It is a tradition now, that I am going on a sailing holiday for a week. I promised this year I skip it and save money, but when I saw the destination, I decided I will go. It was Sicily! 🙂
Well, before I start the story I had to decide how I will write this blog. There are 2 ways: chronological or island by island. If you know me, you already expect a chronological post. 😀
I knew I will find quite cheap flight tickets to Sicily. I found the tickets for 45 EUR (roundtrip) and was waiting for the shortest flight I can ever catch from here – or nearly from anywhere. The duration of the flight is 25 mins. I didn’t know what to expect, but I have to admit it was quite funny. Seatbelts on, we departed, after 7-8 mins seatbelts off, the cabin crew run thought the aisle with an open brochure asking if anybody want tea or snack, then they told we can buy scratch card and the seatbelt fasten light was on and we landed in 10 mins.
The team picked me up at the airport and we headed to the north of the island, to Portorosa, where we started our journey with Giulia (46 feet Bavaria boat with 4 bedrooms and 3 bathrooms).
First night we stayed in the harbor, had a big food shopping and visited the beach. We found a nice viewpoint with palm leaves on the top. I felt like in the Caribbean and I won’t mind to have one in Riviera bay. Private one, of course.
Next morning, we sailed away from Portorosa. The first island we visited was Lipari. On the way there I could not believe my eyes. We saw a whale. :O We saw a big splash and after for at least 2-3 mins we saw the water what the whale was blown. I had to google it if we can really see whales in that area, and yes, the sperm whale can be found in the west / northern west area. – Unfortunately I don’t have any picture as a proof as it was quite far from us.
Lipari is the biggest island of the Aeolian islands so nowadays they call them Lipari islands as well. We stopped for the night at a pontoon bridge. The normal big harbor was used for the ferry mostly, and I don’t think we would survive the arrival of the ferry. Omg they were so fast, they are not even touched the water and looked like the Imperial Walkers coming in front of us or passing us. 😀
We had a small tour guide book (actually 3 books all the same 😀 ) about Sicily and these islands. Before we headed to the mainland/ town, we always read the relevant part. They said Lipari is full of life, the city centre is buzzing. Luckily it was end season, so there were couple on mins we didn’t see anybody on the streets. I didn’t mind.
We stopped for a cannoli at Pasticceria & Gelateria Giovanni D’Ambra, in a very small street. They were amazing, you need to try them.
The streets are full of souvenir shop and restaurants, and nearly every road is heading to the old town.
In the morning we had a quick breakfast, and headed to the second island, Salina. The plan was renting scooters and see as much of the island as we can. Well, I can’t drive a scooter, just to keep everyone in safe, and also I hate being a passenger on a scooter. I was hoping they have a quad, or something what I can rent. And they had… Well the weirdest thing I ever saw. They called it minicar, but it had a scooter engine and kind of scooter steering. It was perfect for us, even if it didn’t go up on a small hill if both of us was sitting inside. 😀 Everybody on our way was waved or pushed the horn when they saw us. I don’t think a lot of people choose that vehicle. (I wanted to add a video so you can have the proper experience with the voice, but unfortunately it does not support videos 😦 )
The island is lovely and only have 2 roads, so you can’t get lost. I felt like we are driving through Jurassic park. Mountains around, and everything is green. I know, I know that should be the normal view, but you know I live on the little rock, where there are no mountains with forests.
Salina is famous of their wine, you can book a wine tasting evening at a winery, but you need to do it in advance. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time for this, as we visited a lovely hidden beach. On the way back to the harbor we bought some local wines, and organised our wine tasting evening on the boat.
A bit about the beach. However, there is only 2 main roads, it’s not easy to find the way there. There is a lot of small streets heading only to a couple of houses, this road ends up with a parking place. From there you need to walk, but believe me, it worth. The beach is full of big grey rocks, and you can rent for 5 EUR a big mattress. It’s the guest mattress not the beach one. Stronger, better, more comfortable.
The next day we sailed to Panarea. This island is the Santorini of Sicily. They say the rich Italian go there for holiday. The island really looks like Santorini. Everywhere white houses with blue windows and doors. What I can recommend Is go wander around grab an ice-cream and enjoy the view.
We were quite excited about this day, as the evening program is unforgettable. We went to see Stromboli island. What is exciting about this? Stromboli is an active volcano and when I say active, it means it erupting lava in every 5-10 minutes. We started our journey there during sunset and when we arrived when it was already dark. If I was not there, I won’t believe if someone tells me this story.
We were on the boat, drinking prosecco, listening live pianist from the boat next to us, and watching Stromboli erupting in every 5mins, then saw the lava going down on the mountain. It was incredible and beautiful. I hope this memory will last till the end of my life.
In the morning we left the island very early and headed to Filicudi. I was really happy for the early departure, as we finally saw dolphins swimming next to the boat. We could not believe to our eyes. They said hi to us, stayed a couple of minutes then left. I could not ask more for this day. Volcano, dolphins… Just wanted to stay there forever.
But back to the islands. The book says if you want peace and nature, come to Filicudi and Alicudi. It was not a joke there were nobody around. It was really peaceful and calm, and green. We didn’t spend the night there, we went back to Salina. It was a clever decision, as there was a storm hitting Filicudi. Luckily there is no distance between the islands so if you would like to visit the inland, you will have plenty time, as the fares are short between the islands.
From Salina we went to visit the last island, Vulcano. This is the closest island to Sicily, and it also has an active volcano. Not surprised about the name now, yeah?
We stopped for a swim at the White beach. There was a factory there back in time, and everything is covered with white “sand”. I checked it was a pumice factory, which closed their doors in 2007, which I can say quite recent. The water there is crystal clear, and there was not even 1 fish there. It was really nice that I didn’t need to check in every minute if some kind of animal is coming or not. However, the others wanted to snorkel, and they could not see anything just the bottom of the sea.
In that bay where we stopped in Vulcano there were no harbor or buoy, we could only let the anchor down and stay there. You need to know, that with the anchor the boat is not stable. It’s moving all around with the waves, so you need to leave a big space between the boats. We saw a couple of skippers, who did not managed to park there. As the night came, storm came as well. We were quite lucky as it was a huge thunder in Salina and in Sicily, so we got no rain, but we got all the waves. I am not joking, I had never felt this on a boat. It was like a rocking chair rocking all night. Rolling to the left than the right in the bed is not much fun. I managed to sleep 2 ,5 hours, which was not enough for the next morning plans. We wanted to hike to the top of the volcano.
We did. I nearly died, the land was moving under my feet as the boat was moving all night, and it was quite hot, but we managed to reach the top. The view from there is amazing. You can see all the islands which we visited before.
I mentioned, this volcano is active as well. It could erupt any time, but at the moment there is only sulfur gases leaking from the volcano. It has a really strong smell, like rotten eggs. There is a sign, that please do not inhale the gas, and do not spend a lot of time around. Well if you can smell everything, you don’t really want to hang around near the gas.
At the bottom of the mountain you can find a mud pool, which also full of sulfur, so they recommend not to stay in the mud more than 10-15 minutes – and take a bikini which you don’t want to wear ever in your life again. I skipped this, I didn’t have a bikini to ruin. 😀
Unfortunately, this island was our last stop. In the afternoon we had to go back to Portorosa, Sicily. We went out for a dinner in Tonnarella. I think the whole harbor goes there to eat. The way there is much shorter by boat than by car, as you need to get out from the holiday area of Portorosa, which is a long way.
In the morning we had to give back our beloved boat by 9am. As my flight was at 3pm, we had the half day to look around in Sicily. After a quick discussion we decided to visit Taormina. The city has a lovely view to the sea and to the Etna. Well, it was a bit shy, after 15mins it hided in clouds.
About Taormina… It was full of tourist. It was really weird after the empty islands. I did not miss that at all. The peace and calm around us was way much better. The old town is between 2 gates and has a lot of lovely small streets with shops and restaurants. I don’t need to say, we read our tour guide book before, and the most unique in this town is a small statue on a top of the fountain in the main square. The statue is a centaur woman. Finally not everything about men. 😀
We didn’t have time to visit the ancient theatre, as there was a long queue, and I had to go to the airport to catch my 25 mins flight back home.
I still don’t want to believe that the whole flight was only 25mins. What I can promise, that I will catch that flight again, as I didn’t see anything from Sicily except Taormina and the airport. I am really happy, that the tour organizer chose Lipari islands instead of sailing on the coast of Sicily, it was more unique. I will never forget this holiday, and would go back any time to watch Stromboli.
As for now that’s it, if I write more you will never read it. 😀 I also post couple of more pictures, as it was really hard to choose the ones I would like to share with you. Let’s close this post with a big announcement: I already started to organize my next big trip. Caribbean, I am comiiiiing! Stay tuned! 🙂
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