Another balmy day on Salina Island. It was 76 degrees and sunny all day. I got up early to see the sunrise from our veranda. The three of us walked to the village of Lingua for something to do. There isn’t much to do in this little village but we met some Swedes who were staying there for 2 weeks. Actually we all three enjoyed a visit to the village cemetery which faces the sea. Most of the gravestones had photos of the deceased with stories and mementos from their lives. This cemetery (Cimitero Comunale di Linguaglossa) has not been updated in findagrave.com – a project for someone who can read Italian.
Our big excursion for the day was an afternoon/evening boat tour to the nearby island of Stromboli. We went with Salina Relax Boats. They were very easy to work with – I had been communicating with them over Whatsapp from before our arrival in Salina. The ride out was a bit rough because the wind was up and the ride took 1.5 hours. The boat stopped at a swim spot for a short swim. Everyone but us 3 Florida girls dove in to the chilly waters. We just drank our wine!
As sunset approached, the captain took us to the dock for the tiny village of Ginostra, on the southwest side of Stromboli. The village has about forty permanent residents and can only be accessed by boat. Until 2004, the village had no electricity or running water. There were a couple of grocery stores open to get sandwiches and drinks to enjoy while watching the sunset.
The highlight of the evening was our visit to the other side of the island just in time to watch the full moon rise as the volcano erupted. Phone cameras just don’t do this image justice. This was the one time on this trip I wish I had brought my 35mm camera.
The ride back to Salina was very quite as almost everyone slept. What a beautiful day. So blessed to see the sunrise, the sunset, the moon rise and a volcano.