{"id":301,"date":"2018-08-29T09:46:37","date_gmt":"2018-08-29T09:46:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lemonsandpalmtrees.com\/?p=301"},"modified":"2019-10-10T12:22:34","modified_gmt":"2019-10-10T12:22:34","slug":"the-aeolian-island-salina","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lemonsandpalmtrees.com\/the-aeolian-island-salina\/","title":{"rendered":"From Palermo to The Aeolian Island Salina"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Aeolian island Salina north of Sicily is a volcanic island where you can hike the extinct volcanoes and scuba dive in the Tyrrhenian Sea.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Palermo on\u00a0 a Saturday night<\/h2>\n

It was October when we flew to Palermo and landed in the evening where it was a nice 22 degrees.\u00a0 It was a Saturday night and Palermo was buzzing, with a lot of party people, scooters and cars queuing in the streets, and all the restaurants filed up. It was about 10 pm when we found a\u00a0pizza restaurant<\/a>, we could get a table at. The place was busy with locals. After some waiting time, we got a table outside and had tasty pizzas and local beer, while our baby fell asleep in the stroller -perfect!<\/p>\n

A trip to the Aeolian island Salina in the Archipelago<\/h2>\n

Our plan was to go to the countryside, so the next morning we sat out to catch a train heading to Milazzo and then a ferry to the small Aeolian island Salina<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The train from Palermo to\u00a0Milazzo station<\/a>\u00a0takes about 3 hours and then it’s about 30 minutes walk to the harbour<\/a>. If you’re not up for the walk, there is plenty of taxis and a bus service as well.<\/p>\n

Salina is one of the most beautiful places I have been. It’s an Unesco-protected Island, the second largest of the islands in the archipelago. The largest of the Aeolians’ is\u00a0Lipari<\/a>, and the most popular is maybe Panarea<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"View
View from Malfa to Stromboli and Panarea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Salina has a green, lush nature and tranquil atmosphere. It is a good place for hiking, as it has a few different trails on the two volcanoes that shape the island. The two volcanoes on Salina are also the Aeolians’ two highest peaks: Fossa delle Felci<\/a> (962m) and Monte dei Porri <\/a>(860m).<\/p>\n

We stayed in the small village of Malfa<\/a>, as I had found a nice house with a rooftop terrace overlooking the\u00a0sea. The owner was a local man, who picked us up when we arrived on the ferry and showed us great hospitality. The house was placed in a lush garden filled with flowers, birds and lemon trees. We had the whole 1first floor at the house.\u00a0(Price was only 50\u20ac pr. Night. Let us know if you\u2019d like the details).<\/p>\n

\"Quiet<\/a>
Quiet days in Sicily’s Aeolian archipelago<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From our terrace, we could see the active volcano Stromboli <\/a>emitting a stream of smoke from its craters. At night, there were no streetlights close by and in the darkness, we could, besides the amazing star sky, see the lava sprinkle up from the volcano.<\/p>\n

The slow life of Malfa<\/h2>\n

Slow pace, charming, quiet, and friendly people. That’s how to describe the life in Salina and Malfa in October. It suited us perfect.<\/p>\n

Malfa is built around steep roads, and hills that lead down to a small fishing port and to a pebbly beach cove. The vegetation is rich and green. Along the hills are terraced vineyards of the Malvasia grape. Farmers are cultivating crops like capers, olives, and figs up against the slopes of the volcanoes.<\/p>\n

\"Our
Our terrace in Malfa overlooking the Tyrrhenian Sea<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We spent our days in Malfa hiking, swimming in the still warm ocean,\u00a0enjoying the amazing\u00a0seascape, and eating\u00a0local food on our terrace.<\/p>\n

Salina is much more busy in the summer time but Malfa was super quiet at this time of the year. This is where you escape from tourism. Most restaurants had also closed for the winter. There was the possibility of taking a boat trip and to visit the local wineries, but we took it all tranquil.<\/p>\n

Hiking around Salina<\/h2>\n

Hiking from town to town around Salina island is easy. You can easy spent a day or two hiking up through the wild vegetation on the volcano of\u00a0Fossa delle Felci<\/a>. You can start out in Malfa and end the hike in Santa Marina Salina, or vice versa.<\/p>\n

\"Hiking
Hiking around Salina<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pollara<\/h2>\n

Our best walk\/hike though was from Malfa to the tiny beach village\u00a0Pollara<\/a>. The main road out of Malfa,\u00a0runs against high slopes off volcanic cliffs, towards Pollara. On the way to Pollara is located a great panoramic viewpoint<\/a> from where the ascent to the volcano Monte dei Porri\u00a0starts. Further along the road, is a walking path leading to the town. The path runs on a hill slope where a large number of huge cactuses, caper bushes, and wildflowers grows.\u00a0This hike was breathtakingly beautiful.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pollara beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original beach in Pollara is closed because it’s been suffering from erosion. There are a paved path and stairs carved out in the rocks leading down the mountainside and from here is a great view of Pollara bay.<\/p>\n

We slowly ascended the mountain again while watching the sunset, and before catching the last bus back to Malfa.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Pollara is mostly known as being the location for where the famous movie Il Postino was shot.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The charming village Rinella<\/h2>\n

Salinas local buses connect the small villages and run a couple of times during the day. We took the bus to\u00a0Rinella<\/a>\u00a0one day, passing the green slopes, along winding roads arriving at the south coast of Salina in the village of\u00a0Rinella. This fishing village has a black sandy beach and just next to the beach starts some great hiking routes.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Great hiking route starting at Rinella beach<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Rinella is a bit more lively than Malfa, as the ferry also docks here. There were a couple of open bars and restaurants and there was a lively atmosphere at each place. (Even though the villages are small and quiet during siesta, there is always a bar or restaurant open).<\/p>\n

\"\"
Beach nap<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lipari –\u00a0The main Aeolian Island<\/h2>\n

You can easily combine a trip to Salina with the other Aeolian Islands and I would recommend you to do it. We traveled from Salina to Lipari on our way back to the mainland.\u00a0We stayed just for a night at a hotel in Lipari centro<\/a>, close to where the ferry docks. I found a great hotel offer on Booking.com the day before, which is often possible when it’s out of season.<\/p>\n

How to get to Salina<\/h2>\n

Take a hydrofoil ferry<\/a> from Milazzo to the port town Santa Marina Salina, or the fishing village Rinella<\/a>. It takes 1 h 25min. Cost\u00a0about 18\u20ac (one way).<\/p>\n

The main town Santa Marina Salina is where most locals live, and thus it has more to offer than the islands small villages. Stay here if you like a good selection of restaurants, hotels, shops, and supermarkets. We also noticed a diving center, arranging both scuba and snorkeling trips.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Aeolian island Salina north of Sicily is a volcanic island where you can hike the extinct volcanoes and scuba dive in the Tyrrhenian Sea.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10,3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\n