Europes Highest Volcano

---

Geo: 38.1922, 15.5566

This morning we docked by Messina, on the island of Sicily. Today was to be our last organized tour with Carnival cruises. It was to be the cheapest and simplest of tours, but a worthwhile and enjoyable one to Mount Edna, the tallest active volcano in Europe. We set off at around 8.30am, on a good two hour drive. We first were pointed out some sights of Messina before getting out on the freeway. After the disappointment of yesterday, I enjoyed todays pretty drive, touring the scenic Sicilian countryside. It was at least as pretty as Tuscany, if not more so. The drive took us along the coastline, through tunnels and small villages to the base of Mount Edna.
Our experience here was far superior to yesterdays Mount Vesuvius. There was plenty of volcanic rock and ash to see on the climb, the black jagged landscape reminding me somewhat of Iceland. The views were pretty impressive, albeit with some mist and cloud cover.
The volcano stands at around thrice the height of Vesuvius. We eventually climbed off the bus and enjoyed touring a couple of large craters, one requiring an extremely steep climb over perilous unstable gravel surface. At the top we were treated to great views, although at times, rolling mist would make visibility almost impossible, shrouding us in white. For some reason, this may be the ladybug capital of the planet, I counted hundreds up here enjoying volcanic rock ladybug cities.
We had a bit of time to explore some more garbage souvenir stores before reboarding our bus for return to the ship.
We spent the afternoon in the pool, spa and riding the waterslides.

---