The Aeolian Islands: September 6th 2017

September 6th: Lipari to Salina
I woke when Lorella came back into the cabin at 0815, & went straight up for brekkers.
At 0920 we all set off for the museum, walking along the promenade & up the side streets.

He'd been curled up asleep on the seat when I saw him

Not sure if these were designed as 'horse steps'?

I snapped a cat resting on a load of hire scooters & the view up a little alley leading up to the castle.

Lipari Municipal Offices in Mazzini Sq.

At the top was the Piazza I'd been in last evening, so I took a few pics in the daylight before we all went up to the museum where Nic organised our tickets (the trip wasn't part if the cruise).

Dove in a pine, Mazzini Sq.

I don't know about the others - whom I barely saw all morning, but it was really interesting, with heaps of archaeological finds & helpful info-boards.

It's separated into 3 sections in different buildings on the rock: The Museum of Lipari, the Panarea Branch & the Filicudi Branch

Here's a bit from the website about the Lipari section:

The museum complex is located on the enormous rhyolithic rock of the "Castello" (Castle) of Lipari, an imposing dome of volcanic formation with characteristics of natural defence, where its inhabitants settled during all periods whenever they felt the need for defence.

Thanks to the intense systematic excavations, which began in the

Looking south from Mazzini

1950’s, part of these settlements are today visible on the top plateau of the rock: huts from the Bronze age, on four overlapping levels; structures

Bronze panel on Bartolomeo cathedral door

from the Greek and Roman Ages; an urban plan of the II century B.C.
Until the middle of the XVI century, the rock of the "Castello" Castle), formerly named the "Cittàde" (City), retains its natural appearance, consisting of rocky walls for its entire height and some traces of fortification features at the top of these walls. Its current appearance is due to the strong sloping foundation walls of the fortifications erected by Carlo V around 1560, immediately after the attack of the Tunisian pirate 

Bottom right panel

Kaireddin Barbarossa, who in 1544 had conquered and destroyed the city. On the northern side, the Spanish fortifications encircled the tower, with a defense system of the Norman Age. The tower had encompassed within itself a tower of the Greek Age, probably of the IV century B.C., still visible today for its entire height. The diverse sections which make up the Museum and its infrastructures (offices, library, store rooms, additional services, etc.), are located in several historical buildings,

Top left panel

to which are added even the twentieth century buildings of the Fascist confinement camp. The Museum, consisting of six pavilions, that contain respectively: the Pre-historic Section, the Epigraphical Section, the Section of the Minor Islands, the Classical Section, the Vulcanological Section, the Section of Paleontology of the Quaternary, documents and illustrates, via the collections of finds on display, the human settlements and the development of the successive civilisations in the Aeolian Archipelago, from 

Bottom left panel

Pre-history to the thresholds of the Modern Age.
The comprehensive tour of the Museum is facilitated by the rich and exhaustive information that spreads across two levels: captions in red, provide in Italian and English essential information required for a rapid visit; more detailed explanatory texts in black, provide in Italian extensive and detailed information for an in-depth and scientifically complete visit.
Also available for use by the public are, within the Pre-historic Section of the Section of

I think this was the entrance & Elizabeth

the Minor Islands, as well as within the Classical Section, easy-access computer stations for those wanting further access points where they can conduct a 

Um. I tried various G-Images searches with no luck

more in-depth study, both on the exhibitions on display in the Museum as well as on the archaeological and monumental evidence of the Castello.

Aerial view from the museum website

Inside the church opposite the museum

I don't know how long I was in there, but it was pushing 2 hours by the time I emerged into the sunlight for the section about Panarea.

Big amphorae - nearly a metre high

I only had a quick look at the Filicudi one. I was running out of time, plus, we were not scheduled to sail to Filicudi, so I read all about the neolithic remains on Panarea so I'd be ready for our visit in a few days time.

There were Lots of amphorae!

& even more amphorae  .  .  .

I didn't take any pics of the Panarea exhibition, but did take lots of pics of amphorae, plus one of a 'contortionist' in a back bend & with the feet over his/her head while playing on a lyre.

That's what it looked like anyway.

of different sizes

Weird statue of a contortionist playing a lyre?

Museum tour over (for me anyway), I went looking for the restaurant where Rob & I had eaten lunch back in August 2006 when we stopped at Lipari on the Star Clipper. 

Those were the days before I blogged, so there are no tales to share other than the food there was awesome & while we were eating, Caroll & Deborah stopped by to tell us of a great museum. 
Well, now I had seen the museum for myself.

Caroll was a lovely old bloke from Manhattan who was the physical form of Big Bird & Oscar the Grouch from Sesame Street. 
His wife, Deborah was also a lovely lady & it was great to share a wonderful cruise with them. Sadly, Caroll is no longer with us, but I found these 2 pics & info on Google:

Caroll Spinney’s contributions to sesame street are countless,’ said Sesame Street co-founder and close friend Joan Ganz Cooney. ‘he not only gave us Big Bird and Oscar the Grouch, he gave so much of himself as well. we at Sesame workshop mourn his passing and feel an immense gratitude for all he has given to sesame street and to children around the world.”

Sesame Street character Oscar (left)

with performer Caroll Spinney, pictured in 2014.

Cat in the courtyard

On my hunt for the restaurant I saw two great cats, so took a couple of pics.

Cat about 10 feet up on a ledge

The 2006 lunch restaurant

I finally found the restaurant near the 'other' port area, & saw it had been modernised since 2006.

Cute Lipari side-street

After satisfying my curiosity I wandered back to the Pallas down Lipari's back streets, & on the way bought an obsidian cat for Eileen who was looking after Opal for me.

The white stuff is pumice, & according to Wiki it
is exported worldwide from Lipari

I also got a fridge magnet in the shape of a little 2018 calendar with photos of Lipari for each month.
I still have it on my fridge, even though 2018 is long gone!

Due to the shopping I was a bit late back & we set off north along the coast for our lunch stop straight away.

A pumice quarry by the sea 

On the way, there were signs of pumice quarrying &, we were to look for obsidian on a beach after lunch.

Before lunch most of us went for a swim

Once anchored off the beach, & while lunch was being prepared, it was time for a swim.

The water was clear and amazingly blue

It was awesome in the amazing turquoise waters :-D

Panarea's wedge & Stromboli's plume

Then it was time to lie in the sun & catch up on notes while we soaked up the sun ~ another awesome thing .  .  .

Lunch. We threw the shells over the side

As was lunch which was absolutely shed-loads of garlic mussels. 
Yum, yum, yum.




Pepe had us chuck the shells overboard, so I guess while the fish fed us, we then fed the fish??

In the zodiac & off to find obsidian on the beach

After lunch we all piled aboard the zodiac & went to the beach to look for chunks of obsidian.

Most of us found quite a bit, & I

We hunt for obsidian

picked up some sea-washed green glass as well.

I keep the black obsidian shards & the bits of green glass in jars in

Philippe

my kitchen & lounge: they both have green & black decor.

I think Philippe got fed up beachcombing quite quickly, & lay in the surf ~ unless he was having a wee? ;-p

Great peach coloured stone I found on the beach

The colours in this are awesome

As well as obsidian, I also found two wonderful stones & a cool piece of wood. 

This is the other side

The stones are in my display cabinet in the lounge with the Vulcano & Panarea pumice (the blog about Panarea will come whenever I manage it!), & the nice gnarly wood is with my Canna rock egg & the Edinburgh Meadows stone in the kitchen

Cool bit of wood. I still have it in my kitchen!

Lorella & Jen

Back aboard there was time for another swim before we set sail for 

Serge & Francoise

Salina, but only Serge & Francoise went over the side.

The rest of us compared obsidian treasures in the sunshine on deck.

Lambent, late afternoon sunshine on the sea

We finally set off for Santa Marina on Salina at 1605, motoring to the north of Lipari island, then heading sort of north westerly to Salina, arriving at about 5 o'clock.

No idea ;-) but possibly north coast of Lipari

Heavily zoomed, & as the shadows suggest the sun
is from the right, I think this is northern Lipari as well

Stromboli, a ketch & Panarea from Salina

We were told we could have a wander around before we would all meet in the piazza at 1830 for a walk to the lighthouse at Lingua before having dinner there.

Philippe & Aline walk along the Via Massimo Troisi

We were moored in the port along the Via Massimo Troisi - which led

The south edge of town from the port breakwater

into town, so I had a quick look at the port area before heading north along the Via Lungomare

Via Lungomare from the breakwater

IRO Salina itself, I got this info from the Eoliando website:

The island of Salina has a surface of 26.8 Km2.  Its name derives from an old little lake once used to produce salt.
It is characterised by two volcanoes & in ancient times its name was “Dydime”, “the double”, due to the similar shape of the two mountains forming the island: Monte Fossa delle Felci & Monte dei Porri. The island is rich in Mediterranean vegetation.

The sun was lowering & we were on the eastern side of the island, so although the light was not so bright, it made for

A Santa Marina garden

interesting views & pics.

Norfolk pine. I'd seen loads of these in NZ

After about 20 minutes walking along the coast road, I cut left & came back through the village on the Via Risorgimiento ~ a narrow, alley-like main street.

Seeing a nice Norfolk pine silhouetted against the sea I got a pic, then found an interesting looking church in the piazza, so went inside for a look.

Inside the Chiesa di Maria Santissima Addolorata 

It was the Chiesa di Maria Santissima Addolorata & wasn't as interesting as I'd hoped, but I took a pic for posterity.

I think the blue scarf was also carved from stone?

Also in the piazza there was an interesting statue, so while writing this blog, I asked Sicily Tourism for info., but ~ as with the queries about the castle at Milazzo, no-one replied :-(

I also sent an Email to a company called Eoliando ~ a holiday company specialising in trips to the Aeolians, but I have had no response from them, either.

I wondered about the significance of the parrot

A young eucalyptus on the road to Lingua

I thought this may be due to the COVID-19 problem in Italy atm (March 2020), because Italy is on lockdown?

As a result, I have no clue as to what she is about or who created her :-((

Towards 6.30, everyone slowly congregated in the piazza & we all set off south to the Punta Lingua lighthouse ~ about 3K away to the south.
It was a lovely walk with sea views most of the way.
I walked a lot of it with Aline, & she told me she was trying to learn English so we chatted in a mixture of my (relatively limited) French & her (relatively limited)

Interesting silhouettes just north of the village

English. We got on fine, though, & Aline was much nicer than her offensive husband!

We headed for the lighthouse while we still had some sun, & everyone started clicking away.  Here's some info Wiki provided about the lighthouse:

The lighthouse, built in 1953, over the years went into ruin and in November 2009, due to a violent storm, the balcony collapsed and the area was closed. In 2011 the municipality concluded an agreement, with the Agenzia del Demanio, to obtain the management of the keeper's house, which has been restored in order to house the Museum of the Sea.
tbh, I thought the triangular lagoon nearby was aesthetically more interesting, but no matter how big I go on Gmaps, no name appears.

The Punta Lingua lighthouse

The amazingly still lagoon by the lighthouse

Along the west edge of the 'lagoon' is Via Pantano. According to Google Translate, Pantano means 
Slough (ie swamp or
quagmire), but I can find no info as to whether the pool is fed by the sea or is fed from land. 
However, it was so still

The lighthouse pool zoomed & on Sunset mode

that evening that everything was clearly reflected in it. 

Awesome!

While writing this, I decided to ask the peeps at the ristorante where we had eaten that evening for info about the lagoon, but so far (March 17th 2020) Gmail hasn't managed to deliver it. So, maybe they went out of business since September '17, or they've

Final shot of the lagoon in the sunset

all got the corona virus & have closed down their website?
Or something else??

The lighthouse was flashing, & I tried to time my shot to get a photo just as the light came round inland. 

According to the Wiki page, the lighthouse flashes "one white flash in a 3 seconds period visible up to a distance of 11 nautical miles (20 km; 13 mi)".

It looked green to me, but maybe that was the effect of the sunset?

I timed the shot so I'd get a green light :-)

We were to eat at Alfredo In Cucina, which translates to Alfredo In The Kitchen - which possibly makes more sense in Italian, especially as Alfredo seemed to spend most of the time taking orders, serving, & gossiping to guests rather than being in the kitchen?!

At Alfredo's ristorante before it got dark

We all decided on pizza

Our table had a good view of Panarea on the horizon, the menu looked interesting, & it was a lovely balmy evening.


We were served with drinks & bread-sticks to keep us going while we were waiting for our main courses, &

Moderately zoomed moon in 'normal' mode .  .  .

(gradually) 
it got dark.

Then the moon came up.

It was full.

& more zoom a few minutes later in 'sunset' mode

Of course, nearly everyone left the table & walked to the sea wall for photos.

The moon to the east with lights on Lipari to SE ~
possibly Acquacalda?

I guess it was a harvest moon?
Right time of year, anyway.

I took quite a few, but only these 4 made the cut.

Dinner arrived  .  .  .

At some point our various pizzas arrived, mine looked very hand-made & definitely not out of a box ;-p

my pizza had horns 

In fact, my pizza had horns ;-p  hehehe

However, it tasted angelic rather than demonic (the local red was very tasty as well), & I could easily've managed a bit more of both ;-q

Nevertheless, I settled for a sorbet from the cabinet behind me instead ~ 2 actually: a watermelon & a lemon-lime.

Also awesome & a great way to finish the meal :-)

Given that we had to buy coffee & tea aboard the Pallas, I also had a doppio espresso, despite the hour.

Then it was time to go back to the Pallas at Santa Marina, & Alfredo took us all back in his mini-bus.

As with the lady driver in Milazzo, he drove pretty fast along the coast road, & we were back at Santa Marina in less than 5 minutes!

We'd had another great day in the Aeolians. & I hit the sack straightaway, checking my Es in bed before lights out.

Lorella must've slept on deck again. Either that, or she snuck in quietly during the night & snuck out again before I woke :-)

We were due to sail to Stromboli the next day.

OAO