Islands and Fire Trekking

We could divide our Sicily trip into a few categories:

Active – We enjoyed hiking, cycling, kayaking, running and lots of walking;
Ancient Greece/Roman – We visited a large number of ancient archaeological sites;
Baroque – We saw a number of beautiful baroque towns particularly in the Val di Noto area;
Cities – There are a few large cities we visited, notably Palermo and Catania amongst others;
Volcanoes – Sicily has some very active volcanoes, certainly active when we visited.

In this post we want to cover our outings to see a few volcanoes. The first volcano we visited was Mount Etna. You can read more in this post – Walking on the moon (Mount Etna) – Mitchell News. There is no mistaking the majesty of Mt Etna and it is visible from a long way off being over 3,300m tall. It is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world. During our visit it was too active to allow us to trek to the summit as planned.

Leaving Mt Etna we travelled to Milazzo to return our hire car and commence visiting some of the Aeolian Islands. Sad to say goodbye to the car. Milazzo itself is a rather large town of over 30,000 people and gateway to the Aeolian Islands. Our ferry to Stromboli was only in the afternoon and so we had time to pay a quick visit to drive out to the Capo di Milazzo (a thin peninsula on the north eastern part of the island of Sicily which extends into the Tyrrhenian Sea towards the Aeolian Islands). We also spent some time exploring the local street and finding ourselves bread, cheese and prosciutto to make up a sandwich for lunch.

Stromboli

The ferry trip to Stromboli took about 2 hours – we love being on water, so no hardship. Our accommodation on Stromboli was A1. A beautiful room very near the water with a large terrace from which we enjoyed sunsets and sunrises.

Our first encounter with the volcano on Stromboli was taking a boat out at night to go and watch the eruptions from the water. It was a truly magical experience quietly bobbing on the water watching Stromboli do her thing with constant activity. Many small eruptions and also a few larger ones sending volcanic rocks into the sea.

In May a film crew caused a large fire on Stromboli. A few months later in August (a month before we visited) they had a large storm that caused major flooding. With no vegetation to contain the soil, the town was inundated with mud and large rocks. It also destroyed the walking paths. We did not think we would have an opportunity to go hiking.

Following a big effort, the town was cleaned up and one new hiking path was created shortly before we arrived. We were grateful having an opportunity to climb towards the cater. Due to the level of activity, we could only go part of the way up. None the less, it was incredible seeing and hearing the eruptions. An unforgettable experience.

Lipari/Volcano

Leaving Stromboli we went to Lipari with the intention to visit nearby Volcano. Volcano consist of four different volcanoes; Vulcano della Fossa (Biggest), Vulcanello (Youngest), Monte Aria (Tallest) and Monte Saraceno (Peculiar Shape). Sadly again, the hiking paths had been closed due to volcanic activity. Never mind, we were able to view Volcano from a hike we did on Lipari.

In Lipari we again had a nice apartment with big rooftop terrace from which we could enjoy some good views. An added bonus was that we had a washing machine. With the sunny terrace we got a few loads of washing done. We did a nice big hike when we first arrived. After that, Lipari was a time to take it easy and we enjoyed exploring the town.

One of the highlights was the Castello di Lipari (Lipari Castle). The castle consists of a buildings built on top volcanic rocks. About 50m high, the walls were constructed to protect the city, and keep outsiders out. Within the site we saw several historic structures, including churches, Chiesa dell’Addolorata and Santa Caterina. Also in the area were the remains of buildings that date to the Bronze Age as well as an archaeological museum. We were sorely tempted to extend our time on Lipari, hopefully we get to come back another time.