Mt. Etna

One Saturday Greg had duty, but we still decided to risk venturing up Mt. Etna. One of the front desk ladies at our hotel warned us about going up because it had erupted a day or two before. Feeling brave, we continued on our journey. The amount of lava rock was astounding. I loved the black of the lava rock against the bright green foliage growing up on the volcano. We stopped for a moment for me to capture some pictures and Brady tried to climb the “tallest mountain.” Before arriving at our destination (I’m not exactly sure where our final destination was, but supposed we would know when we got there) Greg got a call. Life rearranges when duty calls, so down the “tallest mountain we went.


Since moving into our new house, we have seen Etna erupt a couple of times. There is a high rise apartment blocking our view, so in order to see, we have to stand on a ladder in the corner of our balcony. The eruption is chilling and beautiful at the same time. The red lava flowing down the side of the volcano against the backdrop of the black night is truly a sight to behold. I’m still very aware of the destruction Mt. Etna has caused.

Here is a little history from The Rough Guide to Sicily:

“One of the world’s largest volcanoes dominates much of Sicily’s eastern landscape, its smoking summit an omnipresent feature. Etna was just one of the places that the Greeks thought to be the forge of Vulcan, a fitting description of the blustering and sparking from the main crater. Empedocles, who in 433 BC jumped into the main crater in an attempt to prove that the gasses emitted would support his body weight. They didn’t. “