What mystery, what beauty. Stromboli.
It was two years ago when I first saw this incredible creation of nature. Before that, I had only seen pictures and could not imagine the possibility to visit this place in person. It is a real active volcano — Stromboli. The volcano is found on its namesake Stromboli island in Italy. It is the tip of a vast underwater volcano off the coast of Sicily and is Europe’s only permanently active volcano.
The first thing I saw from the window of the ferry is a mountain with a huge pillar of smoke. Due to a severe storm, we could not moor to the first pier and we had to go around the island to get to the other side which was a beautiful experience in itself. It is a small island with a few white houses which are completely dark at night. We started to climb the mountain right before sunset. When we got to the top it was already dark which was magical — the lava was bright orange in the background of the night sky illuminating the surroundings.
I remember standing near the crater and every time the lava erupted, I felt anxious and happy at the same time. I saw black sand around me which is the ash that has settled on the ground. Every time the earth trembled from the eruption, it flew up making this spectacle much livelier. It looked like the black snow that wraps the island.
It was amazing to witness this beautiful and powerful spectacle of waves and lava at play. Sunset at the top of an island, a hike under the full moon, a volcanic eruption — any one of these would have been incredible, but all together they created a magical experience that was definitely worth the trip.