We heard about the 7 islands off of Sicily and thought it would be a cool day trip from Taormina, so we decided on Panarea and Stromboli as our destinations.

We boarded the bus and got a glimpse of the Straight of Messina, the water that connects Sicily with mainland Italy. 🇭🇺

We sailed 🛥 over to Panarea and set off on our tour. The setting reminded me of Greece, with the white houses juxtaposed against the dark blue waters.

Once again, the kids and the husband were impatient for the destination, missing the point of the journey.

To wander and discover what life is like for Italians living on a basically deserted island. 🏝This is the epitome of basic easy peaceful and slow living.

After our traditional lunches of pizza and pasta bianco senza salsa🍕 🍝for the unadventurous bambini, caprese salad 🍅for the picky mother and bruschetta (the largest we’ve ever seen) for the boring father we boarded the ship and headed for our next island!🛥

The shtick for Stromboli is the active volcano!

We headed there eagerly hoping to catch a glimpse of oozing lava and volcanic explosions. What we found are more winding alleys and laid back living with a volcano as a backdrop. 🏝🌋 Makes for cool pics at least!

While we did not see any glowing lava 🌋✖️ we did see the beautiful juxtaposition of life and death on the active side of the volcano…and we were gifted were rainbow skies and a surreal sunset! 🌈🌄

The day was interesting and def a cool excursion but we agreed that we could check the Aeolian Islands off our life’s bucket list 📝✔️