We drove up Mt Etna, watching the terrain change gradually into lava and ash. Way up, we could see Etna smoking, apparently sulfur and water, according to our guide later on. We were able to drive to the 1900 meter level (6000') from, of course, zero at sea level, switchback after switchback. At that level, there are touristy things -- ristorante, souvenir shops, toilets (80 cents), and parking, 6 Euros. We could see the cable car in front of us so for some more money, we bought the cable car and jeep tour ticket. The so called cable car is actually a detachable six person gondola and is used as such when there's snow. Further up, we could see other ski lifts -- yes, apparently they sometimes get 4-5 meters of snow; ski in the morning, beach in the afternoon.
The gondola takes you up to another level where you board large jeeps, like mini-buses. They climb a switchback route on the exposed slope to another level where a guide then took us for a walk around one of the prior eruption craters. Sandy put her hand in one of the foot-deep holes that people dig in the ash and it's still warm. It's still hot down there. I forget how many of these craters / caldera there are; the number was over 100.
We weren't going, however, to the smoking gun. That's even higher up and requires proper hiking boots and clothing, masks for the dust and smoke and a guide. No go without a guide. Apparently they don't want to lose tourists to Etna; that would be bad press. We asked our guide about it and he said that it's about a 2-hour hike up that extra 1000' to the active caldera.
From that parking area way below, many people hike to the top of the gondola and jeep trips. We saw a couple of mountain bikers making their way up as well. We took the easy way out.
So, it was a little early for lunch when this was finished but Etna was closing in with cloud. It was good that we got up here early. We headed down by a different route as we were going to Siracusa for an overnight. Down, down, down; it got very busy. We were looking for a lunch spot and passed many, but parking was a problem. We ended up on the Autostrade, stopped at one place but it wasn't to our taste (all pizza and sandwiches). Once to Siracusa it was after 2pm and everything was closed. In one square we found a pastry shop and got something to tide us over and bought a couple of peaches from a street vendor. Very ripe and juicy, this was probably the sweetest peach that I've ever tasted.
Our hotel was only a couple of minutes away, according to Garmin, but the addresses weren't obvious. We parked close to where it should be and asked directions, finding it shortly after on foot. We moved the car to the door; unloaded and the porter took it somewhere; don't know where. We were again in a Traffico Limitato zone and street parking was only for residents.
We are right on the water and it's a beautiful spot; we changed plans on the spot and added a night to our stay. That's the beauty of making it up as you go along. In the room, we caught up on internet things and then went for a long walk around the island -- our part of Siracusa is on an island. Working our way around to the touristy, west-facing side with restaurant after restaurant advertising their sunset menu, we found one spot and had a drink and snack -- a trio of mozzarella.
Still early, we went back to our room before heading out for dinner. Wandering back towards the main square on one of the cross streets, we checked out the menu at one small place and made that our dinner spot. Shortly afterwards it was full with a queue. We soon found out why. We had the most fabulous dinner that we could have imagined. Sandy Sicilian appetizer was amazing, a variety of little tureens. I had the fish version which turned out to be all raw fish -- two types of shrimp / large prawns, salmon, oyster, clam and something else. All in their own marinade, they were wonderful.
Sandy ordered a seafood pasta which was loaded with calamari, mussels etc. and I ordered the fish soup. I fully expected the fish soup to be messy but I'd seen it on many menus and decided to go for it. It's beyond messy. Shrimp, mussels, a whole small fish, calamari, clams -- all cooked together. I even got some calcium because there's no way that you can avoid eating some small bones. They've all been stewed, however, and not a problem. It was so good ... I couldn't even leave the broth, which wasn't really a broth, it was so thick.
I was so full that I wasn't sure that I was going to be able to hold it down. So very rich, the liter of water and bottle of wine helped cut that but I still needed something and had another bottle of water back at the hotel. I'm not sure that I even want breakfast !
Today, don't know. There's lots to see here, little museums, a hop on / hop off, who knows.
Onward !
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