I recently went on a group tour to Italy. As part of this trip, we went to Mount Etna. It's a UNESCO world heritage site. Our local guide told us that it was the most studied volcano in Europe. The bus took us about a third up the slopes of the mountain; on the way up we could see dramatically contorted cooled lava flows on both sides of the road in various places.
We came to a rest stop with restaurants and shops. From there we were able to take a cable car another third of the way up the mountain. In places on the slopes, the terrain was still only the black stone of the cooled lava; other places greenery has started to colonized the lava. It was very striking. At one point my fellow cable car travelers pointed out a house that was buried in cooled lava up to its rooftop.
At the end of the cable car journey, we were deposited at another, smaller restaurant and shop. The shop had various items made from the lava stone including bracelets and statuary, as well as food products made locally such as olive pate and pistachio honey. We went outside stood on black soil and took photos of the rocky, barren landscape. It was moderately chilly - I was wearing a sweater and a windbreaker, and that was sufficient. The air was thin.
In some areas on the slopes, people had written graffiti (love notes primarily) with small stones. It was sweet and unique.
From this spot you could hire specialty vehicles to take you to the top of the crater. I would have liked to have done that but we didn't have enough time in our schedule. If I were to go to Sicily again, I would definitely go to the summit of the volcano. read more
