Time to move on from Taormina. A very beautiful place we unfortunately had to make a choice of how to divide up the trip and this stop only came in with two nights. Sigh… Worth the effort, we hope to be back soon.
Mt. Etna was our first stop of the day, how could we be here without stopping for a visit? Sicily is located where the African tectonic plate is subducting under the Eurasian tectonic plate. Although one of the most active volcanoes in the world it has caused only 77 known deaths in all human history. It is destructive to buildings and infrastructure and when it is done the locals rebuild. These facts with the fertility the volcano provides to the area give it the nickname the friendly giant. It has been known to blow smoke rings.
One can hike up the mountain, we saw quite a few doing this. We chose to take the easier way, Funivia dell’Etna which runs a cable car system and buses up to the ~10,000 foot level. The hiking looked fun but more time would be needed… 🙂
We did get a chance for a several mile hike around several extinct craters with an experienced guide and he told us the place where the buses dropped us off was the maximum height of the mountain in Roman times so it was obvious how much it had grown in 2000 years. He pointed out the clouds rising from the active craters and how they had a very (very) slight yellow tint, the sign of sulfur in the steam. A local all his life (spoke english though like an sophisticated Brit), he had pictures on his smartphone from an eruption in February, lava and all. That must have been quite the sight! Syd was instantly hooked by the adventure and geology stopping to touch all the steaming hot spots she could. I would have loved to see just one ‘burp’.
After the volcano we had lunch at Tebute Mannino Di Plachi, an eco tourism farm that has benefited from Etna’s ‘efforts’. Run by the Mannino who local royalty who lost most of their holdings in the area over the generations due to neglect and ‘other distractions’. The farm was held on to and now they are reviving the wine making and farming efforts to hold on to this piece of their family legacy. A wonderful stop, they were very gracious hosts serving us food and drink all made on the farm or nearby.
We are now residing in Agrigento on the southern coast of Sicily. Hope to get the same mix of time (touring and down) as we did in Taromina!
