Rome in a day!

Am not going to rabbit on about my ordeal getting to Rome from the Aeolian Islands however when you go to buy a ticket for an IC train and it says it is sold out, it may not be. You can still jump on the train and buy a ticket once on although you may have to chop and change seats a little as you wont have an allocated seat like everyone else. Some chance you could be kicked off the train too.

Shitty drizzly weather. Cool at night. Smashed out all the major sights from afar (seen them all before) in under 3hrs, except the Vatican. Good to be back actually. Remembered many of the streets and intersections from 9 years ago! Much more expensive than the south...almost double the price in some instances and definitely no free snacks with your glass of wine, just a cheeky coperta!

In the 30hrs I was there, I managed to find a couple places worthy of mention:

• I Carusi gelateria (artisanel), Via Lucana near Piazza Sallustio - expensive for the quantity you get but they all serve the same puny amount in Rome. Great stuff. Fragola and pera.
• Trattoria Cadorna (just around the corner from the gelateria on Via Raffaele Cadorna) - Very busy trattoria (full) serving very high quality food at ok prices (not cheap but not ridiculous for the serving sizes either). A soup and pasta with oxtail was heaps for me. Good menu selection. Good service. Some of the other pastas I saw looked excellent - I had pasta envy and I was happy with mine. Wanted a tiramisu but had no room. Disappointed. The pasta stomach had spilled over into the dessert stomach. Will have to remedy that. Would definitely go back.

And that's Europe, 15 countries, 4.5 months, 5,000+ photos........now for South and Central America!!!

Trevi Fountain

Piazza Navona

Careful of your tackle

Artisanel Gelateria

The Aeolian Islands, Italy

The islands were formed over several phases, the first between 330,000 and 160,000 years ago, then 160,000 to 130,000 (the most active period) and the third period saw various volcanoes on several islands formed. The two most (currently) active volcanoes are the youngest, Vulcano at 100,000 years and Stromboli at 40,000 years. Inhabited for around 6,000 years after the discovery of obsidian, a very hard, vitreous rock, used in the making of tools, knives, arrow heads and blades. Homer’s Odyssey makes reference to some myths derived from Aeolian culture.

The history of Lipari, the largest and most populous island within the small archipelago, is rather grim. Constant invasion and defeat ending in mass death, torture and enslavement. The Greeks, Romans, Normans, Muslims and various King’s within Italy all had their time occupying Lipari and the neighbouring islands (some just asked for a ransom to be on their way….'x' talents per person) given its strategic location near the Tyrrhenian Strait, an important trading route.

Industry has centred around the minerals spewed out by the volcanic eruptions, as well as salt mining. The fertile but extremely rugged landscape produces olives, capers, wine, citrus and ancient chestnut trees believed to be planted by the Romans. You can see this if you walk around the island - a decent all-day hike.

Only a few foodie recommendations:

* Trattoria D'oro (Via Umberto, Lipari) - Bit of a local institution, possibly the busiest place in town. Recommended by Salvatore at the Tourist Office who has family in both Melbourne and Sydney. I had the spaghetti da melanozza (midnight spaghetti) which was simple, yet good. The spaghetti with mussels looked excellent. Finished it off with a massive slab of pannacotta.

* Pasticceria D'Ambra Gelat (Vico Morfeo, Marina Corta, Lipari) - Went here every day, sometimes twice, because it was around the corner from my accom but they had the best pastries in Lipari. Canollis were excellent, super fresh. Great cornettis and donut-like things. Reasonable selection and usually got something else thrown in for free (which I really didn't need as I would always order too much anyway). Only place in town that seems to have free wi-fi too.

FYI - Enogastronomica Eoliana, a food and wine week, is held on Salina during the first week of October each year.

Salina Island

Marina Corta

Would you fill up your boat here???

View of Vulcano smouldering (from Lipari)

Lipari fortified part of town

Finally I get to climb an active volcano - Stromboli! 

Clears skies but the wind was up so the 1.5-2hr ferry to Stromboli island was a little unnerving. Via Vulcano, Salina, Panacrea and on to Stromboli. The design of the boat is flawed – perfect in calm seas but completely rubbish and dangerous in a bit of chop. The nose of the boat went completely under half a dozen times spewing water all over the front of the boat. Terrible driving.

As we approached Stromboli, it became clear that most of the cloud you see hovering at the peak is in fact gases and steam that has been released from the volcano. When walking around town before our departure, you could hear rumbles and the occasional crack of thunder…..it was just Stromboli. There is an explosion, on average, every 15-20mins. This kind of activity is known world-wide as strombolicchio, frequent, minor eruptions without lava flow.

As we began our ascent to 926m, to look down into the crater’s mouth 200m below, there was a very loud roar. Everybody stopped in their tracks. Stromboli is so active. I hadn’t quite imagined you’d be able to hear it from so far away. A major eruption could bury the town but minor ones with lava flow pose no threat due to the various ridges protecting the town, directing lava flow into the sea. Two-thirds of Stromboli remains below sea-level.

The peak looked so far away, but given the path is quite steep, you make quick inroads. The slow pace of ascent doesn’t leave you tired either. Old cultivated land turns into scrub then rock and volcanic sand. The top third is barren, exposed to the constant winds and inner heat. A scree slope descends almost the entire way down the side of the volcano. We would later use this as our path down in the dark – 50> degree angle.

We arrived at the top after around 2hrs. At this point our guide Antonio needed to make a decision as to where we would spend our hour or so at the top. It was wind dependent and it was really windy. The decision was made for him as when we arrived at the top it was a white out and too dangerous to navigate the narrow ridge around the crater to the best vantage point for looking into the crater. We basically got caught out at the top between the best viewing locations, unable to move, exposed to the freezing wind. On two occasions the cloud and gases cleared at the same time as Stromboli exploded. Awesome sight. So much more impressive and powerful than expected. And this was an everyday occurrence. It had been particularly active in recent days, including a lava flow in August. Yellow hot rocks spewed out and tumbled down the mountain side fading in brightness. Even when the explosions occurred with cloud cover, it would light up the haze with an orange/red glow. If you dig a few inches into the sand, it is very warm.

After our 45min of waiting for the cloud to clear, it became apparent it wouldn’t. We were all shivering and ready to head back down. My headlamp was rubbish, barely emitted enough light to see the ground let alone define it well enough to know what you were stepping on. Dangerous as hell. An hour descent on a cushioned sandy slope with Stromboli glowing in the background.

Hard to get decent photos when you don’t have a tripod and only have a couple occasions to set the camera up. Think I managed to do better than most though, bit lucky.

Yes, that is an English girl in a dress. Insane.

The white-out at the top

Our guide Antonio

Police car on Stromboli....can imagine a police chase through the tiny streets of Stromboli - everybody has a golf cart or green-keeper like vehicle

The best way to get to and from Stromboli

The travelling fish salesman

Surprising Palermo, Italy

I think it is challenging to describe Palermo in a few words. Some had said it is just a bigger version of Catania (or vice versa). That didn’t sit too well with me given my dislike for Catania. Despite saying that, they also said they liked it. How was that possible?

Sure, it had the dirty, dark, dingy streets of Catania but many of these were transformed into busy markets during the day selling fresh fish and vegies, or in the evening selling street food where unassuming roller doors unveiled small bars and cafes.

Palermo, being the capital of Sicily, also has its ritzy side. Expensive fashionable stores lining major boulevards, pleasant neighbourhood and white linen restaurants. Most impressive was the quality of the food. Almost everywhere is good. The food is a bit unusual at times. A strange mix of Italian and African influences. For the most part it worked, but you will invariably get a few surprises. Seafood, eggplant, capers and almonds dominate menus, with a peasant style to it all.

Some things to look out for are caponata (an eggplant dish that I have seen described in English as sweet and sour, that I think would be better served warm) and its many variants (try the swordfish one), stuffed calamari, parmigiana (eggplant of course), baked pastas, stewed calamari, almond anything…..just not pizza with chips on it! Even had a parmigiana pizza. The pasticcerias are something else, loaded with so many colourful treats. I don’t know where to begin with recommendations. Try something different every time (I haven’t been doing this unfortunately as I can’t get past the ricotta cannolis!).

A couple of ‘must-do’s’ are:

-       Piazza Caracciou / Piazza Carraffello at night (near the intersection of Via Roma and Vittoria Emanuele). Full of pop-up street food vendors and bars (even a random DJ under some scaffolding on the Friday night). In Piazza Caracciou there is a vendor selling fried seafood. Select what you want. They will then dust it in flour and drop it in the oil. Pay by weight. €5-7 for a decent sized plate for one. Careful with the tiny cuttlefish – they still have their hard cuttle in them – I was wondering what that crunch was (all edible I assume and a good source of calcium). And next to them you have the ‘grilled meat’ men. Again, select your poison and it will be grilled on the spot. Warning, the long skewers with breaded round things on them are in fact goat’s intestines. The girls ordered them without realising. Quite tasty but pure fatty goodness. Maybe try just one. They also make a schnitzel roll which gets my thumbs up. Plenty of places sell cheap drinks, including one place between Piazza Caracciou and Piazza Domenica that has glasses of decent prosecco for only €1.00! Absolute bargain!!! The hostel owner who kindly showed us these places (and paid for it all!) said the same drink would cost €5.00 at a decent bar. The bar is only a few doors up from Piazza Caracciou on the right. It should be easy to spot at night as it will be the busiest place there. Very basic inside….no tables that I recall seeing, just a standing bar and the scummy outside path. Other outdoor bars sell large beers for €1.50. For around €10.00 you can have a good feed and half a skin full. What could be better?

-       Via Bora, a laneway running between Teatro Massimo and Via Roma. Packed with cafes and restaurants. A great place to escape from the chaos of Palermo. Has some very inviting restaurants….too many to choose from, and plenty of cafes, come bars, in the evening. The hostel owner Giuseppe walked me to his favourite place (Da lilla e totuccio, about halfway down – at least that is what I think it is called as that was written on the wall next to the door) along that street where he takes his family. There is no seating inside – you sit on the laneway under umbrellas. It’s a buffet restaurant (which always raises an eyebrow for me), with all the food carefully displayed outside over no less than eight tables. Must have been around 30-40 different dishes to choose from. Ridiculous amount of food. Everything looked really tasty. The senora brought around a fresh batch of lasagne when I arrived and proceeded to fill up a plate with it. This turned out to be mine. Guess I was eating there. I hadn't even sat down yet. €10.00 all you can eat. I’d had a buffet lunch that day too….two buffets in a day….this was going to hurt. The spread included:

o   Sardines done four ways

o   Eggplant three ways

o   At least a dozen vegie and salad options plus olives, capers, anchovies etc

o   Whole fried fish

o   Calamari four ways

o   Swordfish

o   Octopus

o   Baked potatoes

o   Mussels

o   And of course the lasagne – the best I’ve ever had! Had a second helping that pushed me over the edge.

o   Oh, and schnitzel (Milanese)

Eat here on an empty stomach and you won’t be disappointed. It’s home cooking at its best.

-      The lunch buffet I referred to was at Antica focacceria San Francesco, opposite Chiesa San Francesco. Established in 1834, it must be good if it is still running amongst so much competition right? Stand in line, grab your tray and order the specials of that day. Separate to the buffet counter was a guy making stewed meat rolls. I couldn’t work out exactly what the meat was, but a guy in front of me was hoovering one down and it looked vaguely like tongue which was quite possible in Sicily. The locals were knocking them back thick and fast. Had the eggplant caponata and a baked rigatoni pasta (think was cauliflower and perhaps artichoke). Both were ok but see what is available if passing by. Somebody please try that roll. It looks so good and I wanna know what is in it!

-       Ballaro Market. It seemed to just snake its way through laneway after laneway. Most of it looked of reasonable quality as well. You could buy everything there….fish, meat, veg, deli stuff. Great if you are self-catering. You can watch the old school butchers preparing cuts of meat exactly to the buyers specifications and listening to the fishmongers joking between each other. Liked it, even though I couldn’t buy anything. Why would I cook for myself here anyway?

Some suggested day trips (that I didn’t do as the weather was too cold and miserable):

-      San Vito lo Capo Spiaggio – Supposedly the best beach in all of Italy. Photos looked quite amazing.

-      Cefalu – A fabulous looking seaside town (saw it from the train) with a decent stretch of beach to boot.

Other things I didn’t get to try:

-          Ice-cream made with ricotta

-      And some wines: Malvasia (a sweet wine from Salina in the Aeolian Islands – dip in some    sesame biscuits); Rosolio; Nacatuli and Spicchitedda (sweet)….all Sicilian.

Mazzara - A very good cafe / pasticceria I found - a few of them in town

Fontana Pretoria

Piazza Pretoria

Piazza Vigliena (Quattro Canti)

One of the walls on Piazza San Francesco L'Assisi where the Antica eatery was

This kid was practising his skids in the piazza outside Teatro Politeama Garibaldi - will be another menace on the roads in time, or the next Rossi

Teatro Politeama Garibaldi

Cattedrale

Ballaro Market

Pastries shaped like fruits and vegies

De-boning the smoked mackeral

Some of the typical dodgy looking buildings

Cous cous and eggplant parma - brilliant

The port area