A Big Pile of Ash
On a trip to Sicily with my brother — business for him, leisure for me — I found myself with an afternoon to kill, so I took a boat to Stromboli.
I decided to take the fast boat — a hydrofoil with a loud diesel engine — which the locals used as a kind of bus. Tourists took the slow boat.
The approach to Stromboli turned out to be more interesting than the island itself — the volcano appearing first as a small dot on the horizon, then looming gradually larger and more ominous (A little plume of smoke drifted from the top).
Once we had disembarked — it was notable that the ‘Sand’ on the beach was black — everyone headed either for the cafes and restaurants on the shore, or up the hill towards the caldera.
I got as far as the church you see in the picture above — it was a hot day and I didn’t have much time.
On getting back to mainland Sicily, my brother asked what Stromboli was like. I said it was just a big pile of ash, but sitting here on this dark December morning it looks a lot more inviting than that.
