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Monday, July 2nd Isola Vulcano,
Aeolian Islands, Italy
It turns out that laundry mats are hard to come
by in Southern Italy. Arriving in Miseno on Monday afternoon, we did find
a "lavanderia" that could help us if we were willing to wait a week to get our
sheets, towels and clothes back. I didn't even bother finding out how much
it would cost as they charge by the piece rather than weight. Luckily, we
have a little washing machine on board and were able to get all of the laundry
done ourselves. The one benefit of the blistering heat wave was that
everything dried really quickly hanging out in the sun. After a day of
chores, and many dips in the sea to stay cool, we were ready to get off the boat
and see what we could of the area. Luckily, the north wind that arrived on
Tuesday night also brought cooler temperatures so we were able to spend the day
touring without collapsing from heat stroke!
Our friend Maurizio, who we had met in
Palmarola, came out for appetizers on the boat on Monday night, and offered to
pick us up on Wednesday since he had to be in Miseno anyway. We eagerly
took him up on the offer, wondering what he had in store for us. He did
recommend that we not leave the boats unattended at anchor there so we worked a
deal with Cenou for them to watch our boat for the day. Maurizio gave us a
wonderful driving tour of the coastal towns of the Golfo di Napoli,
all the way from Miseno to Napoli. The area is a treasure trove of history
with so many ancient Roman ruins lying around you almost stop noticing them.
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The small bay of Miseno is one of the only
really secure, natural harbors along the whole western coast of Italy, offering
protection from virtually all directions. It was the port from which the
Emperor Augustus controlled the whole of the Mediterranean. Ten thousand
sailors and another ten thousand civilians lived on the tiny spit of land
surrounding the port thanks to the Roman aqueduct "Aqua Augusta" that brought
water to the whole parched area from the springs of Serinus some sixty miles
away. Wealthy Romans kept their seaside resorts here. Back in those
days the sea level was a lot lower, so many of the ruins of these villas are
still underwater.
Our tour guide, Maurizio, kept up a constant
flow of information about both ancient and present day Naples. The city is
in the midst of a garbage collectors' strike which was evident even back in
Miseno, with huge piles of trash periodically overtaking the sidewalks, burying
a supposed dumpster under twenty times its capacity of garbage. Despite
the unseemly sights and odors, we loved the feel of being in and around a big
city like Naples. The views were spectacular as well.
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Unbeknownst to us, Maurizio had arranged with a
friend to drive us to Pompeii. It turns out he was due at the hospital (he
is a thoracic surgeon) at eleven so we picked up his friend along the way and
she drove us the rest of the way. We felt like royalty being chauffeured
around in such style!
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Overlooking the sprawling ruins of this ancient
city, with Mount Vesuvius looming in the background, we are a little
overwhelmed. The wealth of knowledge gleaned from this and other nearby
ruins, devastated by the volcano's explosion on August 24th, 79 AD, is
astonishing. Most of the people in Pompeii were killed by the toxic fumes
within the first few hours of the initial explosion although in the end, the
entire city and its citizens lay buried under nine feet of volcanic ash.
Although blessed by the cooler weather and a
steady breeze, we were still faced with the task of cajoling our almost eight
year old and nine and a half year old through a bunch of run down buildings that
all pretty much look alike. The ruins cover about one square kilometer,
consisting of cobblestone streets and alleyways lined with homes and shops and
public areas. Only about half the entire area is open to the public but
even so, it is a formidable task, weaving your way through the maze and
understanding what you are looking at. In hind sight we should have sprung
for a guide, but we made our way through most of the site, although not always
understanding what we were looking at. Luckily, we have a book to refer
back to and help us learn more about what we saw. Suffice it to say, it
was an exhausting yet wonderful day of discovery.
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At the end of our ropes, after finally finding
a cab to take us down to Torre Annunziata for a ferry ride back to Bacoli, right
around the corner from Miseno, we met Nunzio and Giovanni who brightened up the
end of our day. They assured us that they were the only two people in town
who spoke English. They were in charge of the ferry operation in the town
and assured us that we were waiting in the right area and that the ferry we were
counting on to take us home was indeed due to arrive at the scheduled time.
We spent a very pleasant half an hour exchanging stories of our travels.
Both father and son had traveled extensively on ships around the world,
including to the United States.
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Returning the favor of watching the boat, we
hung in Miseno while Cenou took off on the morning ferry for Torre Annunziata
and their day of exploring Pompeii on Thursday.
Having kept the girls away from their friends
for two whole days, we decided on a beach day Friday on the nearby island of
Procida. Our guide books promised a less touristy version of the beautiful
islands we had seen in this area with Johnny and Po. The city itself is a
charming collection of houses and pastel buildings, one right on top of the
other, and most sorely in need of a paint job.
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We managed to hit the fruit and vegetable store
just before they closed down for siesta at 1pm and then sat down at the simplest
waterfront lunch spot we found. We had an amazing lunch of fried calamari
and shrimp, Joe's favorite penne all'arrabbiata,
salad and bruschetta for a mere 64 euros
for eight of us. I think we even had a couple of beers with all of it!
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In between grocery shopping and lunch, we went
back to the boats to unload. Luckily, Claude had stayed behind and we
found him there, holding a motor boat off the bows of Zia with his dinghy.
Apparently, the guy had dragged all the way through the anchorage before Claude
noticed and jumped in his dinghy to help. The motor boat was only a few
feet away from another monohull when he arrived to save the day. We
promptly joined in and with two dinghies pushing, it was a lot easier to keep
the boat away from other boats while we tried to get the attention of the owner
onshore. Joe jumped onboard and started honking the horn and the monohull
Claude saved was blowing their air horn. Still, it took ten minutes before
the owner showed up to re anchor. What a fiasco. It seems more
common for folks to sit back and enjoy the show than help out so we were very
grateful to Claude for saving us from some ugly damage.
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The plan was to get up at 6am and take off for
the Aeolian Islands, off the north coast of Sicily. We wanted to do a
drive-by on Stromboli, and active volcano, hoping to catch a bit of a show.
We had read about a lava flow down the northwest side. We had a full moon
for the sail and it was a beautiful night. We caught a tuna in the morning
and something BIG broke my line just after sunset. Stromboli was a bust,
though. I stared at it through the binoculars for hours and managed to see
it flare up and glow red for a few seconds once. There was a constant flow
of steam from the crater, and the occasional bigger puff of smoke, but hardly
worth the extra 20 miles.
We arrived in Isola Vulcano around 8am on
Sunday. We had a great lunch onshore at Bar Conti, where we are picking up
a free wifi signal. After a sorely needed afternoon nap, we decided to
head to the mud baths, a short walk to the other side of the island. What
a hoot! For two Euros you can go and sit in a bubbling pool of muddy
water, smearing yourself with silky sulfuric mud which apparently has lots of
medicinal qualities.
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Being sure to leave all of the mud in the pool
for the other folks to use, you can then go over the rock and swim in the ocean
which also has vents of steam and sulfur that heat up the water and stink up the
air.
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Big kids and little kids alike loved the
experience, although they didn't allow the little kids to immerse themselves in
the pool at all. We never quite got the reasons behind that, although
there was some talk about radioactivity. Hmmmm, I'm not sure that is any
better for us than it is for them but we kept them mostly out of it nonetheless.
This morning we set our alarms for 7am so we
could tackle the climb up the volcano before it got too hot. Moving this
heard of eight isn't always as efficient as we would like, so by the time we
were actually walking along the trail it was almost 8:30. Not doubt the
first part of the climb was steep and hot, but once we got up high enough the
breeze reached us and the views made us forget about our discomfort.
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Zia is anchored out in the bay
on the left and the mud bath is in the bay on the right.
Fifteen hundred feet high, reaching the summit
of Gran Cratere felt like entering another planet. The stark contrast
between the different types of terrain on and surrounding the volcano is
surprising.
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From powdery dark sand to hard brown mud, the
highlight was seeing, smelling and feeling the steam and gases rising out of the
fumaroles or vents at the craters edge.
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The kids had to be reminded time after time
that the steam issuing from the vents was extremely hot and they could seriously
burn themselves. We managed to get by without any injuries, thank
goodness.
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We caught a glimpse of Sicily and Mount Etna
from the highest point of the volcano. You could clearly see as you looked
around you how these islands are all a part of the same volcanic chain from
Stromboli to Sicily.
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We are hoping to hang out in these islands for
another week or so before heading to Sicily. We'll cruise west along the
northern coast, stopping in Palermo, the capital. Maurizio circled all
sorts of beautiful spots for us to visit all along the western and southern
coasts of the island so we look forward to spending the month checking as many
of them out as we can. We know the heat is going to come back soon, but
for now, we are still enjoying the relatively cool weather. We have
started to see some jellyfish but they seem to be hanging out deep enough that
they aren't keeping the girls out of the water. Lets hope that continues
to be the case!
Next Entry >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Many thanks to our friend Craig Homenko for his assistance in setting up the website.
We also would like
to thank our buddy Scott Brunner who has been kind
enough to host the website on his server.
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