Aug 2013: Peering into the Volcano

We jump back into the bus and head off to see Mount Etna

passing some lovely sights…this is an abandoned building

And a roof top abandoned fort.

 

we are heading up there

Cool

Can you see the black pyroclastic lava river cutting a sharp black knife across the landscape? The lava came that close to the settlement.

Can you imagine, living here and watching this tidal wave of lava and steaming hot rock coming over the horizon at you?

the clouds start covering the skies

the winding road up to the volcano

somebody actually lives here?

here are some intrepid explorers going lava cave spelunking.

this is evidence of much recent lava flows, not much greenery around

we finally reach the base camp, so to say

the roof tops are covered by volcanic rock…, crazy, eh?

We jump into the cable car

 

somebody is happy

two calderas on the right as we rise through the air

some people actually walk up the bloody slope! I wouldnt mind doing it, if we had the time

 

still heading up

and then we have these buses to take us onwards and upwards. You can decide to just stop here and not go further.

and it started raining

you have to drive between these poles, as there’s no point in putting up a road, it will simply get buried under the next eruption.

we reach the top.

and there she is, the top of the volcano

its covered with snow

that’s another caldera

volcanic bombs

the guide takes us to a nearby caldera where a fumarole is fuming

 

it was curiously awe-inspiring. to be surrounded by these piles of volcanic rock and the puffs of white steam coming out.

somebody else is smoking

the ice has been around here for long

presence of iron

the skies are cloudy but the clear blue breaks through sometimes.

its an extraordinary landscape

more fumaroles on the mountain slopes

we go back to the buses

catching more fumaroles.

 

another rock which is splitting

 

my two cost centres

another view of the plain.

it wasnt as if it was one or two vents, it was crowded with vents, the entire landscape was smoking

an old laboratory station here, which was ruined in some explosion some time back.

 

another view of the slopes

Diya climbing one of the slopes.

tyre tracks

  

here’s my handsome fella and me trying a selfie :)

yep, we love you too.

And then you see all the countryside spread out over in front of you, all this can be overtaken by a lava or pyroclastic flow if Etna decides to get upset. Now you can understand how Pompeii and Herculaneum happened. Very dangerous.

last view of the smoking slopes.

getting back down the road

tiny buses

an old flow

looking at the two cones

but life comes back…even after a volcano.

down the ropeway

 

there’s a schematic of the volcano.

we get back into the bus and drive down…seeing the lava flows down the mountain.

we pass houses and buildings which have been overpowered by Lava flows.

last view of her

as we move down across Sicily to get back to Cefalu

 

Another gorgeous view of the mountains

with the lovely clouds

and the sun is setting…

some of the video’s of the time up in the mountain. One day I am going to actually trek into a volcano and see lava, but one of the bucket list items has been ticked off. Nice meeting you Hades / Vulcan.