In Sicily, they speak of Etna in its female form. She has a Sicilian temperament, is actually a cosy, caring person and sometimes it just bursts out of her. Fits somehow.
Incidentally, the volcano is also the dwelling and working place of the fire god Hephaistos and his successor Vulcanus. The mountain of mountains, classified by Unesco as a natural heritage site, looks from a distance like a painting from ancient times. Majestically and innocently, the largest volcano in Europe looks down on us. Its 3300-metre-high crater rims are covered with snow. It rarely shows its clear side, usually a plume of smoke surrounds it.
But the innocent appearance is deceptive. The extensive plantations of orange, lemon and olive trees and the dense forests that stretch up the slopes are only a hint of calm before the subterranean power of the volcano. On the way up, we repeatedly pass cooled lava flows that have destroyed everything in their path on their way down.
Etna, also known as Etna, gives and takes away. So they say. The ash from its lava makes the soil fertile, but the recurring eruptions destroy entire villages. In the most severe eruption to date in 1669, the lava slowly but inexorably rolled all the way to Catania, burying half the city under it and only coming to a halt far out to sea. In the 20th century, too, and most recently in the years 2001 to 2003, there was severe devastation. Etna is rightly considered one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
Somehow it feels strange: Are we allowed to be here? Can it start at any moment? How does the warning system actually work? Is there one at all? We stop, the lava is cold and hard. So nothing current, that's good.
In the huge and empty car park, we consider whether we should spend the night here. First we take the gondola up to the crater rim and stand in the fog. Visibility? Almost non-existent. Too bad, we would have liked to walk up there to the crater rim. But we are warned: the weather is changeable at the moment and Madame Etna is in a "flared-up" phase.
Back at the car park, we make ourselves a cosy coffee, reflect on our situation and decide: We drive down. We look for a place by the sea and wait. As it turns out the next day: a very good decision! Because it rains for 24 hours straight. Up at over 2000 m: snow en masse. (And we are only on the road with summer tyres!).
The day after next we are woken up by bright sunshine: so up again! We make it past several roadblock signs until, at 1500 m, a real police-man roadblock is waiting for us. Ok, we admit defeat, stop, take a few photos and as the mountain is already shrouded in clouds again, we slowly but surely roll down for the second time.
We are thrilled that we were allowed to get so close to the volcano. Yes, a look into the crater, that would have been it. But what is not, can still be!
Merci for "travelling with us
We are thinking about taking another break from travelling in the summer and visiting our families in Germany and Switzerland. One of the ideas is to organise a Lecture about our long journey to the Persian Gulf to prepare. If you would like to, what would interest you the most? We will also tell stories here that don't find a place here on the blog. We're thinking of the Bern and Berlin area - simply because we have family there. But other places are also conceivable. Feel free to write to us.
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Bääää......Snow! 😂
Well, that's the way it is. We were happy, it was our first of the year.
Kind regards - Heike