Due to bad weather yesterday we spent the entire day docked at Santa
Marina di Salina but we had nevertheless a great experience
during our driving tour of the island, with expert guidance provided
by two locals. Our first Italian lesson had also progressed smoothly
and a quiet dinner capped off an occasionally drizzly and grey day.
A gorgeous day in Santa Marina di Salina
Well, today was another day, and when I peeked out of the sailboat
bright and early I saw right away that we had clear skies today.
This meant that we would be leaving Salina and sailing on to the
next island in our linguistic sailing trip experience: Stromboli!
View of Santa Marina from the harbour
When I saw Franco, one of our Italian language teachers from Laboratorio
Linguistico, come out of the on-board shower room wrapped in
a towel, it crossed my mind that an Italian language learning trip
aboard a sailboat is definitely a very unique experience. As a matter
of fact, boat life really brings you close together, and notions
of personal space and barriers of shyness seem to be decreasing
the more time you spend on board with your shipmates.
Santa Marina from a different angle
It’s just that kind of environment, and it’s actually
very refreshing to move outside one’s comfort zone and allow
oneself to experience something completely different. This has been
one of the beauties of this unique trip all along - the unique tight
environment on the sailboat, six great ship mates (thank God!),
and the beautiful experience of gliding through the Mediterranean
waters from one beautiful island to another.
The Duomo of Santa Marina di Salina
Our departure was planned for 10 am, so I took a quick walk through
Santa Marina, indeed a very picturesque little place, particularly
when lit up by the morning sun. I had a quick on-board breakfast
before Herbert, one of my shipmates, departed. He had been feeling
a bit sick for a while and was going to take one of the fast ferry
boats, one of the “aliscafi” or hydrofoils to one of
the other islands to visit a doctor and get some medication for
his flu-like symptoms.
Looking at Panarea
So the remaining six of us got ready to sail and we were out on
the open waters by 11 am. Leaving Salina behind, we sailed past
the island of Panarea which features a gently sloping mountain on
the eastern side and a steep precipitous cliff on the western side.
The weather could not have been any better. The sun was so bright
I closed my eyes and started to fall asleep. All of a sudden this
intense feeling of tiredness overcame me, it was as if all the accumulated
stress from my life in Toronto was trying to unravel itself, so
I retreated and lay down in my cabin.
Moi with our skipper/teacher Francesco and our teacher Franco
When I woke up again we had actually reached our destination: Stromboli,
another Eolian island, this one distinguished by an active volcano.
We anchored our sailboat off shore since the island has no harbour,
and Francesco, our skipper, got a little dingy ready that would
carry us from the sailboat on shore. The dingy was barely big enough
to hold three, definitely no more than four people, so in the first
trip Francesco scooped up Claudia, Lorenzo and me while he steered
the vessel.
Lorenzo and Francesco are steering the vessel
I was of course planning to do lots of photography on the island,
and I thought I just hope to God that we won’t tip over in
this tiny inflatable vessel, since my camera and my memory cards
would certainly be gone. But I should not have mistrusted the expertise
and prudence of our captain: Francesco transported all six passengers
safely to land without incident.
Stromboli awaits
In my quest for photos I embarked on a solo discovery of Stromboli on foot, while Claudia and Lorenzo headed off into town as well.
I walked by the waterfront, past a variety of shrubs, some industrial
buildings and the lone electricity generating plant on the island
to a promontory that looks out on a rock just off the coastline:
Stromboliccio (little “Stromboli”), of course also of
volcanic origin, is uninhabited but features a lighthouse.
Strombolicchio - complete with a light house
Tthe town of Stromboli
From here I turned left and made my ascent into the town of Stromboli
which stretches up along the foothills of the volcano. The roads
are incredibly narrow, a regular car would definitely not fit on
the roads, so all the vehicles are either motor scooters, tiny three-wheeled
mini transport trucks with a cargo platform, or even golf carts.
I snapped a few pictures of the various vehicles, and was rather
amused when I saw the two local policemen – carabinieri -
ride through town on a golf cart.
Carabinieri in a luxurious police vehicle
The village of Stromboli is located on a hill overlooking the Tyrrhenian
Sea and the main square features a viewing platform that provides
a beautiful look over the sea. The Church of San Vincenzo overlooks
the square, and on the left hand side is a restaurant with a large
terrace offering a great view. A local politician was starting to
make announcements for the upcoming mayoral elections and at 6 pm
one of the main candidates would be making an appearance. Not many
people listened to his speech since most of the people on the square
were actually foreign tourists that had come off the ferries to
stay for just a few hours. But he steadfastly continued on with
his political message…
The Church of San Vincenzo
I stopped into a local outfitters shop that provided shoes and
clothing for hikers, equipment appropriate for hiking up to the
top of this active volcano. Various local operators provide guided
hiking tours to visit the top of Stromboli which is in continuous
eruption. This retail store also had Internet access, offering one
rather antiquated machine tucked into the corner, but the owner
explained that unfortunately the Internet had been down all day,
so I was out of luck. I continued my explorations of the town instead
which offered numerous restaurants and various retail and artists
shops, all closed of course, due to the siesta.
Two old scooters behind the church
So I bought myself an ice cream and relaxed for a bit on a bench
by the waterfront. He added that the medical treatment had actually
been free of charge. Rested again I hiked back up into the village
and turned left at the big church and headed up past the village
on the narrow road that provides the ascent to the volcano. By this
time, about 6 pm, the sun had already disappeared behind the volcano,
and it was getting pretty cool so I decided to come back into the
village. There I bumped into Herbert who had arrived on the island
in mid-afternoon after accidentally taking a wrong ferry to the
island of Panarea to visit a doctor about his flu-like symptoms.
Taxi, anyone?
Fortunately he had found a medical specialist and got a prescription
for his flu. The medical treatment had actually been free of charge.
We sat and chatted for a bit until it was time to get back on the
beach where our skipper would pick us up with the dingy. By 7:30
pm all of us were on the boat and we were ready to start our night
time navigation to Panarea, our next destination.
A Husky by the waterfront, how does he handle the heat in the summer?
A big cruise ship was approaching from the south, and the setting
sun bathed it in its golden glow. We were just turning the corner
near Strombolicchio when we saw a gorgeous beautiful pink and purple-coloured
sunset. I thanked our
skipper Francesco for timing our departure so perfectly. We
rounded the island of Stromboli and also got to see the lava fields
on the western side of the island.
Coming back on the dingy
The sea was rough today and we were now sailing in complete darkness.
A cool wind was blowing and after sitting at the back of the boat
for about an hour I got chilled to the bone. I decided to lie down
in the cabin and covered myself with two blankets to try to get
warm. In addition, the choppy waters had made me feel a bit queasy
and I felt better lying down.
What a sunset...
Around 10:30 finally we had reached Panarea, not that we could
see it because it was totally dark, but our captain had dropped
anchor and we were going to sleep offshore for the night. A nice
on-board dinner of gnocchi and salad capped off an eventful day
and I was already wondering what this new
island of Panarea would look like tomorrow morning.
