Monday, June 14, 2010

Land of Cyclops

Just to demonstrate to Kate that the story of Polifemo the Cyclop was true (did you know the Odyssee?), we went in a relaxing paddling around the rocks in front of the town of Acitrezza and reached the village of Acicastello too, where a castel was build in the year 900 from Normans, over even older ruins.
But a question remain: which is the real origin of the huge rocks in front of Acitrezza? A furious and blinded cyclop? An incredible eruption of Mount Etna? Or there is another explanation? 
Mythology, mystery and geology blend into an intriguing cocktail...
Note that the villages here have the suffix "Aci". But this is another legend...

The southernmost tip of Sicily

Maybe even people who live in Sicily don't know that the southernmost tip of Sicily is 37 nautical miles southern of the Tunis latitude...
At the end of the day we reached the Correnti Island, the remote south of Sicily.
With Kate, that runs outdoor activities in Cornwall (http://www.treesurfers.co.uk/index.php and http://www.canoetamar.co.uk/), we paddled around the Capo Passero Island, exploring each cave and bay, looking at one of the most ancient outcrops of Sicily, with 65 million year old submarine volcanic rocks.

Egadi Islands

With our glorious campervan we crossed Sicily from East to West, arriving only few minutes late for the meeting at the Trapani harbour. The group was a nice and soundy mix of English and Italian speakers.
The first destination of the trip was the Levanzo island, the little one of the Egadi Archipelago, but the wind was a bit too happy and only the east coast was explored at the end.
In the next day we took the ferry for Marettimo, the highest island, and due to the still blowing wind from west we switch to the option of swimming and then hiking along the beautiful mountain paths. A fantastic and cheap dinner in the evening and an early start in the following morning give us the chance to circumnavigate the island, even in a light north wind and cloudy morning.
Finally the ferry for Favignana, where other two paddlers join our group. The campsite is a bit far from the sea but we manage, first of all, to cook two kind of pasta and drink three different kind of wines... So, despite the morning start is a bit late, we end with sunset the circumnavigation of the island...
For the last day we have some more time to explore walking or bicycling, to discover the most remote corners of an island inhabited from the Stone Age...