Well, not really, thank goodness! But today was our volcano day, where we headed up to explore Mt Etna, Italy’s tallest peak south of the Alps, at 3 357 m (11 014 ft) It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and the largest of Italy’s three active volcanoes, 2-1/2 times the size of Vesuvius. It is one of the world’s most active volcanoes and is almost constantly in a state of activity. Its last was in August of this year. Unfortunately Irv was feeling under the weather, so did not join us.
Getting up to the rim of the crater is quite the adventure. First you take the cable car up, then hop into what resembles a tundra buggy for a very bumpy ride up to 2 850 metres,, then you connect with a guide who leads you up to the rim of one of the craters at 2 900 metres where you have a great view of Mt Etna spewing her clouds of steam (not smoke) out of the top. The walk is a bit of a slog, because you are on lava sand and rocks, so it’s not unlike plodding along a sandy beach, except it is up and down. We thought we were going to take a different path back to the bus that would have led us around the rum of another crater, but partway there we got stopped by one of the other guides, so had to turn around and go back! Back on the bus for another rocky ride back to the cablecar, a quick lunch (free, thanks to our host for the coupons) then back down the cable car and then back to our place.
After a bit of down time, Mer and I decided to try a walk that our host had suggested, not far from the house. It is actually the path around an ancient crater, formed from an eruption of Etna back in 1030. You actually walk around the whole rim of the crater, which is now covered in lush vegetation. It provides a spectacular view of the surrounding area from Mt. Etna right out to Catania and the sea.
Got cleaned up, then headed into another town, Zafferana Etnea, for dinner at what looked to be a very nice restaurant. Unfortunately when we got there it was closed, as in for good! So much for Google maps advice. Instead we wandered down and found a delightful place not far away where we had a delicious pasta dinner. There was a kids’ birthday party going on in an outside part of the restaurant, and we marvelled at the number of pizzas those kids went through over the course of the evening!
Back to the house to sort out our next day’s adventures.