Woke up early to walk up to the historic district of Agropoli. Turned right back around and met Settimio as he mosied up to the little kiosk for cappucino and a croissant for breakfast. We discussed plans, and decided to stay in the marina until about 3, then do a long motor/sail down to the Aeolian Islands – Stromboli in particular.
So, back to the boat and most of us took a walk back up to the historic district to see the incredible view:
Chapel and old castle. Castle has a moat and traditional difficult access:
But we do manage to storm it!
Not only do we enjoy walking the walls and halls, there is a beautiful exhibit within the hallways that highlight photographers from around the world:
Entrance to the historic town, named after the Acropolis in Athens, because of its location on the top of a big rock (a common thing on the rocky shoreline);
Then, as the others wandered through the district, I went back to meet Lance (slept in!) for some alone time. We ended up walking up to the Castle (3rd time for me!), meandering, taking photos, and picking up a few food items before meeting up with everyone on the boat for a 3:30 shove-off. Settimio fixed pasta carbonara for us, and we were thrilled by the after dinner view from the front of the boat. Milky Way, Venus, a trillion stars (and I’m not exaggerating on that one!) and at one point, a couple of dolphins were playing off the front of the boat. A few falling stars, the sounds of sailing (yes!) and we were all filled with joy and contentment. Everyone to bed late. Hit a fair amount of choppy water at about 1:30 am, and I found Carolyn and Lance upstairs, and Alexi awake as well. We all hung out until we stopped at our mooring at about 4, then all back to bed. Woke up to more choppy rocking and rolling, so we pulled out, circled the island and – surprise!! – watched the volcanic island cone spewing out countless rocks and Boulders.
So incredible to not only watch them roll down the peak into the sea, but to hear the continual crashing sounds of the rocks rolling and crashing into the sea. Watching mother earth building shoreline in real time, and fascinated to know that that cone was pretty much a tunnel down straight to molten earth. WOW!!!! I have only movies, so will add after I return.
We stared and snapped photos and were filled with wonder until we left its side, then headed to the smaller island of Panarea for lunch break. We took the dinghy to the beach and proceeded to walk through a beautiful walkway, replete with flowers and well-tended bungalows:
And enjoyed a fantastic lunch with a view of the sea:
insalata de polpo:
Pesce:
And Taylor’s gamberoni:
After lunch, we headed to the next island of Lipari, where we docked in the harbor. All quiet and smooth and we were glad of it. It was a long night. The group decided to relax and catch up on sleep, and then everyone but Lance, Tay and I headed to town for dinner. I needed some non-group time, and we had a lovely dinner cooked on board. When at last they returned, we heard nothing but oohs and aahs about the meal.
Being docked in what was something akin to a yacht club parking lot made for a noisy sleeping environment (right down to the bumpers between our boat and the next squeaking all night by Lance and my window), but next morning we headed to the little illegal bar and had some (weakass) cappuccinos.
Back to the boat to collect gear and children, while Carol and Lance walked into town. The rest of us taxied into town, rented some scooters, enjoyed some real cappucino and pastry (I tried the Sicilian traditional drink of granita), then walked through the castle (oh yes, they’re everywhere!) and its museum. The medieval town here, as before in Agropoli, was built in the 7th century BC on the highest point of the coastline for its incredible defensibility. After all that, we grabbed an excellent lunch of panini,
and then hopped on our scooters back to the boat, where we met up with Lance and Carol. Carol stayed to relax on the boat (she and Lance had already circled the island) with Reed, and the 6 of us took off with our bathing suits to tour the island (Tay on the back of Lance’s bike. I have no practice riding with a passenger).
It was a glorious ride – sun, heading up ascending roads to incredible panoramic views and back down again to check out rocky beaches.
We decide to stop at Acquacalda and Lance, Taylor, Carolyn and I went in for a lovely dip.
Found pumice stones on the beach and some of us worked those feet! Then we shook off like dogs coming out of the surf (at least I did) and joined Alexi and Jim for coffee, gelato and pastries. My cute girl with her space buns, enjoying said gelato:
Modeling the hygienic hair net to protect us from previous helmet wearer’s cooties:
Sitting at little cocktail tables facing the beach. Oh, yes, I am taking it all in and appreciating the moments and days that make me feel I’m living in a 1960’s Italian film.
Back on the bikes, we slowly made our way back to the boat, stopping at one particularly scenic overlook, where I captured this:
where we chilled for an hour or so, then headed into town via scooter, returned them, picked up a few items for the boat, and joined up with Carol, Reed and Settimio for dinner at the same place from the night before. A jovial crowd,
we began with Prosecco that our skipper had ordered. Sitting at a large round table under a tree, we chatted, enjoyed wine and some really amazing food. Tuna carpaccio, slow food salad of the day, and a platter of grilled and raw veggies were followed by (you guessed it) homemade pasta with fish and capers, or puréed eggplant and shaved, baked ricotta,
or another slow food special that contained pistachios:
Desserts were hard to imagine, but we were troopers and ordered all around (and I, well, I ordered 2!). A seven layer cream, chocolate, pistachio torte and the most incredible cannoli, the crust of which was so incredible that I tingled from my palate to my pupik!
A treat from Jim and Carolyn and Carol and Reed, it was a wonderful evening all the way around. A few people walked back and the rest of us loaded ourselves in a taxi. Another memorable day.