We arrived in Stromboli early afternoon after a six hour journey from Palermo by hydrofoil (which included a gelati stop in Salina - well, we did have to change boats and it seemed a perfect opportunity to sample the local ice cream)! I was already feeling a bit apprehensive about the climb that evening after seeing the sheer size of the volcano in front of me. Our first stop was a well earned lunch - ferry travel does make you very hungry! We had a delicious meal at a great local restaurant overlooking the sea. Specialities included arancini (deep fried rice balls with all sorts of delicious fillings - spinach, meat etc), tomato and mozzarella filled paninis (with very hard crusty bread - you had to work for your food), Sicilian style salads with Mediterranean vegetables,
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