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Old July 13th, 2017, 11:57 AM posted to rec.travel.europe
tim...[_2_]
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Default Sicily A report from Andalucia, July 2017



"Giovanni Drogo" wrote in message
news:alpine.LSU.2.00.1707131010310.25294@cbfrvqba. ynzoengr.vans.vg...
On Wed, 12 Jul 2017, tim... wrote:

a van). The islands (Vulcano, Lipari, Panarea and Stromboli are the
ones
I visited, the others are farther) are definitely worth visiting.


I hadn't really considered visiting the Islands


The ferries don't seem to be overly helpful when visiting for a day trip,
but accommodation on the islands is so limited that you really have plan
ahead to get it right


spending 3 or 4 days on these islands definitely works against touring by
car


You won't need a car except perhaps on Lipari which is a bit large to be
walkable (some 6 km across and hilly), if you want to collect pumice and
obsidian.


no I didn't mean taking the car to the Islands

I meant that having to leave the car on the dock side for 3 or 4 days
negates against the option of hiring it in the first place

that's 3/4 days you are paying for not using it.

Actually there are no cars at all at Panarea (we walked from the harbour
to the archeological site), and I'm not sure about Stromboli (the two
inhabited points should not be connected by road). Even Vulcano should be
walkable.

As far as I know the boat and hydrofoil service should be acceptable.
Problem can be rough weather. We were in an organized tour with a small
group. We went by van from Catania airport to Milazzo (getting an
impressive thunderstorm on the motorway just as we left the shade of
Etna), and found all boats were cancelled. Our guide found an hotel at
Capo d'Orlando, and found that the morning after there was a boat from
there to Vulcano and Lipari (Italian Touring Club guides usually have a
budget to cater for situations like these).

We did a day trip to Vulcano by regular service boat (it's just across the
strait), and another to Panarea, and Stromboli coming back in the evening,
but I guess this was a chartered boat (not just for our small group, we
weren't alone). It stopped off Panarea to let people have a swim, and
after dinner toured a bit around Stromboli to see Strombolicchio and the
Sciara (the incline where lava gets down into the sea). We had a van to go
round Lipari (not the one we left on the mainland), and came back by
hydrofoil.


And don't get me started on maps that are orientated the wrong way round


Don't tell me. I cannot stand the hybrid stuff ATM (the Milan transport
agency) has placed at tram stops. They are not linear line DIAGRAMS, and
they aren't regular maps, north up, but sort of Peutingerian maps, long
and thin, made cutting pieces of regular maps and joining them "rectified"
along the tram route.

I've never visited Marsala, the saline (salt flats) and the western
coast.


didn't know of the salt flats


Uh, actually I had to look up the word, so I may have got the wrong one.
We call them "saline" (plural, sing. "salina"). They are flat areas where
they let sea water in to evaporate, and then collect the salt.


I did wonder

salt pans is probably the correct terminology

salt flats are a natural phenomena, like the ones in Utah that are renowned
for testing race cars

more pristine ones that are easily visited can be found in Tunisia