A memory a day - 19 - Burping Beauties and Carpets of Crickets

When I was about 11 my dad moved from Zimbabwe to Italy so he was a wee bit closer! One of the first summers I spent over there we went on a pilgimage of the volcanoes of Southern Italy and Sicily including Mount Etna and Vesuvius. Between Sicily and Italy you have the Aeolian islands. These islands were the most magical and beautiful place I have ever been. This pic is on the top of Stromboli, a volcano that's still live and still erupts hourly. I don't know if you still can but we did the climb to the top, reaching the summit at sunset. We slept there in our sleeping bags being showered with ash every now and then as stromboli belched her way through the night.

Even waking up to literally a carpet of crickets covering us(it's very warm up there, they like it!) couldn't change the magic that is Stromboli, a place I'll always feel priveleged to have visited at such a tourist free time. Ahhhh Stromboli you are a beaut!