When you live in the Czech Republic it is a good location for getting to most places, but getting down to Sicily to meet friends from Australia and Denmark for a yachting holiday on the dates we had chosen proved a little complicated. For added fun, we decided to use as many different forms of transport as possible.
Our trip started with an overnight coach from Brno to Venice. Taking 9 hours and costing only €50 it was much more comfortable than I had imagined. We arrived early morning and had our first Italian coffee in a little cafe near the station.
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| Capuccino love |
We had a couple of days enjoying Venice with its beautiful canals and bridges.
And of course the venetian masks and Aperol flavoured gelato!
From Venice we flew with Alitalia to Palermo in Sicily and then took a train along the coast to the tiny village of Falcone.
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| Sicilian coast from the train |
Although Portorosa is only a few kilometres away from Falcone, there are no buses on a Saturday to the port and also no taxis! We had to get the yacht rental company to come and pick us and our luggage up in the car to get to the marina.
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| Portorosa - waiting to board the yacht. |
The next morning we set sail for the Aeolian Islands. It was a little overcast, but there was a good breeze.
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| Putting up the main sail! |
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| Plotting the course. |
The thing I loved about being at sea, was the peace and tranquility - nobody around for miles.
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| Early morning sun over the Tyrrhenian Sea. |
But occasionally a local would putter past in a boat.
We headed to the island of Salina and arrived at the port mid-morning. It was a scorching hot day.
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| Reversing into our berth. |
Then it was time for lunch - a very nice 3 course set menu with a crisp, white wine.
We headed back to the yacht and set sail for our next destination - Panarea. We arrived in the evening and headed onto the island for a cocktail.
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| Panarea at dusk with Stromboli in the distance. |
The next morning we set off early to head over to Stromboli and had our morning cup of tea on the way.
Soon Stromboli came into view - breathtaking. The best part of the trip was seeing Stromboli erupting at night. Sadly my camera was not good enough to capture any shots of that, but the orange lava shooting up into the starry sky was unforgettable.
We dropped anchor off of Stromboli and there was time for a quick visit to the volcanic beach. I loved the black sand.
I'm not exactly sure where you are supposed to run to on an active volcano if a tsunami strikes!
We decided to run for the pizzeria instead :)
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| Lunch time on Stromboli |
Next stop was Lipari. I headed into town early the next morning and enjoyed the views across the bay as well as a wander round the little grocery and souvenir shops. The main thing to buy here is jewellery made from obsidian. I got myself a nice little bracelet as a memento of our trip
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| Lipari |
Once back at Porto Rosa the next morning, we had to get up early to catch virtually the only train of the day across to Messina.
That night we caught the night train to Rome, which goes onto a ferry to cross the sea to the Sicilian mainland. After a bumpy overnight journey we arrived in Rome, with a few hours to see the main sights before we caught our Sunday evening Wizz Air flight back to Brno.
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| Quick stop-off at the Vatican |
Back in Brno we got a taxi back home - I was too tired for the bus and tram!
