June 18 Neighbouring Aeolian Islands - Panarea & Stromboli

The Aeolian Islands were submarine volcanoes that emerged from the sea around 700,000 years ago. Eruptions over the millennia have formed pumice stone and obsidian. Strange bed fellows to me, a serious non-volcanologist! - one stone is light as air, pale in colour and pockmarked with millions of holes. The other, obsidian, is black shiny and extremely hard (perfect for making tools. I found some tool ‘chips’ in Bolivia). Both are volcanic glass and both were mined and exported bringing great prosperity to the archipelago. Obsidian is the most sought after by tourists and it’s everywhere and, no, I didn’t buy any. I wish I had but I have some from Armenia so that will have to do me.

There are 7 main islands in the Aeolian archipelago - Lipari, Vulcano, Salina, Panarea, Stromboli, Filicudi and Alicudi. We were to visit 4. Today Stromboli, one of the two remain volcanoes still active in the archipelago, and Panarea. A wonder-filled day. We stopped first at Panarea.

Panarea was delightful. Lots of lovely boats here - as well as ruins. Some swam in a quiet cove – me, no. A small group of brave souls gave us a delightful display of wonky synchronized swimming. Great effort!

Note the tiny taxi ferrying people up the hill - wish that it had been us!

In the village we just had a small wander through tangled alleys up and down the slopes so pretty with flowers everywhere including succulents. This is a dormant volcano or so I thought. It was thought to be nothing more than the remains of an old crater up till about 30 years ago when persistent hydrothermal activity was detected, the most intense in the Mediterranean. Then 20 years ago a subterranean explosion occurred which released a significant quantity of CO2 which suffocated all forms of underwater life over a vast area. So things aren’t always what they seem. 

Mt Stromboli in the distance

After a spot of lunch we piled back into the boat headed for Stromboli. I was pretty excited.