Sicily - Mt. Etna and area

Sicily – the Guided Tour

It's Lenny here, and today we've arrived back from our guided tour of some parts of Sicily, focused on Mt. Etna, as well as local food and wine. We were picked up by our driver/guide Antonio, who was the sweetest person I have met so far. He spoke impeccable English, as well as German, so we were right at home conversing mainly in English, though for some practice we attempted Italian.

Antonio gave us a narrated tour everywhere he took us, with our first stop to the lava fields before Mt. Etna. As we arrived this morning via overnight train to Catania, Sicily, it started to rain (a lot). Due to the rain, we no longer planned hiking any portion of the mountain, however the scenery and stops were just as breath-taking.

The lava fields we saw were from every major eruption from the 1600's to present day, and if I'm not mistaken the major dates were: 1630's, 1880's, 1910, 1982, 2001. The entire island is described by its volcanic geology – hard volcanic basalt became weathered and eroded until it yielded a very fertile, mineral-rich soil. This soil is what sustains an unbelievable amount of agriculture (wine, citrus fruits, nuts) as well as a great biodiversity of plants.

On the drive up to Mt. Etna proper, we stopped in at the Silvestri Craters, named in the 1910's for the discovering geologist. They are a series of craters that were once active lava tubes, and now a tourist attraction. I got a picture at the peak of the tallest one (1950 m above sea level) wearing my Vibrams. =D (Also, beacause it was wet and unseasonably cold, about 7 degrees Celsius, I ran barefoot up to the top to snap some pictures, then ran back down just to keep warm and to say I ran up a volcano). To see these craters, point your Google machine to the following coordinates: N 37 degrees 41.841 minutes & E 15 degrees 00.333 minutes ( click here )

Today, access to the crater of Etna is tightly controlled. Tourists are required to get an official guide beyond the 2000 m elevation point so that deaths from stupidly climbing an active volcano are avoided. The last deaths were in 2008 and 2010 from people being unsafe and climbing alone, or falling into canyons as the earth under them gave way to an abyss.

On our way to lunch, we made two pit stops. The first was on the side of the road, and is an access point to (one of the many) lava tubes. These tubes are remnants of old eruptions, but now exist as caves. The one we went into was filled with large volcanic rocks, and was about 200 metres long, and varying heights and widths. We only went in about 40 metres to get a sense for what these caves are like. Beyond that point and special climbing gear is required.

The second pit stop was to a town on the other side of the mountain, Zafferana. This town is known for its artisan crafts and agriculture, particularly for its honey production. We went to a local honey making business, the largest and most famous of the town, for a tasting of 10 different honies (such as chestnut, orange, various flowers, strawberry, mixed berry, pistachio), 8 flavoured oils they also make, as well as 5 different regional wines. One wine I have to point out which was a sweet dessert wine is make from almonds, and tasted very similar to Amaretto liqueur, but is in fact wine.

Our final stop before a winding drive to our hotel was to the Gambino Winery (no connetion to the Gambino crime family). This was a charming little villa where we had a special tasting menu arranged for us by Antonio and the owner of the winery. The winery started off as a joke, just to see if they could grow wine in the region's soil, and it turns out they have one of the oldest DOC classified vinyard in all of Sicily, dating to the late 1960s. There are 22 DOC vinyards and another 20 or so IGT vinyards on the island.

The menu featured 5 locally produced wines, paired with a selection of local vegetables, cheeses, sausages, and was finished with a almond cookie dessert and espresso. This was SO delicious and I would highly recommend this place to everyone. I ended up buying a couple of bottles of wine to consume along our way North. =)

Time to get some dinner, cheers everyone.