Stromboli and Panarea

We departed Naples after a wonderful dinner in a small out of the way restaurant near the docks.  We were traveling to Stromboli via overnight ferry.  In our Wilderness Travel brochure the description was "Please note:  This is a standard transportation ferry and not a first-class ship!  We reserve the best-available staterooms with private baths: they will be comfortable but basic . . ."  So with that in mind we entered the ferry. . .we arrived in our stateroom around 9pm and had to be up at 5am to disembark at 6am!

Jeanna's first look at our cabin.

The rooms were certainly basic. . .I am not sure about comfortable.  I have not slept on a top bunk in quite a few years!  This was our first room, we were located basically on the engine and had to move to a quieter room so Jeanna's ears didn't ring for the next week!  Jeanna took a shower in the closet that was the bathroom, I decided to wait until the hotel room :-)!

 Our group gathering in the early morning on the island of Stromboli at 6am.  The good news was our rooms were ready, bad news was breakfast wasn't until 8am!

Jeanna and I at sunrise after spending the night on the ferry!

 Our beautiful hotel on the black sand beaches of Stromboli.  There is definitely a Greece feeling to this island with the white washed buildings.  We got settled in our rooms and I passed out on the bed for an hour until breakfast at 8am.  The day was very foggy and rain was threatening so we didn't know if we were even going to get the chance to hike Stromboli.  We would meet for lunch at 1pm and see what was going on.  We went back to the room and I slept until 12:45pm!  I guess jet lag had finally caught up to me. . .and after lunch slept until 3:30!!!  So for me this late afternoon hike was almost a regular morning hike!

The hike would take about 3 hours up and 3 hours down in the dark.  We were put with another group for this adventure and the guide wanted everyone to make it so going up was very slow.  Did I mention we were walking very slow??

 There was a lot of stopping while the guide pointed out various landmarks in Italian so that everyone could catch their breath on the steep incline.   We are used to hiking a little faster so it was a little frustrating.

 The higher we climbed the thicker the fog and the higher the winds!!

It got to the point where you could only see two steps in front of you.  Which was an interesting way to hike an especially difficult climb. . . you could only worry about those 2 steps. . .you couldn't look up and see how far you had to go. . .no psyching yourself out that you couldn't do it because you could only see those 2 steps.

We got to a shelter about 100m from the crater around 8:40pm.  We stopped and ate our sandwich we brought for dinner and our guide Dan brought along his expresso maker for a little coffee!!  We put on all our clothes we had in our packs. . .I had hiking pants, rain pants, t shirt, long sleeve shirt, down vest, soft shell jacket, rain jacket, hat and gloves on and we left the protection on the shelter and headed out to the exposed rim of the crater.  The wind was fierce blowing us sideways as we climbed the last 100 meters.  We got to the rim and the fog was so thick that we had to hold our head lamps down by our feet to see.  We stood and waited for the next eruption. . . you felt the earth rumble underneath your feet, your heard the rumble in your body, smelled the sulfur gas in the air, and saw the fog glow deep red!  We watched one more eruption then headed down the volcano.  It wasn't the sighting that we had wanted. . .but there was a sense of wonder standing in the fog and using all our other senses to experience the eruption!  

We "skied" down the hill deep with scree. . .it is a freeing way to go down . . .floating in the fine "ash" of the volcano.  We arrived back at our hotel at 11:30pm.  In the morning we would be packing up and heading to Panarea for the day.

In the morning, the little 3 wheeled vehicle known as an "Api" meaning bee came to pick up our luggage to head to our zodiac boat for the crossing to Panarea.

Do you ever get the feeling that "this is not going to be good"?  Well as I looked at the white caps on the water and looked down into our "boat" I had that exact feeling!  The luggage was loaded in the front and there was a padded bench in the back and then just the hard seats in the front.  

Happy faces before the boat takes off from the dock!

It was quite the ride!!  Huge waves and a lot of crashing down on the water that sent us up in the air and back down hard on the seats!  The luggage that was so neatly piled in the front of the boat slid down pushing us with it!  It was a painful way to get to Panarea

 We finally had to stop in some quiet waters to rearrange some things before making the final dash to Panarea!

After we got our land legs back and our stomachs settled with potato chips and coke/coffee we headed off for a hike around the smallest of the Aeolian Islands!  The hike was stunning. . .rising high above the stunningly blue Mediterranean Sea.

 The white washed walls and blue doors with terraces over flowing with flowers are so reminiscent Greece!

 A beautiful path along the water

 Looking back at the little village of Cala Junco

 An expected encounter with two donkeys, this is Pablo which  liked me because I fed him some of Leela's almonds!  We were petting him and the owner came out and we were expecting some nice Italian couple and the people were New Yorkers house sitting for a friend!

The steep path on our way up to the highest point on the island Punt del Corvo at 1200 feet.

The top was shrouded in a deep fog. . .we were tricked 3 times thinking we were at the summit!!

 Leela and Fae!

Jeanna and the steep cliffs towering over the Mediterranean Sea

 Nature makes beautiful art

 It was a long day and a pretty strenuous hike. . .especially after hiking the night before. . .we were waiting for our Hydrofoil to take us to Lipari and Jeanna couldn't make it any longer!  She literally laid on the dock and fell sound asleep!!!

The hydrofoil was a much better ride!  We landed in Lipari and the hotel van came to get our luggage. . .we were all so tired and got into the van. . .Stefano called us back out and said only the luggage got to ride, we had to walk!  It was a short 15 minute walk but it seemed long to us!  We had a delicious dinner at Filipino's restaurant.  They have been in business and owned by the same family for 103 years!  They have their own fishing boats and catch the fish fresh every day!  The cannalo for desert was out of this world!