THE WALK

Some days ago Erlend and I went for a WALK, actually we went on TWO walks (7 hours of walking in total; many fresh air and exercise points to me). FIRST we repeated the walk we took on the day it started raining …and this time the weather was great so we managed to get all the way down to the OCEAN … and everything looked different and beautiful bathed in sunlight. THEN we went on a walk that is supposed to be the most beautiful walk on LIPARI.. and I think they might be right; it was AMAZING. This walks takes you all the way around one of the sides of the island so that you get a beautiful view to SALINA. The nature is breathtaking and the combination of warm SUN and WIND made the weather perfect for walking. I will say ..that for me..this walk would have been perfect ..had it not been for one last element; E had discovered that at the end of the walking route, we could follow a PATH that went up to a VILLAGE on top of the island called QUATTROPANI …where we could meet with a WINE PRODUCER that has nice wine. In THEORY …all of this is great…  ..BUT ..and there is a but …a big fat but … for ME ..and that is the ELEVATION of this path.

It turned out that the path to Quattropani went straight up what we in Norway would call a JUV… a very narrow STEEP valley that leads up to a even STEEPER mountain wall.  A while before I had noticed this PATH and I had made a JOKE to Erlend about this maybe being the path we were supposed to walk. ..well the joke was on ME. For those of you who didn't already now;  I HATE walking up steep hills. I LOVE walking …but NOT CLIMBING. I get very exhausted …and I just hate it. It is one of my least favorite things. For many Norwegians ..my husband included ..climbing up steep hills is something FUN… partly because he loves making it to the TOP .. so for him ..this last part of the trip made it  just perfect (FRODE; during this walk I was often thinking of you …and how it should have been you there instead of me). I often feel that Norwegians are OBSESSED with mouton tops (the fact that I am not …and also do not like skiing that much  ..are two of the main reasons  that makes me feel less Norwegian). Not liking skiing and mountain tops MIGHT also have something to do with the fact that this is the fourth EASTER in a row I'm spending ABROAD …because Easter is in many ways the most Norwegian HOLIDAY …because yes, it is all about the skiing and the mountain tops.. 

So; back to the WALK ..my personal HELL ..my husband's personal HEAVEN; so there I am on this steep narrow path,  E is almost running up the hill like a little mountain GOAT ..and I ..well I am falling further and further BEHIND ..I am getting more and more exhausted and out of breath …the sun is burning in the back of my head ( I am one of those people who get a very RED FACE when they get exhausted ..  and for some reason my body seems to want to bring all my extra body heat to the head ..and I therefore HATE having sun on my head when I am exhausted …because it just makes it even warmer) and my MOOD is getting worse and worse. Actually, before we started the climbing I warned E about how my mood most likely would drop ..like a lot.. as we continued CLIMBING …still I did not know how low my mood would actually get. 

As my mood got worse I started to notice that we were basically walking on a ROCK SLIDE ..of course ..this is only natural in a this kind of environment ..and the STONES might have been there for ages …but most likely not all of them …so because of my BAD mood I started worrying  about getting HIT by a giant rock ..or many small rocks .. dying here in this RAVINE. To look at the bright side; this fear was the main thing that motivated me to continue walking when I mainly wanted to just sit down on a giant rock ..in the shadow ..and cry like an OBNOXIOUS CHILD. After a while ..I have no idea how long ..it felt like forever …also since I had no idea how long it would take… we finally reach a level with less rocks and less elevation …and suddenly ..like it was all a BAD dream ..we were at the TOP; looking out on this amazing view ..again feeling the WIND in our hair. And right there, I realized that even though I had fled to an Italian island for Easter I had had an almost Norwegian Easter EXPERIENCE after all. 

I will post more pictures from the trip later! ..the nice part...because I only photograph things I like;)