Mt Etna

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Finally after hearing to much about Mt Etna, I had a chance to see it up close and climb it. We were a bit disappointed because top of Etna was closed due to high activity. Well, was also lucky since you actually have a chance to see a volcano in action. We took a bus from Catania and reached Nicolosi. We booked our trip with Etna Tourism (highly recommended). They provided us with a really nice and knowledgable guide. His car was car of a guy who lived his life on dusty volcano mountain. He was in love with Mt. Etna and it was very clear.

We drove to starting point and then took a cable car. There was a short hike up since the top was closed. On the way the guide explained to us quite a few things about the mountain. We could see lot of layers from different lava flows, similar to what we have seen in Hawaii. Once we got close to our end point, we saw some people gathered far away. We could see lot of smoke coming out from there. We were not allowed to go, but the guide said he will take us some distance to see the newly building dome up close. We walked on the forbidden track, it was a bit dangerous because of fresh lava, rocks were a bit slippery and you could cut your hand on it. Whenever we saw any truck pass by, the guide asked us to pretend as if we are not moving 😱.

Once at end of our hike, we sat and had lunch, good Italian sandwiches. On top there were multiple craters. The day was cloudy, so we did not see much views. Our guide knew some english and I knew some Spanish and hence passable Italian. This also meant that guide had to use lot of sign language. His passion for Mt Etna drove him to make sure we understood everything. Sometimes he showed us how lava flows, and then sometimes how a lava bomb comes out of crater, fly and then kudam-badoom. It was completely hilarious. He made our trip real fun. On the way back we walked through what was suppose to be beautiful valley, but we did not see any views. Our guide was very sad about it, but he also made the trip really really interesting for us. All his actions were just great, very memorable.

On the way back he also showed us some lava tubed. Mt Etna is unique in that it has many craters and not just one, and its also one of the most active volcanos and now one of my favourite mountains, and thanks to our give a very memorable one.

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Photos

Mt Etna
Smoking Peak from end of hike

Lava Bomb
With our Guide