For our last two days in Sicily, we ventured away from Cefalu to the Aeolian Islands and Mt. Etna. Both mornings we were up early and out the door by 7 or 7:30. But the excursions were well worth the early start and longer travel time.
On Monday, March 31st, we drove 2 hours to Milazzo. Five minutes before departure, we hopped on board this ferry to the Aeolian Islands.
Our first stop was Lipari, the largest of the 8 Aeolian islands both in size and population (about 11,000). We walked through the old walled city (built 1556) as well as other parts of Lipari (town and island have the same name!).
Lots of charm in Lipari – no wonder the town nearly doubles in size in the summer!
We had fun finding pieces of obsidian along this little beach. Pumice rocks are also found around the island, and there are mines that extract and sell pumice around the world.
We had a great lunch – a meat and cheese tray with locally cured meats and delicious cheeses. We sampled some local Liparian wine, Malvasia, and some awesome cured caper fruits. We bought a whole bag of them! Of course, gelato for dessert.
We took a small boat from Lipari to the island of Vulcano which has one of Sicily’s three active volcanoes. The boat ride was awesome! The weather was beautiful and the cruise around the islands was so fun!
The island of Vulcano – you can see the steam coming from the active vent in one of the volcanoes.
Vulcano has a sulfur hot spring bath which is said to help improve problems with arthritis, skin problems and asthma. We had to walk past a sulfurous rock face that had such a putrid smell, Lily and I were sick to our stomachs.
We walked to a black sand beach – I’ve never seen anything like it!
The girls had fun playing in the sand. We had to bring a bunch home…along with lots of obsidian and pumice rocks. Lily and I are total rock collectors.
On Tuesday, April 1st, we flew back to Malta, but not until 10:30 pm. That left plenty of time to hike around Mt. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe and one of the most active volcanoes in the world. You can see the cooled lava from the 1992 eruption in the foreground. The road was cut and built right through it!
Our main hike was to this huge crater, Valle del Bove. Our guide Andrea was great. He was full of information about the history and geology of the volcano.
The landscape was so different than other mountains I’ve hiked. The soil was black and kind of sandy, and the vegetation was so unique.
We stopped for lunch at a restaurant at 2000 m (6500 feet) and then walked around these three craters: the Silvestri Crateri, formed in 1893.
After our mountain hike, Andrea took us to a nature reserve on a cliff above the sea. In less than an hour, we went from over 2000 meters to almost sea level! The reserve was very lush and warm – a stark contrast to where we’d just been. The whole day was just super! Our whole trip to Sicily was fantastic and many of us are planning to return before we leave Malta.
SylLy Acres 
April 7, 2014 at 9:53 pm
Thank you, Rachel! What great days you are having! I hope when you go back to Sicily you’ll go to Syracuse and take lots of pictures. Did Sicily seem more lush than Malta? I remember definitely thinking that. Send a picture of caper fruits. I’ve only seen (I think) capers were the small, pickled nasturtium seeds.
April 8, 2014 at 7:32 am
I had never heard of them either and our guide also had to ask what they were. I will take some pictures. They are so good! Also – there is a caper plant – a guide pointed it out to us once. I’m not sure what the real name is but it is not a nasturtium like we think of. I know you can pickle the seeds of nasturtium like a caper but I’ve never tried it.
April 8, 2014 at 2:03 pm
Seems like this blog deserves the title SisylLy Acres. G
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April 8, 2014 at 3:46 pm
Ha ha! Thanks for the laugh! 🙂 BTW, Lily today said she wants to learn Chinese, so I may send her to live with you for a few weeks next summer. 🙂