Linda’s birthday was spent on the move. We left Bolzano by train at 5:12am headed for Bologna airport (www.trenitalia.com). From the Bolzano Centrale train station, there are signs for the Marconi Express which goes direct to the airport.
Bolzano is another very busy Italian airport with long security lines, long lines for coffee and food and standing room only at all of the gates. We were glad though to have almost 3 hours before our flight to Catania, Sicily.
The Ryan Air flight was uneventful as it should be. These low cost airlines do not even offer water during the flight service. Bring your own or order the snacks for sale. Our checked luggage made it to Catania. The requirements for cabin bags are smaller than what I was traveling with.
From Catania we took a shuttle to the Port of Milazzo where we would catch a ferry to Salina Island. The ride is about 2 hours long. We had pre-purchased our shuttle tickets online at www.eoliebooking.com. Prebooking is highly recommended as the van was completely full. There are several companies offering this trip – just pick the one with the best timetable. The trip rounds the eastern coast of Sicily. As we got closer to Milazzo, the mountains appeared but the architecture was consistenly ugly – 70’s era concrete buildings in various states of disrepair.
We appreciated our shuttle driver escorting the three of us to the check in office for the ferry (libertylines.it). He knew our scheduled ferry had been canceled due to weather issues and wanted to make sure the ticket agent took care of us. The driver knew very little English, even less than our Italian. We ended up taking one hydrofoil to the Island of Lipari where we had time for a quick meal before boarding another boat to take us to Salina. Our ABB host met us as the dock and got us settled in her cute apartment in the heart of the town with spectacular views. It is a spacious house with a large terrace, three ensuite bedrooms and a small kitchen. Everything is perfect except my hard as a rock mattress. Well it can’t all be perfect.
Salina is a very green island in the Aeolian Archipelago, a group of islands north of Sicily in the Tyrrhenian Sea. It is a good place to base out of – with day trips to other islands possible by ferry or by excursion boats. Plus there is plenty to see and on this island.
