Volcanoes: Stromboli

Returning from a summer in Greece with our parents, Bruce and I climbed Stromboli volcano, on the Aeolian island of the same name, off the north coast of Sicily.  Stromboli erupts every few minutes, and has been doing so for thousands of years.  We waited at the end of the trail, about a hundred yards from the lip of the crater, and watched several eruptions, with fiery rocks shooting into the air, some landing not far from us.  Being young and foolish, we decided to make a dash for the crater lip and grab a peak in between eruptions.  So, immediately after an eruption, we ran to the edge of the crater, carefully avoiding the glowing rocks on the. ground from the previous eruption (it was late at night, and they were easy to spot).  

Just as we reached the crater's edge, we heard a loud explosion.  Frightened, we ran back as fast as we could to the safety of the trail's end.  Curiously, no hot lava rocks from this explosion fell around us.  We later learned that the noise was from an eruption out of the side of Stromboli, which produces a "Stream of Fire (Sciara del Fuoco)" down Stromboli's flank.  The next evening we went fishing for squid with a local, and were able to observe several streams.