| With all the changeable weather these past few days it is not a surprise to discover that the autumnal equinox is this Thursday. Rather than a pervasive English drizzle we have been treated to a theatre of sun and rain in true Italian style. Instead of being anchored up in these conditions we decided to stay put in the marina until it blows over. Tropea is very picturesque with narrow cobbled streets opening up to charming Piazzas and Panoramicos with dramatic views over the beaches and sea some hundred meters below. Tourist shops seem equally split between those peddling fridge magnets and others selling fine olive oil and Cipolle di Tropea. These red onions are particularly sweet and equally at home on Pizzas as well as in ice cream! |
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| Santa Maria dell'Isola. |
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| Another renovation project |
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Despite the flood of northern European tourists the local shopkeepers and restaurateurs put on a friendly face and make you feel welcome enough so that they are able to extract that last ounce of discretionary spend. Profits are not obviously spent on restoration here though as every corner seems to present a decaying building just waiting to be returned to its previous glory. That being said, it is a beautiful place and the warmth of the locals seems to belie the darker aspects to its past.This region's reputation for being a recruitment ground for the cosa nostra is maybe connected to the fact that one of its notorious sons became the head of the Gambino crime family after a stint as the boss of the enforcement wing of the Mafia in New York. I am sure that is all over now, mind you not that one would want to ask anybody
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| Stromboli and fishing rod in background - the volcano was more active. |
Dodgy weather had followed for some while and the forecast for the following days was not great, but we decided that we needed to move on and see the Aeolian Islands. The closest one, Stromboli, is not suitable for anchoring in unsettled weather so we headed slightly south towards Panarea. Against a bit of a head wind and current, it took us almost until dark to get there. We were rewarded however with flashes of eruptions from the craters of Stromboli some ten miles away. It is not often (ever) that you moor up within sight of an active volcano. It was good to anchor again, although we were reminded that the holding is not the best around these islands when I woke up to a strengthening northerly wind and an Italian yacht starting to drag his anchor quite badly and steadily within shouting distance of us. This minor drama averted, we decided to weigh anchor and move to a cove in the south get to get away from the breeze and be able to have a swim.
It became clear that the exposure to the south was not going to be great for an over-night either so we headed to the largest of the islands, Lipari. Various people had given us pointers about what to see and do here, but all had pronounced the name differently, each ridiculing the other for saying it incorrectly. The Brits all say Lipari to rhyme with slippery and people from the continent say Lip-Are -ee, turns out the former is closer to the truth when we heard a ship on channel 16 quite distinctly say; Leap'aree.
In order to get our bearings we hired a car and drove around the island. This did not take very long as the main road is only about 30 Kms long and, on a clear day, the other islands look as if they are a stone's throw away. The view of Vulcano was particularly good and that made up our minds about where next we would be headed. It is only a few miles to the south, but we made our way there slowly as I planned to catch a fish for lunch. That didn't work out of course and we anchored in a calm bay under the crater of the semi-active volcano. There is no lava but there is a slight whiff of sulphur in the air. A little later a fisherman came by offering some of his fresh catch. I declined and felt like telling him he was just trying to rub salt into my failed fishing wounds.
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| Lipari looking southwards to Vulcano |
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| Looking toward Stromboli |
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| Intrepid hiker on Lipari |
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