Sicily during off season, good choice. A flight, a renal car and the first night after arrival is all we booked, so we were free and flexible to explore.
We were not sure whether 12 days would be too much for such a small island, but it had so much to offer that there wasn't a single lame day.
From mountain cities to salinas, from beaches and nature reserves to volcanoes and ancient towns, from citrus orchards to temples ...that is how much variety Sicily had to give.
The highlights:
- walking on empty beaches
- finding porcupine quills
- standing atop of Mount Etna
- watching flamingos
- exploring a pitch-black lava cave, finding bats
- savoring busiate, pizza, pasta di norma, pesto di pistacchio, arancine, ...
- watching Strombili spit fire
The last mentioned was definitely the crowning glory!
We took the afternoon ferry, arrived on Strombili around 4 pm. Our host met us at the port, loaded our luggage on an Ape, and with a rattling sound he drove off, awaiting us at the hotel.
We quickly settled, packed our backpacks with warm clothes and slices of pizza and wandered off into nightfall.
A small path lead us upwards and along the slope of the active volcano. No one near, just silence and increasing darkness. All of a sudden, this loud bang, like a cannon blast, which made it feel like the earth was trembling. We immediately stood still, listening and trying to understand what just happened. Strombili had spoken! With a mix of excitement and fear, we continued the track until we reached the viewpoint. We had just arrived when a big fountain of fire shot up in the air like a firework, bright colors of yellow, orange and red clearly visible on the contrasting black night sky. The big bang was followed by a rattling sound of the rocks going downhill like an avalanche, reaching the ocean with a loud hiss. All we could do is stand there in awe, trying to grasp the fact that we just experienced one of nature's most elementary moves.
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