AK Monthly Recap: July 2021

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After a year and a half of pandemic — a vacation. Finally. This month Charlie and I traveled to a destination we had been dreaming about for years — the Aeolian Islands, a volcanic archipelago off the northeast coast of Sicily.

And notably, we left our laptops at home.

I genuinely can’t remember the last time I didn’t bring work on a trip. When I went to the Berkshires this past spring, it was no holiday — I was running around like a madwoman, packing three days’ worth of sightseeing into each day so I could write about it all. and when we were in Croatia last year, we were working full days and keeping exploring to the nights and weekends.

This trip was going to be an actual vacation. and it was perfect. The destinations. The accommodation. The pacing. Charlie and I hit this trip out of the park, and I think it’s going to be a theme for how we plan future vacations! Sardinia is calling for 2022!

That was the main focus of July. here is everything I got up to this month.

LOVING the rooftop pool at Ngonia Bay in Milazzo!
Destinations Visited

Prague and Kutná Hora, Czech Republic

Milazzo, Stromboli, Panarea, Salina (including Malfa, Leni, Rinella, Santa Marina Salina, and Lingua), Lipari (including Lipari and Canneto), Vulcano, and Catania, Italy

Dinner and a show: enjoying Stromboli erupt from Osservatorio!
Highlights

The Aeolians trip of my dreams! What a terrific trip! There is SO much that I want to write about the Aeolians, including a gigantic mega-guide. I’m just going to include a few of my top moments here.

Milazzo was a delight. We ended up having to spend three days in the port city due to flight changes, and we spent it in the best place possible — at Ngonia Bay, a stunning boutique hotel with only six rooms, two pools including one on the roof, and a stupefyingly good restaurant with the best food I’ve ever had in Sicily.

If you yourself end up on a layover in Milazzo, stay for a few days — and Ngonia Bay will get you ideal into the holiday mood. At least get dinner there. Their pasta with pistachios, burrata and red shrimp might be the best thing I’ve eaten this year. (They reached out and used me a partially comped stay, which I took.) once you get beyond the port, Milazzo is beautiful, with a castle, great beaches, and charming villas.

Stromboli was insane. A wild island with a lava-spewing volcano and the most scintillating black sand beaches. The volcano hike was very hard but I’m pleased of myself for completing it. and dinner the next night at Osservatorio, eating pizza while enjoying the volcano erupt, was amazing!

Salina was the best island of all. Green, calm, chill, nice, so much fun to explore by motorbike. We stayed at hotel Ravesi, which is now one of my all-time favorite hotels. 18 rooms, stunning infinity pool overlooking Stromboli and Panarea, 100% solar powered, and the best staff.

We also checked out Panarea (pretty but boring and expensive), Alicudi and Filicudi (extremely remote and beautiful), Lipari (over-commercialized but some good restaurants), and Vulcano (cool volcano hike and views but smelly and didn’t love the vibe). Overall, I’m pleased we checked out all seven islands, and Salina and Stromboli are absolutely the best two!

When I go back to the Aeolian Islands, I think I might stay on Salina the entire time — at hotel Ravesi, of course! — and do lots of boat trips.

Catania was pretty cool, too! just the kind of Italian city I love — gritty and real, full of amazing restaurants and bars, lots of dramatic Baroque architecture, fabulously elegant locals, and a volcano tops the landscape. best of all, not incredibly popular with tourists, so this is a city BY locals, FOR locals.

Kutná Hora made a charming day trip. Kutná Hora is just east of Prague and is a lot of popular for Sedlec Ossuary, a chapel filled with thousands of bones in complex formations. The bone church was amazing (except for the fact that they have now banned photography), but I really loved the town itself! So stunning with a lot to explore. I feel bad for the people who come for the bone church and leave.

Celebrating Lewis and Murray’s first birthday. We adopted the kittens in November, but they were born in July (we think). We gave them a bunch of roast chicken to celebrate. and apparently I am the kind of person who celebrates cat birthdays now!nullnull