Greek and Roman settlements, Norman then Spanish occupation... to present day.  The museum houses the best of the findings from all the Aeolian Islands.  We were quite impressed by the quantity and the quality of the items exhibited as well as the exhibition itself.  We went in the Cathedral San Bartolomeo, with its painted and vaulted ceiling, and decked out for a wedding.  Beautiful!

After several hours in the museum, we walked down to the local marina/port, where everyone was enjoying Saturday evening.  We had dinner and a gelato.  We're enjoying Lipari!

Another Day on Salina

We spent much of yesterday and again today, watching Stromboli volcano huff and puff every few minutes.  We've enjoyed dinners out last night and the night before.  We're trying some of the local specialities.  They are known for capers and Malvasia wine, growing Malvasia grapes on terraces all around, and the flowers of capers are extraordinarily beautiful!

We've hiked around the village of Malfa and love it.  We went down the hill from our hotel to the small marina, then back up the stair path into town.  The village sits up on a bluff, in a small valley between two extinct volcanoes.  Everything is up or down.  We missed the bus to Pollara this morning, so we walked about four miles up and around a curve in the mountain, then down the other side.  Pollara is famous for being the film site of the 1994 movie, Il Postino.  It received five academy award nominations.  Pollara is a small end of the road village with a breathtakingly beautiful waterfront, overlooking the islands of Fillicudi and Allicudi.  We had lunch at an agriturismo restaurant, growing their own capers, Il Cappero.  We finished lunch just in time to catch the bus back to Malfa, for another lazy afternoon watching Stromboli.  We're loving our time on Salina!

Malfa, Salina, Aeolian Islands

Papa and I took a 3.5 hour hydrofoil ride and then a local minibus ride to get to our B&B yesterday, and every moment was worth it!  We have a beautiful suite with patio overlooking the islands of Stromboli and Panarea in the Mediterranean.  A 'Alera B&B is a special place downhill of the village of Malfa, on the island of Salina.  All the Aeolian Islands are listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  They are beautiful, quiet, and with ancient civilization roots.  

We went for dinner at a nearby restaurant and as we ate, we noticed a poof of smoke from the volcano of Stromboli, then another and another...  Just after we got back to our hotel, we saw fire coming from the volcano!  I looked Stromboli volcano up online and found that it is in the midst of strong activity.  We plan to spend today volcano watching!  https://www.volcanodiscovery.com/stromboli/news.html  

Palermo

We flew from Venice to Palermo yesterday afternoon, arriving in the evening.  We went out for a delicious dinner just across the street from our B&B.  Our first impression of Palermo was that it is gritty.  We got up early this morning and went for a two hour walk about the old part of the city and our first impression changed to one of old grandeur.  The grit seems to mostly be cleaned up every morning by a crew of street sweepers.

Palermo was colonized by the Phoenicians in the 6th century BC.  It has been ruled by the Carthaginians, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spanish, Mafia, and Italy since.  Many of the churches and palaces were built in the 1100's.  We walked past and into the Duomo, Palazzo Reale, San Cataldo church, the Quattro Canti, Teatro Massimo, and more.  Beautiful!