Sunday, June 12
It seems my body does not need all too long of recreation, I was wide awake at 5 am and caught a glimpse of Etna fuming into the rising sun. Quite impressive.
The hotel room included a hearty breakfast and right after it, I booked a hiking trip to the lave fields, led by a guide – this was claimed to be compulsory. Looking back, I think to have managed without a guide, thought the rental of boots (much recommended!) and that of a helmet (useless) was included in the price of Eur 40, with a bit of a discount. I also saved 30 Euros for the cable-car, for that, I had to head out an hour before the rest of the group and made an ascent of some 550 meters in an hour - on foot.
I joined my group at the mountain station of the cable car, it was then that the real hike begun. From some 2,500 meters, we hiked up to just below 3,000 meters. Alas, two years prior my arrival the tours started at 2,500 m and went all the way to the summit at 3,300 meters - but an eruption in 2020 buried all the trails, including a two-story building plus a parking lot. Now we followed the lava flow of this eruption, which at some places was still hot, even fuming. We had partial luck with the weather, clouds at times covering the otherwise wonderful views to the top.
I must admit I was a bit disappointed, it was a Sunday and there were a large number of groups loitering about, sometimes even causing traffic jams. Our guide, while quite nice, did not seem all too motivated to explain about the mountain. We had a lunch break on the outskirts of a now dormant crater. As the rest of my group was heading down by cable car (which I did not book), I was told to join another group heading down on foot. What a difference this guide made! He was funny, highly motivated and told us a lot more about the volcano compared with the other guide. We had a private chat, he himself was a biker, having made trips to exotic places such as Iceland and Madagascar.This was when the fun part began - there was an old lava field with fine grain sand, where one could just run downhill. The only - well, downside - was that your shoes quickly filled up with dirt, but oh heck, we all did it, with quite some difference in our speeds. The gold medal went to our guide, he was jumping around as a mountain goat. At the bottom of the descent, a small bus came to pick up the group, the guide and myself being cramped into the back.
I must have emptied two kilos of dust from my boots when changing back to my biking shoes. In the afternoon, at around half past three, I started my descent by bike. As you can imagine, it was a lot easier, compared to the ascent the day before.Still in the hills of Etna, in a small town called Zafferana, Google made a real dumb suggestion - it told me to make a left turn, descend, then make another turn, then yet one more - only to see the road end, just before a forest. I had to ride some two kilometers back uphill, was rather frustrating….but then every wrong turn brings something positive. Back at the junction, there was a seemingly small restaurant - I was yearning for a pizza, but the ovens were not yet operational. So I ordered a meat loaf with lemon leaves and a salad, it was delicious! I rounded off the lunch by a large serving of tiramisu. I then entered the restaurant, it was a beautifully-looking winery - a not-to-miss highlight! The name: Fernata Spuligni.
In and around Giarre, I was once again impressed by the large churches, then it was just a jump into the sea, this time there were huge waves, with hardly anyone swimming. Well, perfect conditions for me - I washed all the dirt and sweat off.
Not long afterwards was a campground, for just Eur 13, I could freshen up, load my electric devices and rest on pleasant green grass - right at the foot of Etna.
At night, I woke up to some sounds – either those of fireworks or some eruptions coming out of Etna. I took a look at the mountain and an amazing sight opened up - the middle of the mountain was "bleeding", there was a stream of fresh lava flowing down. In the morning, I learned that the stream was a new one, just two weeks old.
