September 5th, 2010 Sunday – Father’s Day

So, for Father’s Day this year, David got a card from D’arcy and a trip to the Aeolian Islands, not bad eh?

We were booked to take a ferry from the nearby town of Cefalu at 8.30am, which would dock at Lipari, the main island of the Aeolians.

I will admit to never hearing about them prior to beginning my research on this trip, but when I discovered them online, I had to see if we could get there for a short trip.

We had 3 nights booked at a little hotel on the island called Villa Enrica Country Resort, not very Italian sounding, but it had a decent reputation and looked good.

When we arrived, the hotel sent a car to pick us up, which was great, because, just liked everything in Sicily, this place was uphill! Seriously uphill!

However, the hike uphill, was well worth it. The hotel had a view over the port and the sea which was really glorious.

View from the balcony at the Hotel, this is where we ate breakfast every day

View from the same area of the hotel, but a night shot of Lipari

D'arcy posing for me on a short trip around the island, this is an area where the locals say you need 4 eyes to properly enjoy the view!

The next three days were spent lounging at the hotel pool, sleeping in airconditioned comfort, and travelling around Lipari.

We also managed to take a boat trip to see two of the other islands, Panarea, and Stromboli, the latter being an active volcano.

The trip to Panarea was lovely, the town very pretty, but there was really not a lot to do, so we were only there for about an hour. Stromboli was the same, but as the sunlight faded, we were floating around the island trying to get a glimpse of some volcano action as the sky darkened.

We were treated to a small light show of red sparks, unfortunately it was too dark for me to capture it with my camera, but it was pretty exciting.

My parents waiting at the port for the boat to arrive to take us around the island of Stromboli

The best shot of the volcano I managed to get. The "smoke" is actually dust falling from the sides, as the volcano is constantly moving or rumbling which causes this effect.

The most exciting part of the day was definitely the trip back to Lipari. The sea had become rough, and we were sailing through some pretty high waves and choppy water.

There were people all around us with their heads in plastic bags making carrot stew, it wasn’t pretty!

Luckly we all made it through unscathed and without having to sacrifice our lunch.

We did choose to get off the boat five minutes earlier, but disembarking at a port the other end of the island. This turned out to be a great idea, because it was an area we hadn’t already seen and it was just gorgeous, so we came back the next day before we left to return to Buonfornello for a look around.

The lovely port in Lipari