Positano & the Amalfi Coast
To the south of the Bay of Naples is an arm of land, the southern shore of which includes the Amalfi Coast. This is a rocky area with low mountains along which people have managed to establish towns that are tributes to their ingenuity and creativity.
Coming east from Capri we approach
what has to be called a jagged shoreline.
In Medieval times this part of Italy was served
by a series of visual “telegraph” outposts…
Continuing east along the coast…
A road cuts across a steep hillside
We approach Positano…
A final look as we turn south and
away from the coast
A Long Half-day in Agropoli
This is a small and rather pretty town on the coast of southern Italy, rather more prosperous than we expected in this fairly impoverished area of the country. We arrived around noon with plenty of time for a few chores but for us it will always be remembered as the day Jan spent 7 hours trying to work through two loads of laundry using the god-foresaken equipment so typical of an Italian marina complex while Nick walked the street for miles following bad directions and dealing with the usual two hour mid-afternoon Italian shut-down while trying to procure about €15 worth of groceries. At least Nick got some exercise!
But on our approach the town
looked wonderful
Statue of the Virgin at the end of
the breakwater
We left very early the next morning
as the full moon set 
Stromboli – Ancient Lighthouse
With our early start we traveled approximately 100 nautical miles, bypassing the toe of the Italian boot to reach the Aeolian Islands which are just off the coast to the north of Sicily and part of the “Regione Sicilia”. Our first of two stops among these islands was Stromboli. “Stop” would be the right word as we did not go ashore but anchored off the northeast point of the Island.
Stromboil isn’t really a light house but it’s
sometimes been called the “Lighthouse of the
Mediterranean” because it’s volcano (which is
pretty much the entire island) has essentially
been erupting non-stop since ancient times.
How ancient? Several thousand years.
Homer had Odysseus navigating by its
light in the Odyssey.
Below is not Odysseus
Maybe somebody can tell us why
anyone would live at the foot of an active
volcano. There are about 600 folks crowded
around the side of the island that hardly
ever get lava flows.
In the background below is a real
lighthouse on top of a small, steep island,
just off the shore of Stromboli
Above, gasses are released from a
vent near the water line.Sunset
In the morning we had this pretty sailing ship
anchored near us under a Canadian flag.
And while the island was still there,
we soon went on our way
Lipari – Main Island of the Aeolian Chain
These islands are often referred to as the Lipari Islands as Lipari is the largest and most important among them. Ancient, stone age people settled here to collect and trade obsidian, the hard black volcanic glass used by Neolithic peoples for its extremely sharp cutting edges. Of course since that time everyone that sailed by has had a kick at them: Greeks, Carthaginians, Romans, Saracens, Normans, Turks, you name it. This is the same everywhere else in this area of the world. Maybe with all the invaders coming through nobody had time to worry about volcanos.
We walked around the town of course
but spent most of our time at the walled
fortress in the center of town where
they had a pretty good museum.And good views of the sea…
As we sailed southeast away from Lapari the next day we also passed the Island of Vulcano and we wondered which came first, the island, the god or the geological feature? Wikipedia suggest that the word volcano is derived from the island of Vulcano in the Aeolian Islands whose name in turn originates from Vulcan, the name of a god of fire in Roman mythology. Whatever.
