Sicily and the Eolien Islands

We cruised past an active volcano today. The shaking of the earth could be heard from the yacht. The crater was smoking a thick white smoke, and in an instant I witnessed this smoke turn dark and was accompanied by black rock hurtling towards the sky in a sharp stream. The slope of volcanic material lead down to the sea. All this volcanic material had solidified, but was still steaming away. The volcano was on the Italian island of Stromboli.
Today we started in Panarea. Another Italian island in the Eolien chain. A lunchtime cruise around the island today revealed the sharp and jagged features covered with a mix of shrubs, grass, and wildflowers. The islands in this Archipelago are mostly close together, and therefore it makes for a popular destination for yachts and other boaters. Rental boats are easy to find. Mostly available are the inflatable tenders, and one will find that a lot of Italians take there vacations in these islands. The yacht rented one of these tenders, as we are still waiting on the delivery of our new inflatable tender.
The first pair of islands that we visited are the favorite as going around by word of our crew; Alicudi and Fillicudi . Fillicudi has a blue hole perfect for boating and swimming into. These waters are full of jelly fish currently so anyone in or on the water has to used extreme caution. Our guests were kayaking, paddle boarding into the cave. I have seen a postcard of what the inside looks like, pretty incredible. Yes, I said postcard. When the guests are playing in the water, we are not welcome to join them.
Amongst these island, a certain feature makes them feel less like the Mediterranean, and more like the South Pacific or Southeast Asia. The features that I am speaking of are spires of rock that are sticking straight up out of the sea. The one off the island of Fillicudi must have a climbing route to the top. The photographer shot the subject on top of tallest spires, the the setting sun backlighting and making a a cool profile of just one man standing atop the need feature. Four of us climb on the crew and we all showed a desire to climb this one.
Before leaving for the islands during this guest trip, the yacht was moored in Palermo, Sicily. Palermo is the largest city on the island, and clearly rich in traditions and heritage. I walked around in the city both the first and second night that we were docked there before guests arrived. The first night, I had no idea where I was, but I just left the marina and started walking. I found a great and inexpensive pizzeria, and devoured a pancetta pie with a cold beer. I walked on towards a restaurant district, and after asking a host found a cab ride into the city center. I started in La Champagneria. This street had a half dozen bars occupied mostly by futbol fans watching the World Cup. I chose a drink from the Aboriginal Internet Cafe'. This bar had 6 computers inside; explains the internet cafe' advertisement. I had picked up a flyer along the way for a music festival in Venice, and I did my best to ask the bartender if that festival would come to Palermo. She spoke much more English than I had even hoped for, and gave me a local music flyer and even gave me vague directions on where certain venues were located.
I continued my walk around the city center. Finding another skinny street packed full of bars, but catering more to the younger crowd. Tables on the street were full of college age young people drinking and smoking. Most of the bars were fairly empty, and the taxi driver explained that during the summer most Sicilians and tourists are found on the beaches day and night. The beach towns were a far taxi ride from the city, so I made my way back to the marina.
The next night was Saturday night. This time all of my crew but 1 left for the city center together. Starting in the same Champagneria street, it was much more busy than the night before. Captain had cigars for us that wanted them; Cohibas from Cuba. Our group happened to stop at the same Aboriginal as I had the night before. The same bartender was there working, and I asked her about the venue holding Sicilia Jazz Festival. Our group was now off to find the Jazz Fest which was being hosted in the ruins of an ancient church. Despite the assurance that it was easy to find, and that every Sicilian knew where the location of the area that we were trying to get to, it did take some time and asking to find. Getting closer, our group got separated; it was now just myself and two others. Asking around for the place we met two Sicilian couples who not only showed us where the Jazz Fest was but hung out with us for the rest of the night. They proved extremely friendly and gracious, and at the conclusion of the night we were all friends and us visitors had gained a wealth of information about Sicily.