foren83

View of Randazzo near Nebrodi

Tatata

ミラノからの情報発信を2000年より行っているサイト。　空港からミラノへの具体的な移動方法、ミラノ市内の移動方法、イタリアでのタックスフリーの方法などの情報がとても詳しい。

（Ja:User:151.20.128.72によりJa:ミラノへ投稿されたもの。）

Børge

Go to:

http://www.vgb.no/12058

 (in norwegian)

jani

Suddenly I thought: wasn't coming to this place the reason I had continued on my journey for so long? I was brought here by a countless series of coincidences. Those coincidences did not need a word like "god" to explain them; no, it was just the wind, the water, the light, and yes, the buses. Thanks to public buses I was brought here...

Bill-on-the-Hill

So with the trip done, here are a few capsule reviews of some of the outfits we dealt with. The meaning of the letter grades is:

Bill-on-the-Hill

The final two days of this trip can be summarized as "roam Rome, go home." After close to two weeks of decidedly unconventional tourist activity, this was the time to do some more mainstream things in the Eternal City -- with an emphasis on "stream," as in "streams of water," as in you wouldn't believe how much it rained.

Bill-on-the-Hill

This one will be short, and the basic theme of the day, I'm sorry to say, is frustration.

Bill-on-the-Hill

The last full day of our Volcano Discovery outing, and we've saved the best for last. This was the day for descending the Valle del Bove, a massive collapse structure on the side of Mount Etna. I've been in a lot of mountain valleys in my life, but it's fair to say I'd never been in one quite like this before, and with a fantastic going-away banquet afterward in Nicolosi town to boot.

Marco explaining a photogenic bit of Valle del Bove geology to WGMIL (World's Greatest Mother-In-Law), while Z, D and Emily look on.

Bill and Pete in the Valle del Bove, having a typical brotherly competition to see who can look more nonchalant while surrounded by wonders.

Yes, we really did just come down that -- and there are two thousand feet of it left to do.

The parade plunge-stepping into the Valle del Bove. This shot only hints at the Stygian nature of the place; to the eye, the rock is much darker, and to the feet, the grade is much steeper, than the photo suggests.

Bill-on-the-Hill

The big thing about this day was that it stank. Well, actually, that was the whole idea, because our destination was the active crater of Mount Etna, one of the world's most active volcanoes and its second largest source of malodorous sulfur dioxide and other evil gases. Why, you say, would anyone want to go to such a place? Read on ...

Yes, D, the summit of Etna smells REALLY bad...

The active summit crater of Etna, belching out all manner of gross stuff.

The shuttles that take one from the top of the Sapienza funicular to the starting point for hikes to the summit of Etna, if you're crazy enough to want to do that. Lots of bleak here...

The old castle in Lipari town.

Bill-on-the-Hill

This was a comparatively quiet day, most of it spent getting from point to point in preparation for the real fun stuff that would follow over the next two days. It did, however, involve a stop at a real Acme of Amphorae, a Paragon of Pottery, an Excelsior of Earthenware, an Ultra of Urns. This foray into archaeology wasn't really what we had made this trip for, but even complete whackos like us need to do some conventional tourism some of the time.

Bill-on-the-Hill

This was the day when, by way of our choice of excursions, we surely convinced our British traveling companions, D and Z, that Americans, or at least the ones from small towns in the Southwest, are a little ... odd. Well, we probably are, but there's a reason for what we did. Read on ...

The main course at the Trattoria ai Gechi, a side of tuna large enough to feed about 20, but so delicious that the eight of us polished it off in no time flat... Faces omitted, because the emphasis is on the fish, not the fish eaters.

The World's Greatest Mother-In-Law and Marco inspecting one of the ruins on Panarea; more conventional stuff to do while on Panarea visible in the background.

This is the Bronze Age site on the island of Panarea. It's unexcavated, undeveloped, and almost unvisited, just the ticket if you're tired of the crowds (such as they are) of the beaches and resorts.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Well, if you can't climb the mountain, circumnavigate it. That was the plan for today, and it produced a considerably more laid-back day that included the kind of feast that most tourists come to Italy for -- most who are a little more sane than we are, anyway. But what's a cactus plantation doing there?...

The volcanic plug of Strombolicchio, off the coast of Stromboli village. If you can get out to this tiny island, bring snorkeling gear; the waters around it are superbly clear, and you can see the submerged parts of the volcanic structure far beneath you as you swim.

A prickly-pear cactus near the village of Ginostra, showing a piece of volcanic rock that had been blasted into it at the time of Stromboli's last significant explosive eruption in 2003. Bet that hurt!

If you're staying in Ginostra, here's how you get your luggage from the dock to the inns. (Sorry for the cut-off rear of the "vehicle"; it moved while I was shooting...)

Bill-on-the-Hill

If you've waded through the previous days of this, you may be wondering, "So if the whole idea of this outing was to see volcanoes, why call the thread Bill versus the volcano? Seems contrary to the goal." Well, laying aside a certain movie reference, there's a reason, and today's events will begin to explain what it is.

Rockfall in the Sciara del Fuoco, giving an idea why they don't let you hike into it ...

A "puff" of ash from the crater of Stromboli volcano, as viewed from the 400-meter level. The brownish color says that there's volcanic ash in this, not just the steam that Stromboli emits all the time.

The Laghetto di Fanghi (mud bath) on the island of Vulcano. This photo gives a good sense of what this attraction looks like, but for the smell that remains in your swimsuit once you've immersed yourself, you'll just have to use your imagination...

A sample of what you can see from the boat while circumnavigating the island of Vulcano. I don't know what this is or how you can access it from dry land, but it's pretty...

Bill-on-the-Hill

Fourth day of the trip, and time to start doing what we came for, namely hiking into some weird places -- like, say, the crater of an active volcano.

Elemental sulfur in the orifice of a fumarole on Vulcano. The central rock is about 8 inches in diameter. Just barely visible on the left are one or two little orange dots. These are drops of ''molten'' sulfur produced by the heat of the volcanic activity. You won't find these at many other places on earth -- at least not very many you'd want to hike to.

Inner crater of Gran Cratere, Vulcano. There's a little human dot in the lower-to-middle right-hand part of the photo; that's "D," who's descending a possibly-not-entirely-official trail to the crater bottom -- which was molten lava only about 110 years ago.

On the trail up to Gran Cratere at the top of Vulcano. From left: Emily, WGMIL (World's Greatest Mother-In-Law), D and Z. Lipari island in background. From this point the hike would start to smell bad, and it wasn't because of the hikers ...

Looking into the active crater of Vulcano, in the Aeolian Islands. The trail around the crater is visible on the left.

Bill-on-the-Hill

Not much to report on this day, most of it being taken up with travel, so I'll be brief. There's a nice photo coming at the bottom, however.

The Italian resort village of Taormina, seen through the ruins of the ancient amphitheater, with Mount Etna in the background.

Bill-on-the-Hill

In which our geologically- and outdoors-inclined heroes see the ruins of Pompeii, mountains of garbage, and of course, the Vesuvius. Yes, I'm aware that customary usage in English does not refer to the world's most famous volcano as "the" Vesuvius, but there's a reason for this phrasing; more on that later.

Crater of Vesuvius, with admiring Wikitravellers

Plaza at Pompeii, with (the) Vesuvius beyond. Taken May 2007.

Bill-on-the-Hill

OK, so here begins the much-delayed blogging of a 25th-wedding-anniversary trip to Italy, participants in which were my wife, our two college-student sons, the World's Greatest Mother-In-Law (hereinafter WGMIL), and of course, myself.

tim

I'm thinking of doing a road trip from UK down through France to either Spain or Italy this summer... has anyone got any suggestions for places to go through or cheap things to do or general road trip advice?