Without a Traceroute

I caught the hydrofoil back from Stromboli to Milazzo, it took about 3 hours, including stops at several of the other islands on the way back.

Milazzo is quite nice, if a bit sleepy during the off-season. As a town of only about 32,000 people, it’s MUCH more relaxed than Palermo (pop. 675,000). The difference was immediately apparent the first time I rode the bus in Milazzo. The police had blocked off a section of the bus route, so the driver took a detour: he went the wrong way down a one-way street into opposing traffic. But he did it carefully, and he stopped for a pedestrian!

The only sort of major “sight” in Milazzo is the castle. It’s not really a castle in the sense of a king and royal court living there, but rather more of a military fortress. Built on the hill overlooking Milazzo (a place of strategic importance, it would seem), the fortress was constructed in various pieces by many different groups.

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I came to Stromboli to hike the volcano, and it was awesome. Not in the ordinary, “this burger is awesome” (although a burger would be awesome right now) sense, but rather awesome in the literal, “inspiring feelings of awe” sense.

Stromboli has been erupting continuously throughout recorded human history. And it’s a long one, the Aeolian islands have been continually inhabited since before the ancient Greeks. While Plato was holding forth at the Academy, Stromboli was erupting. While Jesus Christ was dying on a cross, Stromboli was erupting. While the Vandals were sacking Rome a few hundred miles to the North, Stromboli was erupting. While kingdoms and empires rose and fell, Stromboli was erupting. Watching molten rock fountaining from the ground, the same way it has for at least the past 2,500 years or so (and in all likelihood, much longer than that) one can’t help but feel that there are forces in the universe which operate on their own timescale—with utter indifference to human affairs—like the callous and capricious gods of antiquity. These are forces of nature so vast and grand the human mind struggles to comprehend them. There’s no reason to believe Stromboli couldn’t go on erupting long after our species has vanished into extinction.

The next day was kind of windy and rainy, so I didn’t really do much. I did a little bit of hiking, but was smart enough to come in out of the rain. My cheapo Hungarian umbrella got turned inside-out frequently by strong gusts of wind, so it wasn’t much use.

On Sunday, I rented a little scooter and set out to circumnavigate the island. The scooter was way, way more fun than it had any right to be. It was bright yellow, and the right mirror was broken off which gave it a silly, lopsided appearance. But it was fast enough to be fun and exciting without being overwhelming. I got it up to about 60 km/h (around 40 mph) on some of the more wide-open stretches. Actually, the only scary parts were trying to turn around slowly or maneuver carefully down a narrow street without running off the edge of the road (I almost ran into a ditch a couple times) or scratch up the side of the scooter (which would come out of my deposit).

Anyway, the scooter was awesome and I really enjoyed it. It was a great way to get around to see the whole island of Lipari, which isn’t actually that big. It was about 37 km for the road all the way around. I took it at a pretty leisurely pace, stopping in some of the small towns and to do some hiking, and it still only took me about 3 hours. After that, I just raced up and down windy hills until it was time to return the scooter.