My name is Daria, and I’m one of the active and loyal MeetnGreeters who is interested not only in helping foreign Guests in my country but I also possess this great passion for travelling. I will share with you stories about my trips around the world, some must-see attractions and tips on travelling to different corners of the world.
I’d like to start my series of posts from Mount Etna in Italy. The powerful and the beautiful volcano in Sicily.
Naked nature, breathtaking view and powerful feeling are the best you can have as a souvenir from the trip. To my mind today the availability of adventure makes it less adventurous. People are ready to spend huge sums of money to see the places of extreme beauty. As a matter of fact, small budget means being creative and believing in yourself. This is my story of how to climb the mountain Etna in Sicily using your enthusiasm as a currency.
How I came here
I came to Sicily as an AuPair to the city of Palermo. Sicily is the largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. The nature is unique and its architecture is ancient and people are loud and eccentric. Sicily is the land of endless sunshine, juicy oranges, warm and clean sea accompanied with huge mountainous areas. Sicily is reach for archaeological and ancient sites of Byzantine Empire.
But the main pride of every Sicilian is highly active volcanoes. When I was planning my trip, I thoroughly checked hundreds of websites and had a list of “must-visit”. First on the list was Etna volcano. Locals call Mount Etna “Montibello” meaning a beautiful mountain.
Curious Facts about Mount Enta
Mount Etna is the largest and tallest active volcano in Europe 3,329 m high. It is also one of the most active volcanoes in the world with almost constant state of activity. In 1992 one of the most destructive volcano activity where US Marines were involved occurred. The last eruption of Mount Etna happened in October 24th 2016.
Star War fans must definitely visit this place in Sicily. In the movie “Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith” you can see Anakin Skywalker going to the dark side of the force, becoming Darth Vader. On the background, there are images of Mount Etna eruption of 2002.
How to get to Mount Etna
There are several ways to reach the top of Etna.
First you take the bus, that goes every hour. But you should be aware of waiting for 40 minutes, because punctuality is not in the Sicilian character. At the bottom of the volcano you meet groups of tourists, rushing to the cable road, which leads to the bottom of the first crater. Cable road changes with the bus, waiting to transfer curious tourists to the top. My advice will be not to follow tourists’ example.
If you want not just to see the volcano and take some pictures of lava, but to feel it, to breath the refreshing air under the burning sun, to appear in absolute silence and be thrilled with power of nature, you should climb it. The only things you need are water, comfortable shoes and sunglasses. Divine nature and beauty inspires you and refills your batteries.
With each step, with each hill you accomplish, you feel very proud of yourself. Climbing is a great self-check. No matter how many times you want to give up, there is no way back. You start convincing yourself that you are able to do this and when on the top you experience a bunch of feelings and the strongest is the feeling of achievement.
Climbing reminds an adventurous movie. After coming back, you feel being a part of a big story. A day in the mountain feels like a week. Mount Etna was a great experience for me. Now I have the answer to the question” tell me one thing, you are proud of”.
Stay tuned for more stories from my adventures on MeetnGreetMe blog!
If you’d like to ask me any questions about this fascinating destination, feel free to do so in the comments below.
Good post! My girlfriend and I relocated to Catania, Sicily for a few months. While here we tried to do shoestring outdoor activities, including the top of Etna. I put together the following page to outline what we learned and how to do it yourself. The page includes links to outdoor activities in the Etna volcano area (including details about summiting) with all the logistical facts and costs. http://realworldadventures.com/outdoor-activities-sicily/
I hope the info is useful to your readers.
Thanks, Livio! And thank you for sharing this useful information :)