Sicily – Etna: Her Majesty Queen

Just as Teide reigns over Tenerife, Etna rules in Sicily. Quite literally, as the volcano is still active and dangerous….

Etna dominates the landscape of the Catania area – suddenly, out of nowhere, a 3350-meter mountain, and not just any mountain, because it is a volcano and, in addition, still active. We admired it glued to the plane windows when we landed in Catania and knew one thing – it would be ours ;-)

Etna – queen of Sicily

Active, with smoke coming out from time to time, Etna makes itself known to the people of Sicily. They are mostly harmless “blips,” but they can make an impression on visitors to the island. The last major eruptions took place in 2001 and 2002, when queues and ski facilities on the slopes were destroyed. There are also periods of increased activity, and after these, the foothills of Etna show a lot of air pollution, like smog.

When we traveled to Agrigento we only admired it from a distance, but even then we could see the bright smoke hovering above it, and at night we even saw the fire gushing. A little scary, and on the other hand delightful.

Getting to Etna

We went to Mount Etna by car, of course, heading to the station of the roller coaster, ie. On the southern slope. The road itself was already quite a challenge, because after leaving the highway, we began to climb sharply, cutting through smaller and smaller towns and narrow streets, while asking ourselves how tour buses get in here!

In general, there are three roads leading to the southern slope of Mount Etna:
– SP92 from the south through the village of Nicolosi,
– SP92 on the east side coming from the A18 highway from the village of Giarre,
– And by a road without number (Via Catania) also starting from Nicolosi.

Navigation guided us to the SP92 road from the eastern side (i.e. option #2), which it said was the fastest option. Unfortunately, we are not able to verify this, but looking at the map we can say so. However, driving from Catania you will already see signs to Etna leading just through Nocolosi. The choice of route is up to you :)

After passing the last village, the snow, slalom and increasingly narrow road began. In general, we drove through a tunnel carved in the snow, and every now and then we passed signs ordering us to put chains on the wheels. If only we had such…

We finally arrived at the parking lot next to the queue (paid) and felt at home, that is. Like on Krupówki in Zakopane :) Lots of souvenir and clothing stores, plus restaurants. This is still nothing, the standard in this type of place. What struck us more was the flair – people come here in the best, most expensive and most fashionable ski clothes, and pull out of their trunks the so-called “ski clothes”. apples :)

Anyway, all sorts of boards, sleds for sliding are very popular here. We saw only one person with skis near the lift station! We would add that at this time of year, there is a thriving ski slope operating here, and there is plenty of snow.

As soon as we left the car we were hit by a terrible cold and wind. The perceptible temperature was definitely more below zero than the -2 degrees the thermometer in the car showed us. Despite our winter clothes, we were shivering from the cold, and on top of that we had to take our steps very carefully, because it was slippery, and in strong winds it is not hard to fall.

The ascent to the summit of Mount Etna

To get higher, you can take the cabin train (€30 round trip) or buy a train+bus package to the craters (such a pleasure is already €79). You can safely enter the queue with an infant (it is an enclosed cabin type queue ;-)). We have read that sometimes you have to wait here even for several hours in line for the queue, but when we were there there were no takers at all.

And guess what? We gave up. For several reasons, but the most important is the complete lack of pleasure – we were already high up, it was frighteningly cold and windy, so will it be better at the top? The gentleman at the cash register confirmed my suspicions that it would not get any better. Is there any point in going higher and not getting any pleasure out of it? Even more so (in fact, especially so), because the conditions were completely unfavorable for Olive as well.

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So we walked around the neighborhood, ate something relatively edible and returned. With finding something to eat we also had a problem, because most of the pubs were closed, and if something was already open there was a poor selection inside, but let’s not be picky. We wanted to get warm and eat something warm.

A shortfall?

Yes, we feel a big dissatisfaction, because, however, we were very focused on getting in as high as possible.

On the other hand, not at any price, and if we were to pay for it with our health and spend the rest of the trip in a hotel, there is no point. There will be something to come back for. Conclusion for the future: if Etna, only in summer :)

Zobacz galerię zdjęć z wulkanu Etna >>>

See also our all posts about Sicily.