Lipari Island

8/8/2013

How lucky am I to be able to say that my family hails from one of the most beautiful islands in the Mediterranean? The best part is that this fact gives me the perfect excuse to visit the island of Lipari, which is the largest in the archipelago known as the Aeolian Islands, off the Northeast coast of Sicily. I actually did not have the money to even stay on the island, you see, my budget after 6-ish months is running a little dry and Lipari is a resort island and pretty expensive to stay on, especially when you're on a backpackers budget, but my Dad agreed to help me out so that I could spend 3 nights on the island, enjoying the scenery, taking lots of pictures, and of course searching out our long lost Favorito kin. Apparently, when my cousin visited the island about 8 years ago or so she was able to track down a distant cousin who owns a charter fishing business. She just asked around and then knocked on his door, and was welcomed in with open arms. It was my job to seek him or anyone else out and do the same.

I got an early start, leaving Palermo around 5:30AM so I could take a 3 hour train ride and 1 hour ferry, and get to the island before noon. I wanted as much time there as possible. My hotel, The Villa Diana, seemed pretty close to the port by the map I had, only 1\2 a km. Of course, when you are carrying a huge backpack on your back and a duffel slung around your front, and the day is heating up, and the path is completely uphill, and you are never really sure you are even on the right road because the signage is terrible, a 1\2 km becomes a very long way. By the time I arrived I was exhausted and could think of nothing else but taking a cold shower and relaxing. My room at Villa Diana was clean but I thought a little shabby for the $80\night price tag (This was the cheapest I could find surprisingly enough), but the view from the terrace outside of my room was gorgeous. It sits on the top of a hill and so you get a fantastic panoramic view of the port town and harbor. After a shower, I spent another hour just taking in the view.

Even though I only really got my day started around 1pm, I was able to explore the port town, which included 2 marinas, and archaeological museum\park. I also planned out the following days activities, which would include a dive off the Lipari coast, and a boat trip to the neighboring islands of Panarea and Stromboli, which I will get into on my next post. So, with my first 2 days completely full, it only left me 1 day for the Favorito scavenger hunt. I had sent an email to the address my cousin had given me for our cousin, Nando Favorito, but never heard back. I also tried searching the internet for Nando's fishing business, but nothing came up. Finally, on day 3 I took a bus to the next town over, Canneto, where I heard some Favorito's live, and tried asking around to some of the shop owners and such but to no avail. I guess I am not as good a detective as my cousin is. The day was getting really hot and the water looked so inviting, so eventually I gave up and went for a swim. Still, I kept my eyes peeled for the SS Favorito fishing vessel. The beach was rocky, not my favorite, but it didn't matter because the water was so beautiful that I almost never got out and when I did I just laid by the edge of the water and let the waves lap over me. When the sun started setting on my last day I took the bus back over to the port town and had a seafood dinner, with a bottle of local beer at a marina restaurant.

So I didn't find any of my relatives, and I'm really bummed out about it, but Lipari is still one of the most beautiful places I have ever been and I had a great 3 days. Maybe next time I can convince my parents to come enjoy this place with me.