Stromboli

One of the many wonderful things that traveling on The World offers, is exposure to "experts" from the areas we are approaching.  We are now off the coast of Italy in the Aolian Islands.  Yesterday, we were treated to a lecture and slide show, which prepared us for our arrival on the island of Stromboli tomorrow.  This island is the home of the Stromboli crater which houses 5 active volcanic sites about 5,000 years old, located at approx 3,000 feet above sea level. This particular volcano is only 1/3 out of the water and 2/3 below the surface. There are said to be many, many more active volcanoes in this area that are completely submerged.  The inhabitants on this island mostly lived off the land, raising crops such as figs, capers and grapes.  In 1930, there was a huge eruption and Sunami, which caused the people to leave the island quickly, leaving most of their belongings behind.  Many of these people ended up in Australia.  Today, there are still houses standing abandoned with dishes on the table and clothing on shelves, mostly built into the mountain.  There are eruptions in this volcano, spewing flame, or what appears to be dark smoke billowing into the air, filled with ash.  There is so much ash on the ground that people ski on it as if it was snow......I have seen some absolutely amazing photos!   This volcanic island sits in the deepest part of the Mediterranean Sea. The ship is offering hikes up the mountain to view the activity at close range......sounds like another incredible day!  This has been designated as a World Heritage Site.

Croatia/Sicily

Just spent a few days sailing in Croatia.  Both the port of Rob and Novalja were charming and extremely clean.  They looked like movie sets, with even the streets paved with limestone and the architecture somewhat interesting.  But, then we arrived at Split which besides being charming and clean also had alot more going on.  Had a nice dinner at Bota Sare, overlooking the water.  We tasted the local cheese, which was pungent but delicious and their local white wine which was also enjoyable.  The trick here was ordering the prawns which were priced by the kilo.  It was pure guesswork as to how many were how much, as only very scantily spoken English was our means of communication.  But then again, we were in Croatia.......there were a couple of cute shops, and the people were very friendly.  The water was very clear and clean, it was lovely.

 

Now we are in Sicily, having spent yesterday at Sea.  Before I tell you about my brief exposure , so far, to Siracusa, I wanted to share with you what one does when the ship is "at sea".  In addition to having the ability to just sit on a lounge by the pool, there was a very lively cricket game on the tennis court, bridge in the card room, followed by a class on Sodoku puzzle solving.  We also have a book club, the Plato Society which studies and reports on various topics of interest (this latest subject was the investigation of world religions, and was fascinating), and a full fitness club and spa area.  That is to name just a few of the options we had yesterday.........

 

We arrived in Siracusa late yesterday afternoon, and went ashore to see the ruins of the Temple of Apollo, which were much less impressive than many of the other Roman sites we have visited.  It is however, always surprising to see ruins in the middle of an otherwise fairly modern city, with it's traffic issues and hustle bustle.  Sicily is known for it's Baroque architecture, but the buildings were not in the pristine condition that we just saw in Croatia.  Many of the exteriors were blackened by what appeared to be a build-up of dirt and mold, which distracted from the detail of the distinctive architecture.  There were many name stores ie Gucci, Prada, Beneton, Zara but not much  shopping"of the region" that we have discovered so far.  We ate onboard last night but will venture out to a local restaurant for dinner with some friends from Los Angeles who will be joining us onboard this afternoon.  Sicily is said to have written the first cook book and much of it's cuisine centers around Sardines.  I'm sure it will be interesting......more later. Ciao.........