Belated Birthday Celebration for Dad

Lipari harbor.  Lipari is part of the Aeolian Islands just NE of Sicily.  This is the best island to base yourself and then take day trips to the other islands.  It's a great little village, lots of restaurants, a fortress to visit and a great bus system to tour the island itself.  I wanted to add information about transport here:  We flew Veuling airlines from Rome to Catania.  Online we made reservations with Alibrando Salvatrice Srl (info@alibradno.net), a bus service from Catania to Milazzo.  They take you to the port and we caught the hydrofoil , our online reservations with Liberty Line (although there were plenty of people buying tickets right at the port)

Do you know those photos where they have you guess what it is....(but I have them backwards)

Can you guess?  Tomatoes.  Sun-dried tomatoes in process.

Day long boat ride to gorgeous places for swimming and snorkeling.  Yes, Senior missionaries have it good.  We have a conference this upcoming week in Palermo and we decided to make a little holiday beforehand.  

The boat stopped in two different villages for us to stroll through.

This was one of the swimming stops

Best pizza ever!  Seriously, haven't tasted better.  Restaurant: Franco Manca. (Our boat tour went around Lipari island as well as Salina Island)  This pizza place was on piazza Marina Garibaldi, Salina Island, village of Lingua.

On our boat there was only 15 people, we had perfect weather, we decided this was the REAL celebration for Dad's birthday.  His b.day was in Rome and it was so hot we couldn't even muster the energy or desire to move or go anywhere!  So it didn't count....

The next day it was a cloudy, rainy day and that makes for gorgeous photos

Vespa!

Lipari old town

Wish we would have stayed at this hotel!  We took a tour of their rooms just in case we go back....the pool is sea water overlooking the sea.  Across the way is the outdoor restaurant!  Hotel Giardino sul Mare.  Stay here if it fits your budget!

Lipari harbor, with the 'rock fortress' in the background

The rock fortress in Lipari

Ancient Greek ampitheater at the rock fortress

View of the harbor from the other direction

We took a bus ride around the perimeter of the island.  You can buy a 6-pass for 10euro.  That meant we could stop 3 times.  This was our first stop.

Quattropani is the name of the village.  The bus stops here (2nd stop) and you have to get off.  We were thirsty and looked for a place to buy water.  We found this small agrituristica hotel and had a most lovely meal of bruschetta, pasta and salad.  All home grown in the lava soil and it was the sweetest tasting meal I can remember.  The hotel/restaurant is called Tivoli.  You can stay there but it's really too remote.  We are planning to take the bus another day just to eat lunch there! (aargh, we did it another day and the food was just okay.  Sometimes it's better not to try something again if it was so perfect the first time!)  From there we walked one hour to the next town called Aquacaldo and picked up the bus again that took us back to Lipari.

This is the island Panarea where we stopped for 3 hours.  Nice place to chill.  We couldn't figure out why 3 hour stop however until we found out that the one and only sand beach in all of the islands was here...1/2 hour walk away.  Tom is looking at Stromboli island, where we cruised past at night to watch the volcano eruptions.  Next time I want to walk to the top, because there is true action up there! (the smoke is from the constant eruptions).  If you go be sure you make the night trek to the top, which we didn't do and I regret that.   Makes you wonder why anybody would live on that island, but they do.

The one and only sandy beach is just over the hillside.  Island Panarea.

Not all is perfect.  While swimming in the gorgeous sea I was stung by a jellyfish.  OUCH.  Within minutes it's deadly sting made my arm swell.  Luckily they had some medicine to put on it right away.  But today it really itches.  Oh well, don't swim with jellyfish!  Oh, our trip was the last week of September.  Nice weather but it has had many spells of rain.  One morning we took a walk and got caught.  We have never been drenched so thoroughly:  it was if we had gone swimming with our clothes on!  The road turned into a small river with a current!
So now you have the itinerary, the hotels and the tips:  Aeolian Islands should be on your bucket list!!  

Belgium is still Our Favorite

Even though we came back as tourists, it still felt like home.  Mostly because we stayed in Daniel's apartment and even some of our stuff was still there!  We had left behind towels and linens, some kitchen appliances, the DVD player, some fans, and even some candles.  Just some random stuff but when we walked in, it felt like home!  So give it some more time before we really feel like tourists in Brussels.

Leuven never disappoints for outdoor concerts.  This is Level 42, one of Tom's favorites and they were playing at the Oude Market.  He was in heaven.  I had earplugs in and it was still too loud!

La Cambre Abbey.  It's a beautiful complex right in the middle of town.  

We rented bikes to get around more easily one afternoon.  Amazing how affordable they are.

The view from Daniels window....as great as it is, our view from our apartment was better!  This was early morning as the sun hit the windows of the buildings.  I always loved that.

And then in the evening the sunsets were always stunning.  Aargh.  We should have never left!

Mandatory day in Brugge for chocolate wheels and just to breath and see it again!

The Lunch Garden for MOULES and frites.  YUM.

Another mandatory stop:  the Dreesen!  which includes bikes of course!

There were some cool arial views of Brussels in the Cinquantinare Park.  (brusselsair.eu)  This one I love b/c we can pick out our apartment as well as Daniels.

We walked in the Cinquantinare literally every day.  

Tom did have a meeting with Francesco De Lillo.  He is the Head of the European Office of the Church.  In November he wants to do a video....well, more details to follow on that one!