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| Would imagine Mars to look something like this... |
We had spent a day getting familiar with the surroundings on Etna and were totally ready for our day out on the volcano. We drove to the start of the most famous ski slopes on Etna (they have to redo the lifts every 5 years after being destroyed by lava) and wanted to hike as high as we could get. Unfortunately the paths to the main craters were closed due to an eruption the week before, and so no one was able to get that far up. The thick fog made everything look so surreal as we checked out some lower cones and craters. Even with a poor visibility, the color scale of the volcanic rock was intense; every shade of red, yellow, purple and black.
Once we got up with the ski cabins, the sky opened up for us - it was time to continue by foot.
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| Above clouds - volcanic desert |
Walking on a volcanic desert really is another kind of experience; it feels like nothing we've done before, and especially weird was the strong taste of sulfur in our mouths. We walked some time to get a glimpse of the main craters (still further) and checked out some "recently" formed craters closer to us, and we could in fact see steam coming out from somewhere between stones. Later on our way down, somewhere between the clouds and the desolation, we felt like being on a movie set for apocalypse.
The drive down to the coast was very picturesque; seeing the dark mountains against the fall colors was magnificent, and the views carried down all the way to Cantania.
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| Fall Foliage |
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| Seeing Etna in the distance |
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