We have spent 5 days at Lipari on the Aeolian Islands. We were met by Giuseppe at the ferry terminal and taken to our fabulous apartment, in the main street of Lipari, overlooking the Citadel, Castello and old town.

We had the top floor plus a roof top terrace all to ourselves. Greg cooked up a storm some nights in our rather fancy tiled kitchen and most nights we spent upstairs on the rooftop, drinking and relaxing! The streets came alive at night with people wandering and eating.

Lipari is the largest island in the Aeolian Island group, full off narrow alley ways and lots of shops and restaurants, but not too touristy.

It has 2 harbours separated by the Citadel and Cathedral set in a cliff top position, which was the original historic fortified part of Lipari. The Cathedral of San Bartolo, the patron saint of the Aeolian Islands, was built in the 12th Century and had a beautiful, frescoed ceiling.

The views of the town were rather good from the Castello.

The Piazza di Marina Corta was a great place for a drink and to people watch. Also, a great place for Greg to take photos!!!!

We had an interesting time one afternoon in this piazza. We were minding our own business having a drink and there was a table of Italian “young guys” next to us obviously enjoying a “bucks turn”. At some stage Greg made a comment to one of them and all of a sudden, we were part of their celebration!!! They tried to get Greg to try their “local local local” wine which he wasn’t keen on! Rhonda decided to use “google translate” and wish the groom all the best for his wedding the next day and then we would quietly leave! We tried, but all of a sudden, they bought us drinks, so we had to stay and then they wanted to take photos! It was quite an experience to say the least!

One day we took the hydrofoil to the island of Salina, the second largest island in the archipelago , and known as the “green island”, because it has lots of vineyards. The ferry docked at Santa Marina, we wandered through the small village and decided three was nowhere that we liked for lunch so took a short bus ride (too hot to walk) 3 kms up the road to the small fishing village up the road called Lingua. It had a small sea front promenade and a little piazza.

We had a fabulous lunch! The eggplant parmigiana and the stuffed baby calamari were sensational, the meal of the trip so far! Funnily enough the restaurant was owned by a lady from Sydney!

Greg decided to have a swim in the crystal-clear waters.

We had a charcoal grill bbq at our apartment and Greg decided to try his hand at grilling some spigola (Rhonda’s favourite). We went to the fish monger and with a little help from Google translate we purchased 2 good looking spigola to grill. He prepared them for us , told us to salt them and grill them for 4 minutes each side. Look at the result! Perfeccto!! Well done Gregory!!!! Delicious!

Another day we caught the hydrofoil again to the island of Stromboli, which is one of the 4 active volcanoes in Italy.

Stromboli is known as “the lighthouse of the Mediterranean” because of its frequent minor eruptions visible from many parts of the island and from the sea. Its last major eruption was in 2019. We did see Smoke but no sparks!!!!!

Stromboli is well known for its black sand, due to all the volcanic activity, it was quite weird, and the “beach” consisted of black volcanic pebbles.

Seeing it was Friday, that means pizza day and we had a great pizza lunch. Our 2 pizzas were pizza Norma and Diavola and they were delicious!!!

At the town of Lipari, there is no beach, only harbours for the boats coming in and out, so we ventured on the bus around to a village called Canneto for a swim one afternoon. Although it was a pebbly beach and a little tricky (especially for Jude and Rhonda) to get in and out of the water, it was really refreshing.

Greg has still been enjoying his pistachio ice creams, he thinks it’s a good way to finish off the day!

As you can see by the photos, the weather is warming up now around 30 degrees and a little above. Lucky, we have air conditioning in our apartments, after last year that is now a prerequisite!!!

So, it’s that time again, time for another aperol!!

Love to everyone back home!

Greg , Rhonda and Jude!

xxxxxx