An active volcano in Europe! This post will bring you to Sicily, to the Mount Etna. MJ, a blogger from India, will tell about his first spontaneous visit to the top of the mountain, as well as how it looks on an organized tour.
From now on, MJ:
Mount Etna – The Mountain that never sleeps
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse.” – Vito Corleone
Sounds familiar? Can anyone separate Vito Corleone & Sicily?
From the year 2002, I have been regular to visit Catania, Sicily. I have been there in every season. If you ask me what is the best in Catania, without any second thought, I would say Mount Etna. It is the symbol of Catania, Sicily!
Wait did you say beach? Ya, the beach is good too, but you find much cleaner, interesting beaches in Italy. But where else you can find a volcano so active, and still attracting so many people every year?
So, I decided that I should share my experience, both scary and pleasant, about this marvel.
You can define Mount Etna as: Largest, Longest and Frequent
- Largest – The largest active volcano in Europe.
- Longest – Still holds the record for the continuous eruptions.
- Frequent – It erupts most frequently, unlike other volcanoes.
Mount Etna is near the east coast of Sicily Island. It is almost 3,300 meters tall. Do you know that it would take hours to drive around the mountain? The circumference of the Mount Etna is close to 150 km.
Mount Etna has four distinct craters. There are two central craters, called Bocca Nuova and Voragine, the Northeast and the newest Southeast Crater.
Mount Etna is an active volcano and can erupt with great violence.
The last eruptions were around a few days back (May 31st, 2019), but they were not quite serious. At the beginning of 2000, this volcano has erupted several times and washed off many houses in the mountain.
Do you like a myth?
If you are a mythology lover, here is an interesting story for you. It is said that Typhon, monstrous serpentine attempted to overthrow Zeus. However, after a deadly fight, Zeus won by using his thunderbolt and buried Typhon under Mount Etna.
First Visit and Lessons Learned
Like the first kiss or first love, some first experience will never fade away from memory. Before we go on a tour to Mount Etna, I want to share mine.
Once, on a winter day, I was in Catania. I was looking at the mountain full of white and it triggered my passion to explore. Why not give it a try? I took a car to reach the top.
It was the first time I saw the mountain covered in snow. When I was half-way to the top, I was stopped by the police. They told that I need to put snow-chains onto my wheels if I want to go further. Since this was a rented car and had no chain, I thought I would have to return.
But no, returning was not an option for me. I talked to the policeman to check if I have more options. They told that there is a parking place nearby, and from there, I can either walk further or take a bus. But there was no designated bus stop!
Since I was determined to make it somehow, I parked my car and waited to take a lift from the passing cars. Luckily, a tourist bus stopped and agreed to help me. I was excited to move further!
I had a fantastic time on the top, but when it was time to return, I could not manage to find anyone to help me back. Unlucky. When I was slowly walking down it started to get dark. Damn, it took me hours to get down to my car in that freezing cold and only late at night I was able to return to my hotel.
Plan Your Trip Right!
So, next time I had a chance to be in Catania, I made sure to book a tour to Mount Etna. Booking such a tour has its own advantage – the Guide. Yes, I was very lucky to get a fantastic guide, who was explaining things really well in detail. In this post, I summarized the things he said, so I hope it will be as good as it is from the mouth of a local.
Visiting the same place in 2 different seasons gave a completely contrasting picture. Last time in winter, I did not see anything black, it was full of white, white and white everywhere.
But this time, it was DIFFERENT.
On the way to the mountain, I saw many small villages. In fact, until the very foot of the mountain. When I asked why people still live in such a dangerous place the answer from the guide surprised me.
“The first priority for a human is food. And our land here never disappoints us. Her soil is so fertile that if we drop a seed, she yields fantastically”
In fact, lava is so porous that it holds all humid, mist, and hence the soil formed from lava never needs frequent water. This is the reason why many scholars and scientists from all parts of the world visit Mount Etna to research agriculture.
What is Fertile Soil?
There will be some good in the gravest evil too. The fertility of the soil is directly related to the lava. The lava is so strong, that it takes 50-60 years to become soil. Different bacteria forms are the first life on the lava. They slowly eat out the lava and loosen it to finally form the soil.
Meanwhile, the lava is used as bricks and most houses around here are built using these bricks. Seems there is a good market for them, people from far Europe buy such bricks and use in for decoration and sometimes even for construction.
Ox Valley
Our first stop was in Valley Del Bove (Valley of Ox or simply Ox Valley).
The valley is huge, it is 1 km deep and 5 km wide. You can see nothing else, but the cooled lava desert, that covers 37 square km. The valley acts as a dam, but not for stopping water, it stops the hot lava from going down.
The valley protects the people living around the mountain. How? During eruptions lava goes from a higher ground and safely stays there, thereby saving the lives of so many people living in the villages downstream.
Around a hundred of thousands of years ago, this area had the highest peak of Mount Etna, almost 4000 meters. Slowly, due to the recurring blasting from the crater, the peak collapsed forming this huge valley.
Lava Cave
The next stop was to visit one of the natural caves formed by the flow of lava. I entered with hundreds of questions and thoughts in my mind. How does this come to happen?
As the guide explained to us, when lava goes down, it solidifies, due to the difference in temperature. The solid layers form on both sides (air and ground). The hot middle flow goes further, forming a cave.
The cave we visited was almost 300m long. It was an experience of a lifetime.
Even though I was here in summer, inside the cave, it was quite chilly. Our guide told that the morning mist from the air is “captured” in the solidified lava. And since it is porous, it retains these mist in it. It results in their Air-conditioning effect inside of the cave.
Since the cave provided excellent protection from heat, I was told that in the old days it was used as a storage for ice. There is a story, that shepherds have squeezed an orange onto the ice in one of such caves and came up with the famous natural Ghiaccio ice cream.
Inside the cave, I could clearly see the layers formed by lava. There are blisters, and colors due to the chemical and mineral reactions. Because it was dark, the best picture I could get was just this.
Silvestri craters
Next, we moved towards the south of Mount Etna to see the crater that erupted centuries back.
Actually, there are 2 craters next to each other which were formed in around 1892. The craters are named after the volcanologist, who discovered them – Ozario Silvestri
Next to the crater, you can find the Etna cable car. There is also a hotel/restaurant called Rifugio Sapienza, where hikers can take some rest.
The smaller crater is rich in iron, as you can see from the reddish color. It is simply mesmerizing. You can walk across the crater and also get inside. There is no danger and the view is stunning.
Tasting Local Delicacies
Next, we went to taste some local delicacies. My guide took us to a place that had a small honey factory. There, I could clearly see how honey is processed.
We tried a variety of local food, from fresh bread dipped into extra-virgin olive oil to honey-filled cream. We had some sweet and tasty wine and olives.
Getting to the top by yourself
If you are interested to explore Mount Etna yourself without any tour guide, here are a few pieces of advice:
- You can find buses going to the top of the mountain right next to the train station, but they don’t go very often.
- The bus to Etna from Catania leaves at 08.15 AM the kind of time well suited for the early birds
- There are a lot of tourists in summer, so I recommend buying the ticket in advance
- The ride takes around 2 hours, the bus drops you next to Refugio Sapienza (hotel/restaurant close to craters)
- The bus leaves back at 04.30 PM – don’t miss it! Else, you need to walk all the way down as I did in this cold winter evening!
But I recommend going with tour operators.
You could end up paying 40-50 euro extra. But believe me, it is well worth it because they stop at the lava caves.
About the author:
Maheshwaran Jothi, or shortly MJ, is a traveler and travel blogger. He is an Indian Indian living in Milan and is always fond of getting lost in the lap of Mother Nature. In his blog, he writes insightful and honest reviews from his trips.
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Further reading
If you are interested to explore more than Mount Etna – take a look at this 10-day Sicily road itinerary.
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