Aeolian Islands

The Aeolian Islands is a group of eight Islands in close proximity to the north shore of Sicily.  The picture on the right is the Marcator nautical map we used to navigate the seas in between those charming islands.

Nikos our captain is looking ahead and setting the course to the Aeolian Islands, while the first mate Kostas-a most able sailor-is steering our delightful sailboat which name at that time was Vol de Nuit. Her new name is Okyrhoe, the daughter of Oceanus - the Ocean - a nymph associated with water. The nymphs were lesser deities who were though invited to attend the assemblies of the twelve Gods on Mount Olympus.  The legend has it that Sun God Helios and Hermes the messenger of Gods were in love with her.

We are sailing under spinnaker in perfect weather towards Isola di Salina.  The island of Salina has fertile plains and two extinct volcano mountains therefore during the Hellenistic period was named "Didyme" (Δίδυμη), a Greek name that refers to the two mountains as "twins". The Greeks from Sicily decided to conquer the islands and put an end of the piracy that interfered with trade.  Soon after their conquest together with the locals formed a profitable confederation of pirates.  They also created an early utopian socialist state as all the proceeds - loot - from piracy were distributed to all the islanders on a day that commemorated their success and bravery.  It was taking place in the fall each year likely in a festival where local food and wine were consumed in abundance. 

The attractive town of Santa Marina with its well organized harbor is where we spent a few delightful days recovering from the long sail from Propriano Corsica south on the Balearic sea, across the Strait of Bonifacio, and the fierce storm in the north part of the Tyrrhenian Sea.  

In the beautiful little town of Santa Marina we learned and sampled the delightful local wine called Malvasia which though did not make us forget that loved ones were waiting for our return so we had to sober up and sail again.  The wine and local food are feted in a festival in October while there is a similar festival in June in which capers are feted as the Salina variety is the best in the world.

Stromboli a small Aeolian island and its active volcano were known since antiquity.  It derives its name from the Greek word Στρογγύλη that means round.  Because of its frequent volcanic eruptions the island is also known as the “lighthouse of the Mediterranean”.   Was it here where Odysseus met the god of winds Aeolus requesting favorable winds for his return to his homeland?

Aeolus the keeper of winds responded by gathering and placing the unfavorable winds in a sac and leaving out only Zephyr the gentle west wind.  He instructed Odysseus not to open the sac as the bad winds were inside.  Οιμε (alas) scream the readers of Odyssey because while Odysseus was sleeping his crew who thought the sac was filled with riches opened it, releasing stormy winds that drove them away from Ithaca and back to where they came from.    

The Tower of Winds in Athens depicts Boreas, the north wind on the left and Sciron a northwesterly on the right, the wind other than Zephyr Ulysses needed to return home from the Aeolian Islands.