Explosive Mt Etna: Sicily's volcano

By week three we were definitely getting accustomed to life on board the ship... relaxing in the warm Mediterranean air, enjoying the delectable food, and still meeting new people and making new friends. Two such friends we met at our next port - Sicily. One of the biggest tourist attractions here is Mt Etna. It happens to be one of the most accessible and well-known active volcanos in the world at the moment.

Keen to sneak a peak at some volcanic lava, we made our way ashore. Our plan was to suss out taxi vs hire car prices and find another couple to share with. How hard could it be, right? Well, we do try to find the best option and after a brief search and semi-haggling with locals, who offered to taxi us to the top in their unruly vehicles, we realised that our late breakfast meant our transport options were drying up. Quickly, we went back to the ship side where the taxi rates offered were as good (or better) - and certainly more reliable - than anything else we could find. Then it was just a matter of waiting for other late starters who had also shrewdly planned (while dancing late into the night) to miss the early morning crowds and have a sleep in.

So, we waited to see if any other passengers leaving the ship wanted to split a taxi with us. Those we did see were already travelling in groups... We were about to give up and go back onto the ship and console ourselves with a second breakfast when we met another couple keen to go.

It's the people you meet along the way...

They were lovely people! Like us, they were on a bit of a round-the-world trip. They were going for about 4 months. The major difference was that they had three young kids... Two had just been dropped off at the ship's 'kids club' and one was back at home in the States with grandma. Oh, one other thing, they were doing it all without flying!! As we got to know them better, we learnt that they would Skype their youngest every night and take it in turns to do a couple of hours work for their business back home. They really wanted to travel, so they made it work!

They were also hilarious. The reason they weren't flying was that he had developed a fear of flying and to a lesser extent a fear of heights. He just wouldn't fly. He told me that he used to fly regularly for work when he was younger but then he had children and realised that it was too risky (compared to driving?!) and he had to look after them and be around, so he stopped flying!! To get to the Mediteranean, they had taken a cruise ship across the Atlantic to London, then caught another ship to the Mediterranean.

As the taxi climbed the long road up Mt Etna, we turned a corner and the conversation stopped. All of a sudden, the green foliage gave way to black volcanic ash. If you've ever been skiing, it was like that moment when you're driving up the mountain and all of a sudden you cross the snow line and everything is white. Except, in this instance everything was black... and it was warm... so actually, it wasn't like that at all...

Holding a rock this size is easy - when its volcanic pumice

 What amazed me as we drove on was how far we still were from the main car park. Clearly, there had been a major eruption at some stage in recent years. Again, I was filled with a familiar feeling - a mix of hope at seeing something different and a small sense of risk... ... It was like being in Alaska, where I really wanted to see a bear in the wild, but I didn't want to die. Here, I really wanted to see Volcanic lava, but I didn't want to become flame-grilled.

It turns out we didn't have anything to worry about. We got to the main car park, made our way to the chair lift and as best as we could tell, through our new friends' "pigeon Italian" (ie "We know Spanish and its basically the same"), our driver was going to buy us discounted lift tickets. In the end none of us went to the main crater. Our friends decided it was too high, especially on a chair lift, and the fear of heights got the better of him. Just being up on the mountain was enough he said with a big smile and a nervous laugh. We bailed out because it was really expensive and to go to the very top required a chair lift, followed by a 4 wheel drive and a walk. Also, there was a thick cloud and we got the sense that there was no real lava bubbling away at the time, so we wouldn't see anything anyway. Instead, we trekked across volcanic rock and ran up and down craters left from previous eruptions many, many years ago. It still felt like we were hiking on another planet and that was a memorable experience!

Our next stop was Naples. The main attraction here was pizza, the mafia, or a trip to places like Pompeii, Sorrento or the famed island of Capri. Having been in this region recently when we stayed on the Amalfi coast for a few days, we decided to just relax and take a short stroll around Naples. We saw some wonderful old buildings and strolled down some of the streets that really did make us feel like we were in a scene from 'Eat, Pray, Love' with the laundry hung high across the road from one balcony to another and little cafes and pizzerias down on the street level.

Sadly, we didn't take our cameras, so just think of Italian movies for a visual, with a little extra grundge. Previously, during our drive through Italy (see previous posts for our adventures in Verona, Cinque Terre and more) we drove through the outskirts of Naples on our way from the Amalfi Coast to Rome (via Pompeii) and it was dirty and really very unimpressive. The city centre was alright though; factoring out the street-side 'second hand' iPads and other attractive portable items that had obviously been snitched. Maybe it was a good thing we didn't bring our cameras out? (Perhaps it was our well-honed travellers nous that led to us forgetting our cameras for the first time?)

Oh, and in case you're wondering, we didn't buy an iconic Napoli pizza. Our excuse - the food on the ship was just too good, in abundance, and already paid for! Oh well, next time, 'eh?

There's a man on the sign.. A homage to Jesus?

The next few days on the cruise were scheduled to be very long days for some people, we were to stop at the ports for Rome and Florence/Pisa (Civitavecchia and Livorno respectively).

The reason they would be long days is that both ports are several hours away from the actual cities. The only way to ensure you got to Rome and back in the day was to take one of the cruise's bus tours or to have organised a hire car in advance - but who really wants to drive around (or risk a long remote park!) in Rome or Florence? Both are walking cities! Technically, Florence could be reached by train, but it all depends on what times you are in port and whether the trains are running - they are notoriously unreliable.

So, while many of our fellow passengers embarked on 10-12 hour 'whirlwind' tours of nearby cities, we settled back and relaxed, refreshing ourselves before our own whirlwind trip through Morocco, Turkey, China, and Singapore (but you'll have to wait for our next post for those tales!). We stretched our legs with a stroll through the port towns themselves and sent some postcards home. (*Postcard Tip: don't send postcards from Italy. It's cheaper, for Aussie's, to take your own photo, log-in to AustPost or Qantas, create your own postcard and have it printed and mailed to your family and friends. They'll receive it more quickly too!) In the evenings, we enjoyed the stories our fellow passengers told us over dinner and quickly remembered our own adventures in Rome, Florence and the surrounding regions.

Jahda and Amanda