Mt Etna: Climb an Active Volcano
On the fourth port of call on our Mediterranean Cruise, we stopped at the island of Sicily. Sicily is located below Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. Our shipped docked at Messina, Sicily. Messina is a quiet down that closes its doors during the afternoon, this is not good for tourists who are making quick stops and want to maximize their time. So coming to Sicily there are other alternatives; visit the town of Taormina and or go to the top of an active volcano; Mt Etna. We choose to do the latter.
Mt Etna is located about a 2 hour drive from Messina. We took a bus to the base of the volcano, twisting through roads and in and out of villages on the volcano slope. It seems these people live here without fear of a major eruption happening, there have been lava flows in recent times that have wiped out areas of these villages, but the people continue to stay. The bus stopped at about 2000 meters on the slope of the mountain. From there we took a cable car to the next highest point on the volcano, about 2500 meters. The cable car lets you off at a visitor’s center that has little nick-knacks to buy souvenirs and also a restaurant.
From the cable car drop off point, we took a 4X4 Mercedes to the very top of the volcano. The drive was a bit bumpy and took about 20 minutes to reach the top. Taking this ride makes you think you are driving up a mountain on the moon. The landscape is barren and covered with volcanic ash. There seems to be no appearance of life. The jeep finally stops at the top of the mountain, 2900 meters above sea level. From there we took a 25 minute guided tour around one of the craters. The cater has vents that steam rises from out of the center. We also saw smaller steam plumes coming out of rocks along the path. There are some great views looking out from the volcano.
Mt Etna is the largest active volcano in the Europe and one of the most active volcano in the word with eruptions occurring constantly. Despite all of this, there is really very little danger in being at the top of the volcano
If you are really adventurous, you can walk to the top of the volcano from the 2000 meter point, clear up to 2900 meters. This is an intense walk, with no shade and in the heat. Despite those conditions, we saw alot of people walking up. People ranging from around 10 years old, up to 50 or 60.
The experience of climbing an active volcano is not one to be missed. I would recommend this to anyone, and if you have walking problems, just taking the cable cars and Mercedes is a great way to get there.
