The last day
On this nice Sunday I did have the option of riding around Sicily, but I only had one day – so why not relax? So I opted for a 2-hour boat cruise to the Aeolian Islands, off the coast of Sicily towards the north, where I headed for the islands called Vulcano.
On the ship, I noticed a sign in English, it was put into the 2012 version of Google Translate (probably), a dozen years later, in the age of AI, it would how much need be better, especially for those needy readers. You need to read this in the places in which they take place. But it was kind of them to inform the elderly people, disabled and how much needs assistance, with good comunications.
Surprise, surprise, this island has a volcano on it, actually, two. I hiked the steep climb from the town to one of these, which was absolutely worth it, beautiful views from above of the surrounding islands and, in addition, I had the pleasure of examining the active vents, where steam and smelly gas hissing out of the holes, and you can see the large yellow sulfuric crystals in the vents. I was so thrilled, that I felt I had to take a picture of each of these vents, when, accidentally, I stepped on one of the smaller ones – ouch, it was hot!
I rounded off volcano adventure with a nice swim, before heading back to Messina, doing a bit of sight-seeing.
In the evening, the excitement was reaching its climax: it was the night of the European soccer champions finals, with Italy playing Spain. All over town, you had flags, T-shirts, horns, drums, with people were gathering in front of the dome; a huge screen offering public viewing. Just before the game, I found a food store full of people…so even without knowing what was being sold there, I stood in the line. It turned out to be a take-away pizza and focaccia place; they did make me wait a long time, but I got so much focaccia for just over 5 Euros, that it was enough for dinner, breakfast and lunch the next day.
To the game: it was a disaster for Italy. Somehow, those flags were not swaying, those horns not blowing – it was just a Spanish minority celebrating. As we now know, Italy lost by four goals to nothing, it was sad to see how the stuffed square become almost empty by the middle of the second half. Some youngsters were even smashing their beer bottles, not a good idea with so many little children around. The Red Cross was doing a good job: they distributed free bottles of water to anyone that wanted.
It was now time to leave for the ferry terminal. I have not told you yet - I changed my mind as to how to get back home - there was a ferry leaving from Messina to Naples, so I took that, but the departure was the following day. Let us see how that went.