After my time in the Valley of the Temples I headed North to Ragusa Ibla
An ancient town built on a hill
It began as small Sicel settlements in the 2nd Century BC. It grew under the Greeks, was briefly ruled by the Carthaginians before it fell into the hands of the ancient Romans and the Byzantines
Grand buildings are squeezed into tiny, steep streets
Some scenes of Montalbano were filmed here (hope you recognise it Nana 😊)
Whilst I was in Ragusa I was excitedly planning my hike to the summit of Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Then, in the midst of my planning I see this in the news
I debated giving it a miss and coming back to hike it another time.. no one knew if there was going to be a second, larger eruption.
By Wednesday things seemed to have calmed down and I decided it was worth the risk. It’s not often you get the chance to hike up an active volcano and see fresh lava flows!
So on Thursday I drove 2000m up to the Rifugio Sapienza
From there I went on a short hike to see some of the lower craters
And spent the evening admiring the views, the sunset and listening out for the odd rumble of lava
I wasn’t sure how far up I was going to be able to hike to the next day. The summit was off limits due to the recent volcanic activity. I had decided not to book a guide online because of the likelihood it would be cancelled last minute. Without a guide the furthest you can go is to the top of the cable car. I really wanted to go further..
I woke up early and had a wander around. I saw a small group gathered at a little hut, I went over to investigate. To my delight it was a guide preparing to take a group on a 5hr hike to see the higher craters and the lava flow from Monday’s eruption, and they had space for me!
It was a lovely group of people: 3 Germans and 5 French, mostly my age. Our guide Nino was very knowledgeable (although I’m sure Erin would have more to add).
We took the cable car up
Then began our hike
It was a very steep climb up a difficult terrain of crumbly volcanic rubble
Things got very steamy
We saw craters
And lava channels
Then reached the fresh lava from Monday’s eruption
At around 300°c near the surface it could set a peice of paper on fire within seconds
The eruption caused the whole side of the once perfectly conical crater to collapse
We slipped and slided down into the volcanic desert where we ate our lunch
Then peered down into the Valle del Bove
Thousands of years ago this is where Mount Etna once stood, at 4000m high, before collapsing completely. The valley is 1000m deep and 5000m wide
It doesn’t come out very well in the pictures but from this point we could see pretty much the whole coastline of Sicily
We got the cable car back down and I stumbled back to my van, exhausted but very happy
The whole experience was very spectacular. Extreme landscapes, extreme winds, extreme cold and extreme heat all in one day’s hiking.