If you are up to date with our blog you will know that we arrived in Sicily via Messina with the purpose of travelling to Milazzo to book the cruise to Stromboli. We arrived in Milazzo after a difficult but beautiful drive over some Sicilian hills on very windy, narrow roads. Mike is getting good at this! In Milazzo we found that there were ferries and hydrofoils going to most of the Aeolian islands but despite the advice we had received the night time trip to Stromboli was not going to start for a couple of weeks. There was one 2 day trip which involved an overnight stop at Lipari but as it cost over 300 euros, wasn't the trip we wanted and would mean we would have to find a safe place to leave Buster, we decided against it. I was very disappointed and indecisive about what to do but eventually decided that I would visit Mount Etna instead. Again this was a bit hit and miss as there had been quite a large ash eruption two weeks previously and Etna was still belching out a lot of smoke. Interestingly at the end of April with temperatures in the high 20s at sea level Etna still had snow on its peak (3340M high).
That night we spent on the tip of the peninsula at Milazzo. We were high up and had lovely views with the sea on two sides. The following morning we up early and went for a walk around the peninsula. It was a beautiful day that was matched by the scenery. There are so many wild flowers out at the moment. Again it has been lovely to be here early in the season before everything dries out. After yesterday's driving experience we decided to take the toll road to Taormina. There is a popular beach here called Isola Bella. We had our lunch here and enjoyed the sun and sea (its warming up nicely) for a couple of hours before moving further south to Catania where Mike had identified an overnight stop.In the evening we realised our engine battery was not charging, Mike went through everything methodically and eventually found a smashed fuse (victim of poor roads perhaps). Fortunately we had a spare of near enough the same ampage which seemed to solve the problem. But having fixed that he then found that the lid to our toilette cassette was broken. This I solved temporarily with a plastic beaker!
Although Saturday was going to be about the volcano we decided to try and get some new fuses and a new toilet. We eventually found a motorhome showroom that was not too far away and they had both fuses and toilet. The fuses they gave to us free but the toilet was going to cost over 200 euros. We decided to carry on with our own makeshift solution for the time-being (and 9 days later I can say it is working well). Our next problem was getting out of the road to the show room. It was a dead end and was really too narrow to turn in. Mike found a gateway and attempted a three-point turn. I think we would have got stuck horizontally across the road if it hadn't been for a kind lady who opened the electronic gate to her drive to allow us more room to manouvre. I have to say we have found the Sicilians very helpful.
Once released we could continue our journey to Mount Etna. We headed for Refugio Sapienza where there was a huge car park and other tourist facilities for visiting the mountain. The route up took you through the Etna national park and although the visibility was not great it was very beautiful. The roads were covered in a thick layer of black ash and you could taste it in the air. (Mike was worried about Buster getting dirty). At Refugio Sapienza we found that the car park cost 10 euros, the chair lift 30 euros and to see some of the higher craters you needed a guide 60 euros. Also because the volcano was quite active your access was limited higher up so we were not sure what would be gained by using the chair lift. In our own economical way we organised our own trip. We found a free parking spot beyond the car park and decided to walk two craters: one was created in 1987 and the other in 2001. The whole area was quite surreal and the lava fields and craters were amazing. With the dust in the air and the smoke higher up it was easy to imagine the craters being active. We were fortunate in that we were able to have a good walk around before the weather closed in and it started to rain really heavily. Back in the van we drove slowly down the other side of the volcanic natural park taking in the raw and powerful beauty. In a reflective mood we drove on to the Port at Messina and caught the 5pm ferry back into Italy. We drove along the coast for a couple of hours reaching a small village where we could see other vans parked for the night. All German. We joined them.
No comments:
Post a Comment