Blogs from Mount Etna, Sicily, Italy, Europe

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Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna October 31st 2023

We overnighted at Siracuse and woke up to much warmer weather, although it would be soon be getting cold and windy for Leonie and I as we had opted to go up Mt Etna. The 90 min bus drive was well worth the trip - we were rewarded with amazing views and a walk around one of Etna's many craters - from some angles were could easily be on a different planet. It is hard to believe that people still leave on the volcano. With only 1 day in Sicily we did not have enough time to explore the island, but it was nice to be back in warmer weather - might even go for a swim!!!... read more
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Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna March 26th 2018

Monday March 26, 2018 - The view of Mt. Etna from my balcony this morning was beautiful, a snow capped volcano with steam plume set against a blue sky. I had a nice breakfast in the B&B, made of course by my Sicilian grandmother, who I feel obligated to mention is not old enough to be my mother, but still… Go-Etna picked me up around 9:30 and then we drove to the place where all the groups came together to sort out who would good with which guide based on language. I ended up in a truck with a traveling retired Australian couple and a young German couple. It was a nice group. We spent the day driving up Etna, walking around, putting on helmets and flashlights for the lava cave portion and then hiking for ... read more
Tour guide Francesco
1979 lava fields
Much newer lava

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna August 25th 2017

Issy decides to pass on today's scheduled visit to Mount Etna so that she can do some relaxing. I retrieve our trusty little Fiat 500 from the garage. It seems to be taking a long time to appear, and when it finally does it's a bit hard not to notice the multitude of hand prints on the bonnet and boot from being pushed into and out of its tiny parking spot. I turn off the motorway near Catania and start to climb the constantly smoking mountain. It's a sunny day, but very hazy. The road's very windy and climbs through a landscape of black volcanic rock, interspersed with the occasional valley of trees. It's a bit hard not to notice a series of concrete block walls with past lava flows seemingly dammed up behind them, and ... read more
Mount Etna
Mount Etna cable car
The cross between a jeep and a bus that drives you up Mount Etna

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna July 20th 2012

Geo: 37.7153, 14.9867Mount Etna represents unfinished business for me in Sicily, a place I didn't have the time to visit last time around, nor the funds to do a proper tour of the famous volcano. The six-year wait was worth it, as Etna did not disappoint, probably because of our excellent guide, Paolo, from a tour company called Etna Experience. Recommended by the owners of 5 Balconi, our B&B, it couldn't have been a better experience today.It must be tough being a tour guide, always having to spout the same mindless drivel and make the same jokes, but Paolo really did an excellent job of both educating and entertaining us. Sure, Etna offers some breathtaking vistas, but without any context, it's really just another giant mass of rock. Fortunately for us, the original tour we wanted, ... read more
Inches Away From Destruction ...
Crateri Silvestri ...
The Main Crater, From Above

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna March 28th 2012

Wednesday – Mt Etna and the Murgo Winery We headed out for our trip to Mt. Etna at 9:00. At this time of day the mountain is clearly viewed from our terrace. Shortly, the mist from the sea will roll in and cover the summit. Since the road to our hotel is so narrow, we have to take a van to a parking lot where we meet the bus. Soon we are on the highway heading to the south slope of the volcano. The landscape is kind of barren and the soil light and chalky. The island here is mainly limestone but shortly we entered the volcanic zone where the soil was dark and rich. Here flowers bloomed, lemon groves were laden with fruit and the vines were beginning their spring growth. Etna wine is now ... read more
Mt. Etna
Mungo Winery
Mt. Etna

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna May 12th 2011

Mount Etna, Sicily – Imagine this we start from 28 degrees sunny hot and hit 3 degrees below with snow on same day PLUS the volcano erupted the night we visited. OMG…..we were able to walk up to the summit on clear sunny day after the short cable car ride which takes you up from approx. 1800 m level to 2,400m. You can take jeeps / 4WDs to summit but we chose to walk (round trip approx. 3 hours) and what an adventure to reach 3,000m – there was snow, amazing views of the craters, flumes of steam, couple of thunderous eruptions from the old mountain and lava ash everywhere. If you bent down you really got a head rush / dizziness due to the altitude change. Mount Etna recently erupted on January 12, 2011,and last ... read more
Photo 25
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Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna March 24th 2011

Bagolara After wonderful Carnevale, we left our hotel in Catania to make our way back up the east coast to our second farm.  We had to get off the main north/south train line at a coastal town to catch a smaller local train that would take us inland and up to the small village of Santa Venera where the farm was located.  As we pulled up to a stop with no signs what-so-ever we were lucky that the train conductor came back and told us we had arrived.  We shlepped our heavy bags off the train and were left in silence as the train pulled away.  All we had was an address for the farm, and we knew it was somewhat close to the train station, so we started looking for street signs.  We were interrupted ... read more

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna July 2nd 2010

We went on a small tour with 2 other people and our Guide - Ernesto. Sera loved bouncing around in the back of a Land Rover as we went along narrow rocky paths up Mount Etna. It was interesting to hear about the history of Etna and also how you can tell the age of the lava rock from its colour. Although reaching the top was good, the real highlight for all of us was going into a lava tube! Sera also had a chance to feed a wild fox the remains of her lunch (pizza of course). I was hoping to spend the afternoon on Isola bella, but as usual poor/lack of information prevented me from doing this. Instead we spent the evening high up on the cliffside of Taormina. We then caught the night ... read more

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna June 13th 2010

Today has been a long and tiring day. Up at 4 am, but awake at 2.30 am, to leave at 5 am to get the 7 am catamaran to Sicily for our day trip. We managed to get a good parking spot just outside the sea terminal gates so no fees to pay. The trip was Sicily was about 90 minutes and the Med was as smooth as can be. We had a couple of cups of coffee and breakfast on board. This was a much bigger vessel than the one we got from Penang to Langkawi so there was hardly any pitching and rolling. It actually steamed at about 35 knots which is 40 miles per hour and yet there was no sensation of that speed. On arrival at Pozzallo, we boarded our coach for ... read more
01 Grand Harbour at dawn
02 Leaving the Grand Harbour
03 Approaching Pozzallo

Europe » Italy » Sicily » Mount Etna April 3rd 2010

Saturday, April 3, we woke up fully rested after our long night of sleep, ready to see Mount Etna—Europe’s largest volcano! Neither of us knew too much about it, except before I left Tours my host family had me watch the French equivalent of a Bill Nye the Science Guy episode about Etna, which was mostly about the science behind volcanoes. We ate our hotel’s breakfast and attempted to check out with a man who spoke no English whatsoever before standing outside our hotel, waiting for some sort of vehicle that we would hopefully be able to identify as belonging to the Etna Tour we signed up for. Luckily, we were only there for about five minutes before a large white van pulled up with Etna written on the side. The driver got out of the ... read more
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