Riposto/Mt Etna
Posted at 8:07 PM, Nov. 18, 2006
The locals say that living in the shadow of Mt Etna is part of the risk of living. Our first sighting of the summit was late last Thursday night (16th November) and the striking feature was the streams of red hot glowing lava running down the mountain in rivulets extending for what looked like hundreds of metres. An amazing sight the risk of living for sure! The next morning when we could see the whole southern side of the mountain covered with villages made us wonder about the so called risks.
We ended up staying 2 nights at Riposto. Great marina complex, good facilities and within 200 metres of the marina entrance there was the local fish market (also had fruit and vegetables plus a butcher and antipasta such as olives, nuts etc. We went along before breakfast to catch some of the flavour and found a very local noisy market with mostly men doing the negotiating/buying (definitely an adverse trend).
Pam negotiating in the fishmarket at Riposto
Swordfish are caught in the Straits off boats with huge towers although we did not see any. When one of the guys in the market saw me taking pictures he was very keen to get photographed holding up the head and bill of a swordfish duly obliged of course. Also just out of the marina entrance was a very well stocked chandlers (something of a rarity) and also a good wine store specializing in Sicilian wines. Found the wine store was owned by Mt Etna wines and they have a vineyard on the slopes of the mountain. We tasted, bought a the best part of a case (including a sticky) but the best part was they has stainless steel vats in the shop and were filling your own bottles with their latest vintage prices ranged upwards from EUR1.50 for chardonnay!! There is also a good haulout yard and a number of boats were obviously wintering over here. A good spot in my view provided the insurance cover includes eruption damage.
Riposto would have to be the closest town right under and at the foot of Etna. We hired a rental car for the day and drove as high as we could up the mountain road (low 20s at sea level but 4 degrees at the top of the road. Drove through small villages, narrow roads and finally emerged above the vegetation belt to find ourselves amongst remnants of lahar flows and the whole place looked like a west coast beach, except the black sand was covering the mountain. They were running a gondola service higher up but we were poorly equipped clothing wise so stuck to the car. There are numerous craters running down a southern facing ridge for some miles and where the lava flows can be seen at nighttime is where the side of the mountain has been blown out and a huge crater left. An amazing place with a height of about 2900 metres and we drove to 1900 metres.
After this we drove along the coast a few miles to the towns of Taormina and Castelmola two towns on impossible hillsides. I have raved about a few hilltop towns on the blog over the last year (such as Bonifacio on Corsica) but this place would have to take first prize. See the photo below and judge for yourself. And then wonder how they drive cars up there we drove the rental up and no dents afterwards either! At sea level is the town of Naxos full of 5 star hotels to service Taormina.
Looking up at Taormina from part way down
Taormina it seems was founded by the Greeks (as was Naxos) in around 358BC who were escaping the warring ways of Dionysius of Siracusa. The Romans seized control in 212 BC and then the Arabs in 902 AD. According to the book the Arabs were skilled engineers and also improved irrigation and cultivation.
When we were leaving this morning (Saturday 18th November) Etna gave a big belch and a dirty brown cloud went hundreds of metres skywards. The locals say it erupts pretty much every year to a greater or lesser degree.
Today we headed off 45 miles southwards, yet again, for the ancient town and port of Siracusa at the bottom SE corner of Sicily and most probably our stepping off point for Malta. Started off with motoring and then a nice 15 knot SSW sprung up out of nowhere so hoisted full sail and had a nice bit of windward work (up to 7.8 knots boatspeed) for a couple of hours until it slowly died away, then motorsailing then eventually motoring.
Cheers
Keith