The Aeolian Islands
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| Elegant and chic Panarea - a typical Aeolian view |
“Come Aeolus, great god of winds
And let your puissant breath
Carry us from hence unto those isles
Wherein the porpus joyful ‘splores his azure realm,
While smiles Apollo ‘pon his earthly charge.”
A diary of a walking holiday with travel company
Esplora. Aeolian Islands, Sicily, May 19th
to 27th 2019. Group of ten. Intended audience: family and friends, and
anybody who wants to research what it’s like to hike these islands, either
arranging it themselves or with Esplora.
Sunday 19th May
0400 hours. Everybody
is very good at arriving at our house and decanting luggage into the street for
the mini-coach to pick up. Dorset Mini
Coach is great and Shaun delivers us safely to Gatwick (not much choice;
flights to Catania mostly leave from here and we’ve selected BA for the journey
because of their (probable) reliability and time keeping, given the critical
nature of this holiday’s timings).
Tight seat pitch in the aeroplane, but just about okay for a
three hour flight. First anxiety is a very long approach to the airfield,
although the views of 3300m Etna are spectacular. There is a sixth sense
that something is wrong with this approach. It is too long at too low an
altitude to be normal. Suddenly there is a lurch, the plane seems to drop
out of the sky, and a roar from the engines indicates a go-around which the
pilot tells us is due to severe turbulence. This is a surprise because
there are no white horses on the Mediterranean Sea.
The second attempt is tense but unremarkable.
At the luggage carousel we meet Lara Piccioli from Esplora
who has travelled out with us. She’s
worried that her luggage hasn’t arrived, but in fact it turns out that she has
borrowed her mother’s suitcase, hasn’t recognised it, and it is now revolving
around on the carousel in glorious isolation.
Having to some extent rescued Lara, it’s great that she now takes charge
(she’s from Umbria) and fluently arranges our embarkation with the Italian
driver, and we are all off past Messina, Taormina, many lemon groves, and the
village where ‘The Godfather’ was filmed to Milazzo, on a peninsula in the
northeast of Sicily. At Milazzo we meet
Damian Croft, owner of Esplora, and his Sicilian guide, Chiara Sciortino. All three of them are relaxed, affable,
efficient, and by the end of the holiday we feel that they are firm and
lifelong friends.
MILAZZO
Checking in to Hotel La Chicca, we now have some free time
until briefing this evening, and being all rather Type A, we walk up to the
Castello and tour the castle and church.
This is a magnificent natural rampart as a backdrop to the commercial port of Milazzo
and serves as an introduction to the remarkable history of Sicily, which has been occupied or invaded
by everybody from Neolithic and Bronze age cultures to the Nazis. There is still a central keep built by the Normans (it feels somewhat amusing that the first king of Sicily was Roger the
Second. Somehow this sounds like a
character from Monty Python. “Welease
Woger”). Even before the last invasion,
the Greeks, Romans, Levanters and Muslims occupied the island. They were followed by Swabians (German),
Aragonese (Spanish), French (Napoleonic), Germans and English, not forgetting
Garibaldi’s reunification army in the 1860s.
Enriched by some knowledge of the history, we repair to the
hotel bar for a beer, added to by a prosecco from Damian, and then march off to
the Locanda della Pesce for our first proper Sicilian meal. If this is a foretaste of things to come it’s
a good one. Local wines, and antipasti
of smoked tuna, tomatoes, carpaccio of swordfish, cod, octopus, stuffed
squid. Involtini di pesce spada are then
followed by dessert of lemon sorbet – perhaps just as well that it’s
light. Maybe this is to let us down
gently as Damian announces that we are booked on the 0700 hydrofoil from the
port, but that the port is only a 50 metre walk away.
So, an early start, can’t be fussed to watch the end of the
USPGA where it looks as though Brooks Koepka will win easily, and sleep until
the 0600 alarm. (Koepka wins, though not
quite so easily as anticipated).
Monday 20th May
ALICUDI
Let me start by showing you the Strava image of our walk up
and down Alicudi. I would rate this as
the hardest three mile walk I’ve ever done and this might partly show why.
The sky is overcast as we leave Milazzo, but clears as we
streak across the Mediterranean which changes
miraculously from grey to blue as we go.
It’s a three hour journey, with calls at Vulcano, Lipari, Salina (Santa Marina and
Rinella), and a longer stretch out to Filicudi, and finally Alicudi. This is the smallest and westernmost island,
with few inhabitants. The Casa Muline is
therefore only 50m from the dock and we can move in straight away. After a short break we start on the infamous
‘steps’ of the path up to the peak.
Steps are a misnomer. The
arrangement of rocks is completely irregular.
I can only compare it to picking your way over a landslide for 675m of
ascent. Real concentration is
needed. We are all a bit surprised when
Damian admits at the top that we are the first group he has ever got complete
to the top of Alicudi. This has taken 2½
hours for a recorded distance of 1.6 miles.
The main excitement on the way down is the sighting of a big black snake
(biscia). Naturally it is only the most
ophiophobic of our party who sights this.
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| The 'Harbour' at Alicudi |
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| Hydrofoil - lifeline of the Aeolian Islands |
A late lunch including typical Sicilian arancini at the only
restaurant and bar on the island (100m from Casa Muline). Following this, we get the ‘giro del isola’ boat trip
with strong silent Simone. Having all
survived the walk, two of our party are stricken with cramp and poor Lara has
seasickness.
Back to the bar in the evening. Octopus salad, pasta with wild fennel,
occhianti (sea bream) and a surprisingly good milles feuilles.
Tuesday 21st May
FILICUDI
Finds us back at the dock for a more relaxed start. The 10am hydrofoil on which we arrived takes
us back to Filicudi. This is the only
island apart from Vulcano where we are not staying, so the dockside bar kindly
look after our bags with the promise of custom when we return from the
walk. Pietro takes us by minibus up the
only road for a mile or so to the church, and we start off up the path to the
caldera. Compared to Alicudi this is a
doddle. The path is steep but much less
rocky. It’s red and sandy and has a thin
layer of pumice in places which is easy to slip on. Walking poles are an asset in this and most
other walks, though they were tricky to use on Alicudi, often getting stuck in
the crevices between the rocks. Lovely
sunshine, and multiple wild flowers: broom, cistus, marguerites, and erica.
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| Filicudi - distant bronze age settlement on the far headland |
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| Caper flowers |
Damian tells us that the island was known to the Greeks as Erykos, the isle of heather. Comfortably down by 2.30pm to relax in the bar with some Messina beers.
The 5 o’clock hydrofoil takes us back to Santa Marina Salina (Island of Salina). The streets are so narrow a little Piaggio (Italian take on a tuk-tuk) is used to take our bags to the Hotel Arcangelo (Proprietor: Arcangelo). Dinner is at Ristorante Porto Bello by the harbour. Fish carpaccio and two types of fish cake, two pasta courses, and to celebrate Damian’s 53rd birthday a giant plate of a desert like a beignet (called Sfingi).
Wednesday 12th May
SALINA
One of our party is not feeling so good. He probably didn’t drink enough (water that
is) yesterday, and may have mild heat stroke.
A reduced group is transported up via the village of Malfa
to the neck between the island’s two mountains.
Below the church (Santuario della Madonna del Terzito) we start up a
steep but very manageable path to the top of the Monte Fossa delle Felci
(mountain of the ferns). This is a mere
1hour 50min to the top with excellent views including Mount
Etna to the south.
Allegedly this is the Aeolians’ highest point at 962m. Back down through thistles, vetch, cistus,
honeysuckle and broom. At the church, an
enterprising Roman lady has a snack bar shaped in the form of a giant
lemon. Lemon ice lollies and ‘cedro’, a
strange version of a lemon where one eats the white pith rather than the flesh.
After a quick change back at Arcangelo it’s off to the
Hauner Winery for snacks and wine tasting.
This is surprisingly good wine, and there are some local Sicilian grapes
we have never heard of used in the winemaking.
Typical of most high end wineries there are barrels of French and
American oak, costing over 1000 euros each, which are used to mature and
flavour their highest quality red wines.
Tasting is completed with some delicate honeyed Malvasia and
cannoli.
Scenic stroll of nearly two miles back along the sea road for Morag and I.
Evening is at Il Gambero. A delight of this holiday is that Lara, who is also an Italian cookery teacher, has selected all the food, and fiddling and faffing with menus is not necessary. Dinner is penne ‘ncasciata (typical Sicilian pasta al forno), crumbed fillets of sea bream with melanzane, zucchini, tomato, finished off with Malvasia and tiramisu.
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| The taste of Sicily - Malvasia and Cannoli |
Scenic stroll of nearly two miles back along the sea road for Morag and I.
Evening is at Il Gambero. A delight of this holiday is that Lara, who is also an Italian cookery teacher, has selected all the food, and fiddling and faffing with menus is not necessary. Dinner is penne ‘ncasciata (typical Sicilian pasta al forno), crumbed fillets of sea bream with melanzane, zucchini, tomato, finished off with Malvasia and tiramisu.
Thursday 23rd May.
PANAREA
Up fairly early. The
cloud will burn off apparently (it does).
Great breakfast from Arcangelo, who lounges behind the reception desk,
in appearance something like a genial version of Bluto, Popeye’s eminence grise. He looks as though he should be cast in the
next iteration of ‘The Godfather’, but is in fact very genial. Much hugging and kissing from him and Mama
and the Piaggio disappears into the lane down to the quay. Crowded on the 0930 hydrofoil but we’re off
on the 35 minute trip to Panarea. This
is the chic destination in the Aeolian islands,
visited by the Armani family, rich industrialists from the north, and girded
with designer boutiques in the little town of picturesque whitewashed
properties. More cultivated and elegant
shrubs here including bougainvillea, oleanders, hibiscus, bottle brush trees
and the usual assortment of citrus.
Hotel La Terrazza has as its name implies a fine terrace, and the views
from our rooms are excellent. There is a
fine view across to Stromboli.
Damian and his team appear with a packed lunch and we set
off for our walk. At first a relatively level
stretch including a beach of volcanic sand before climbing up to the Punta
Milazzese on the south side of the island which has remarkable remnants of a
bronze age civilization. Relics of
Mycenean pottery found here indicate distant Mediterranean interactions.
After this it is a demanding rocky and steady climb up to
the highest point where we are rewarded with fantastic views across to Stromboli, and despite the 26 Km distance across the
ocean we can occasionally see the eruptions from the volcano, accompanied some
minute and a half later by the sound of the activity.
This is the only island where we will have done a complete
circuit, and it’s probably the prettiest and most rewarding walk.
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| Panarea walk - the detour is to the bronze age village |
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| View towards Stromboli from Panarea summit |
Dinner is taken in the hotel, which has a butcher’s shop attached
and is famous for its carne alla bracia.
Served with salads and slices of pizza, this is one meal we just can’t
finish. There is a tasting of special
single estate olive oils as well.
Unfortunately I was tempted by an enormous bottle of Italian made
Belgian style beer, as well as a very fine Perricone wine – an indigenous
Sicilian grape that we haven’t experienced before.
Friday May 24th.
STROMBOLI
All up early to see Cathie off on her convoluted journey
back home – sad because she will miss our climb of Stromboli,
but it’s essential because she has Godmother duties at a wedding. Breakfast and the 10 o’ clock hydrofoil to
Stromboli, calling first at Ginostra and then proceeding to Stromboli town,
both locations well away from the lava flows of Italy’s most active of its
three active volcanoes (Etna and Vulcano being the other two, though perhaps
not forgetting Vesuvius which the Pompeiians found could be active to their
cost). The island is named by a
corruption of the original Greek name Strongylos, meaning round. In appearance it is an almost perfect and
classical volcanic cone.
Damian proposes a short walk to a restaurant. Five of us join him, Lara and Chiara for this
‘short walk’ which turns out to be 2.3 miles (followed by 2.3 miles back). In serious training for the evening hike up
the mountain we are not allowed alcohol and take on carbohydrate in the form of
penne together with an aubergine sauce, salads and bread. We have assimilated Damian’s habitual
underestimate for a ‘Short walk to the restaurant.’
Back to the Hotel Ossidiana for an hour or so’s rest before walking up to the piazza where we find the offices of ‘Magmatrek’. Groups are assembling in the square. A guide checks footwear and clothing including whether we have head torches (we have). We are the blue hat group and are introduced to Paolo, a lean and fit looking grizzled mountain man. Turns out he is a serious mountaineer, in the winter taking clients on everything from snow touring to ice climbing.
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| Damian's "short walk" |
Back to the Hotel Ossidiana for an hour or so’s rest before walking up to the piazza where we find the offices of ‘Magmatrek’. Groups are assembling in the square. A guide checks footwear and clothing including whether we have head torches (we have). We are the blue hat group and are introduced to Paolo, a lean and fit looking grizzled mountain man. Turns out he is a serious mountaineer, in the winter taking clients on everything from snow touring to ice climbing.
During the day there have been clouds hanging over the
mountain, but as the day has gone on they have gradually cleared and it is now
a calm beautiful evening, with the sun sinking rapidly to our right as we climb
the northeastern slope of Stromboli.
There is the opportunity for some atmospheric shots as the clouds of
smoke and ash are diffused by the setting sun.
Beyond the crater and indeed beyond the island, V shaped patterns of the
wakes of several small tourist boats criss cross the sea. As the sun disappears we become aware of the
glowing lava in several of the craters.
There are periodic discharges, some with spectacular roman candle like
displays, and some with huge emissions of steam accompanied by roaring noises
well in excess of 100 decibels. It’s a
far more impressive display than any of us had imagined.
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| Ready for Stromboli |
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| Groups ahead walking up the mountain |
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| Part way up - looking at Stromboli town and Strombolicchio |
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| Steep slope at times |
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| Final slopes to the top |
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| On the top |
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| Groups on the top |
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| Made it! |
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| Setting sun through the Strombolian clouds |
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| The after dark display |
Eventually it is time to descend. Paolo announces after we have trekked for a
few hundred metres down the lee side of the volcano with our head torches on
that we will now have some fun. He shows
us how to slide, a sort of downhill cross country ski technique, using the
classic format rather than the herringbone gliding of modern langlauf. For what seems like hours we descend in
exaggerated Groucho Marx fashion, following which Paolo announces that we are
near the path and will be adopting a more natural walking posture. Here the ash is incredibly fine and fills our
head torches and indeed faces with an almost blinding cloud. We are advised to fix masks, or at least to
use a cowboy style bandana to prevent our noses and mouths being clogged with
dust. Back at Magmatrek we hand over our
hats and make our way to the nearest bar to celebrate our success and a very
memorable evening. Understandably all
the bars in the town stay open late for returning trekkers. The Stromboli
hike seems fairly straightforward because it’s taken at a relaxed and steady
pace, because there is plenty of time on the top (in our case 90 minutes), and
the descent is fairly easy. Total
distance is 6.26 miles,
2983 ft
of ascent, 6 hrs and 21 minutes (quite a lot of which is spent waiting for the
group to assemble and on the summit).
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| Stromboli expedition - a zig-zag path up and a direct 'ski' down |
Late to bed, but sleep until 0820.
Saturday May 25th
LIPARI
We have an average breakfast in the large separate dining
room. The hydrofoil has many calls
before it reaches us and we are not away until 1150, also stopping in at
Panarea and Salina before making our way to our
last Aeolian hotel on the island
of Lipari. It’s 2pm by the time we arrive and a rapid
move to a street restaurant for an excellent lunch of antipasti followed by
pane cunzato, literally seasoned bread, but typically made in a panino with
anchovies, cheese and tomato. At this
restaurant it is served as a bruschetta.
Following this we embark in two minibuses with the chatty and
charismatic brothers Alessandro and Daniele, for a partial tour of the
island. First stop is at the beach which
is covered with pumice from the now abandoned pumice works on the northeast of
the island. The award of UNESCO heritage
status to the Aeolian Islands 12 years ago had
the unfortunate effect of stopping the quarrying of pumice. It seems that industry is frowned on by
UNESCO, and the side effect has apparently caused unemployment, though it has
increased tourism.
In the north of the island we disembark and start on a
leisurely coastal walk which will keep our muscles active. It’s only a three mile hike, but starts off
down a spectacular canyon, the walking being made more exciting by a recent
rockfall. There are multicoloured rocks,
some of which are lined with bright yellow sulphur from volcanic activity. We reach a coastal road at an ancient Roman
villa, where 2000 years ago the warm springs led to the creation of a
bathhouse, the ‘Terme di Calogero’. Back
at the Hotel Bougainville, a four star hotel, we enjoy caponata (Sicilian
aubergine stew), spaghetti wrapped in aurbergine, swordfish rolls (involtini di
spada), a semifreddo, and a good nero d’avola.
There is a spectacular firework display from a private party on the
hillside nearby, though it’s less appreciated when repeated at 0120 hrs.
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| Volcanic rocks - this is Obsidian - a valuable neolithic cutting tool when splintered into fragments |
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| Sulphur containing volcanic strata |
Sunday 20th May, 2019
VULCANO/LIPARI
The weather has changed this morning being overcast and
windy. We take the 0900 hydrofoil to
Vulcano, which is the next stop, only 10 to 15 minutes away. We walk up through the town and turn left up
the track to the crater through swathes of broom and black volcanic ash which
is occasionally thrust in our face by the wind.
The ash changes to a soft clay sandstone and we plod over this to the
top. Here the wind is as strong as
anything I have ever experienced and we shelter in the lee of the helipad. The path around the rim is clearly impossible
so we trek back down into town and eat a long lunch at Maurizio’s restaurant. Maurizio is quite an old man who has lived in
India
(Karnataka) and is vegan influenced.
Excellent vegetarian meal including olive oil and nigella seeds. The main course is a mung bean soup. We walk over to the mud baths and then catch
the 1425 hydrofoil back to Lipari. A
‘fun’ ride over the very rough sea, and we all need a shower, being covered in
ash and dust. Oddly the shore is covered
in tiny winged invertebrates, called in Italian farfalle di mare, otherwise
known as sea butterflies. These are
either thecosomata or gymnosomata. The
fishermen are always pleased to see them because they are a food source for
many fish. Total mileage walked about 4
with 939ft elevation gain.
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| Our hike up Vulcano - curtailed by the extreme wind |
Relaxed afternoon, and into town for a walk around the
acropolis, with excavations dating from the Neolithic age, and then features
from the Bronze age, Greco-Roman period, Norman and Spanish. Aperitifs at the Ristorante Bal Al
Piscatore. Capers, olives, bruschetta,
with pesto Eole. Antipasti of swordfish,
prawns, squid, fresh anchovy. Fish
stuffed ravioli, sea bass, mimosa cake and malvasia.
Very sorry to say goodbye to Lara who is off early tomorrow, and we will also then say goodbye to Damian and Chiara. I am sure that we all wish Damian well with his ventures in Esplora, which definitely provide something different to the usual holiday companies. He’s an interesting man, who far from being a retired history Don, as his Cambridge address first suggested, originally wanted to be a classical oboist, and having freelanced for a while, joined a travel company. A telling anecdote is his own story of asking his careers master at school whether he should take a gap year before going up to the Royal College of Music, and was answered firmly in the negative. ‘I have a feeling Damian’, said this prescient teacher, ‘That the rest of your life is going to be a gap year.’
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| Another great Sicilian meal |
Very sorry to say goodbye to Lara who is off early tomorrow, and we will also then say goodbye to Damian and Chiara. I am sure that we all wish Damian well with his ventures in Esplora, which definitely provide something different to the usual holiday companies. He’s an interesting man, who far from being a retired history Don, as his Cambridge address first suggested, originally wanted to be a classical oboist, and having freelanced for a while, joined a travel company. A telling anecdote is his own story of asking his careers master at school whether he should take a gap year before going up to the Royal College of Music, and was answered firmly in the negative. ‘I have a feeling Damian’, said this prescient teacher, ‘That the rest of your life is going to be a gap year.’
Monday 27th May
LIPARI/MILAZZO
Early start into town to see the Museo on the acropolis, a
remarkable collection of artefacts including beautiful black and brown Greek
pottery, and gold ornaments and jewellery.
Then it’s the 1210 hydrofoil to Milazzo, and time for a final meal in a
quayside café, where Nonna and Mama are slaving over enormous pans, before we
leave our new friends to join the minibus and driver Francesco for the ride to
Catania, where the check in and airport experience is not wonderful, but the
trip home is straightforward, and we are back in Poole at about 1am on the
Tuesday.
An unexciting diary ending to a superb holiday. See my YouTube link at:
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