Mt. Etna

Mt. Etna June 2014

Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. The fertile volcanic soils support extensive agriculture, with vineyards and orchards spread across the lower slopes of the mountain and the broad Plain of Catania to the south. Due to its history of recent activity and nearby population, Mount Etna has been designated a Decade Volcano by the United Nations.^[4] In June 2013, it was added to the list of UNESCO World Heritage Sites.^{[5]  Source Wikipedia}

Mt Etna and Us

Today we headed for Mt Etna, helmet cam recording our drive up, which recorded more than one old Sicilian trying to run us off the road. You have to laugh really! Cars here are so damaged that no wonder they don’t care, who would notice the difference .

Our first stop was to fill with fuel, and we enjoyed talking with a very well educated gas attendant who was fluent in English as well as Italian, and knew of the various means we could have arrived in Acireale. He said he knew that Italy have everything going for it, except work. It was obvious from that, that such a well-educated person was pumping gas.

1986 Sylvestri Crater

Next, at the 2000 mtr. Crater centre we waved to, then returned to talk with a  married couple from the Tyrol area of Austria riding a  BMW GS1200 2012 edition. They had driven here from Austria but had had some damage done due to a drop in the rain and replaced a side case and had damage to the right cylinder head. He runs a rental shop for BMW’s in Austria and is associated with a bike hotel there and provided us with their details. Very nice people. It still amazes us that we get such get recognition and treatment from people when they see we are from Canada. We all better appreciate where we come from.

Etna at the moment isn’t very active, but we were able to walk to the Sylvestri crater which erupted in 1986, and the Cappernini crater that erupted in 2001,

2001 Cappernini Crater

neither of which is close to the mountain top. As we walked around you could feel extra heat being transferred to your feet and touching the rock it was warm to the touch. Erie! Higher up there was some small signs of venting going on away from the summit. The views from that elevation were excellent as you can see in any direction.  

Sandra descends from upper crater