Southern Sicily
Day 1
On boarding in Berlin, Ryanair questioned whether my backpack was compact enough and made me measure it. It protruded a bit and I had to pay 46 euros extra. It was the first time I was in such a situation, although I fly with the same backpack and the same airline quite often. Considering the round trip tickets were only 76 euros, it was unexpected but not frustrating.
The flight was quick and sleepy, around 9am I was in Catania. On arrival I got the car at the airport, the manager at the issuing desk was left disappointed that I hadn't taken out insurance for 180 euros on top of the base price of 39. The explanation that I like risk because I'm from Russia didn't seem convincing to her. 😆
The car was almost new, 2k mileage.
From the airport I drove to the place where I booked accommodation, it was difficult to navigate even with a navigator. Nearby at the Lidl supermarket I stocked up on apples and drove back to the center for a couple of spots.
By 13 I arrived at the hut, there was still half a day. At first I thought to drive to Etna, but then decided that it was better to hike in the morning.
Instead of Etna, I drove to Taormina. The road has a toll segment and you have to carefully stop at the slot where the machine gives you a ticket. Nearby there is a slot for locals with automatic debit. Segment to Taormina costs 1.8 euros, returning the same amount.
The town is very touristy, I drove around it twice and couldn't park. Good thing there was a place a little further away. From there it's a 20-minute walk to the center. The old amphitheater is ok. I was lucky with the weather, it was sunny and warm.
I enjoyed walking there, but the place was too overheated with tourists. I liked it better later in Syracuse. On the way out got stuck in a huge traffic jam for almost a full hour.
On the way back I stopped at a fish 📍eatery in Catania on a recommendation. Very tasty black pasta, as if it was volcanic. There was nowhere to park so I parked where I couldn't, but it was late and retribution didn't catch up with me. 😅
Day 2
I drove to Etna early in the morning to take the track on the lower elevations.
There is a spacious parking lot right at the start of the trail that only had a couple cars in it.
The weather was clear and warm, I walked most of the hike in a t-shirt. Very nice places with black, volcanic terrain that resembled coarse sand. The trail was not always marked and I had to use offline navigation to not get too off track. Small patches of snow were encountered, although the weather was still warm.
The craters look impressive, too bad the photos don't convey the right sense of volume. A thick fog came over the first crater shortly after my arrival and hid all the beauty.
Toward evening I reached the rest of the popular craters located near the cable car. If you don't want to spend a lot of time, you can basically limit yourself to them. It got chilly and I had to dress up in a fleece.
The scenery gives the impression of another planet. I liked the trail very much from start to finish.
Day 3
After the hike I felt a bit tired, so I decided to devote the next day to the towns and went to Syracuse first. The town seemed less crowded than Taormina, but parking was not easy either. I was lucky that while I was approaching the first spot, a car pulled out right in front and I immediately took its place.
It was about a 15 minute walk to Ortigia. Along the promenade I reached 📍Castello Maniace (ticket 9 euros), an old sandstone castle with columns, vaulted ceilings, tunnels and intricate statues. Creates the atmosphere of a beautiful computer game.
From there I walked along the other side of the promenade and found myself on the beach. It was a very warm day, so I stopped there to swim and sunbathe. The water wasn't super warm, but it was comfortable enough, although the beach itself isn't really meant for swimming because of the huge rocks.
Then I went for a walk around the old town, went to a couple of churches, walked along the colorful narrow streets. I saw the ruins of the temple of Apollo (nothing special in my opinion) and went to the car to go to Ragusa.
The road to Ragusa was delightful with picturesque views and the play of light and shadow. Every now and then I had to stop to snap a picture.
In Ragusa I drove straight to the observation deck, where you can see the view of the town. There were no problems with parking there. But I didn't find much to see in the town itself, and there was nowhere to park, so I drove back without a long walk. A modern church building caught my eye.
Day 4
Having had enough rest, the next morning I decided to drive to Etna again and walk higher up. It was starting to rain and that was worrisome.
The plan was to walk the track along the cable car to wherever I could.
Near the mountain the rain turned into penetrating wind with wet snow. I had to insulate myself with both a fleece and a jacket.
It was so chilly that I already decided to cancel the plan and go home. But then I thought that since I had arrived I should at least take a ride on the cable car and see what was up there. Ticket to a cabin is 50 euros (including the return descent), cabins for 6 people go in a continuous stream like a Ferris wheel, I went in an empty one.
Surprisingly, despite being completely snowed in, it seemed warmer at the top, even though the temperature had dropped to -7 C. The wind was still blowing up, my windbreaker protected me well from it. I should have taken gloves, without them my hands froze quickly and I had to keep them in my pockets almost all the time. As I realized this snowy weather was not quite typical and reflected the rain at lower altitudes.
The cable car goes to the base at 2500m with a small cafe where you can warm yourself with coffee and eat a hot dog. The announcement said that you can't climb above 2500m on your own, but with groups and guides you can go up to 2800m maximum.
The highest point of the mountain is about 3300m, even before the hike I read in the reviews to the track that at about 2800m the trail is interrupted by "fresh" (a few years since the last eruption) lava flows.
I had no plans to maliciously break the rules, so I went for a walk around the area near the base. There was a crater 📍Cisternazza nearby, despite the snow visibility was good. As I walked to this crater, I noticed wooden stakes with rope running through them, apparently marking a trail.
When I reached the crater, suddenly a very thick fog descended and visibility dropped to almost zero. At this point I realized why the rope was there. 😅
The way back I had to walk literally on it to avoid getting lost in the white blindness.
But soon the fog blew away as quickly as it had appeared. I saw people in the distance and went to see if there was anything interesting. There were a couple other craters and a four-wheel drive bus road that I didn't notice at first. One of the hikers I met was wearing shorts, chilly.
There was a 📍Cratere del Laghetto in the mountain, mottled with paths. Interesting contrast of steam from the warm surface against the snowy slopes. I found someone's lost glove there and it made me feel a little warmer to photograph. 🙈
I followed a couple people ahead along the road, thinking they knew where they were going and soon caught up with them. Turned out they were going wherever they were going as well as I was.
The offline track showed that we were following the same trail I had planned to take, so we decided to go ahead. No one was encountered to bar us from the climb. Eventually we reached a bench and decided to look up the altitude on the GPS, it was about 2900m. There they decided to go back, and I, open to adventure, went further. I didn't have to walk long, after 100 meters I came to the very frozen lava flows blocking the trail and went back too.
I was starting to freeze, but soon reached the base of the cable car.
I particularly enjoyed this hike because of the sense of adventure and discovery.
Day 5
On the evening of the fifth day I had a flight to catch, so I decided to spend the day on the streets of Catania. Parking in the center was difficult, so I left my car 📍nearby, in the morning there were plenty of free parking spaces.
The weather was great again and it was really nice to walk around. For my morning coffee I picked up a local dessert called Granita, it reminds me of ice cream but more liquid and with nut crumbs inside, delicious.
The old town has a high density of churches, squares and other beautiful places. In one of the churches lies the mummy of a saint.
There is a small botanical garden 📍Orto Botanico di Catania with cacti and ficus, not that super interesting but you can go in. It's usually open for free, that day there was some kind of tour there in Italian for 7 euros.
Next I walked to the castle 📍Ursino Castle on the way meeting a place with graffiti. The castle looks interesting from the outside, I didn't go inside as there wasn't much time left already.
Had lunch with sea-themed salads again at 📍Scirocco Sicilian Fish Lab (very tasty, I recommend it) and went to drop off the car at the airport. On handing the car in, they found a small new dent 😰, as if from hitting it with something sharp, but luckily it wasn't considered enough damage and they refunded the whole deposit.
In the end, a nearly new car for five days cost only 39 euros + about 60 euros for gasoline (600 km). Sicily is very comfortable with a car, despite the hectic traffic and parking problems.
As a bonus adventure, Ryanair delayed the return flight by an hour. This time, the size of my backpack was not questioned by anyone.
In Berlin, transportation worked like clockwork and I was home very quickly (last time Berlin met me with strikes and track repairs).
I really enjoyed the trip to Sicily, although I didn't expect much from it. Very beautiful and diverse places. Left an impression of adventure and immersion like in a video game with different biomes. 🧙♂️
Panoramas
