Etna

We'd booked a tour to go to Etna, so we were up early, 6.30. We had a half hour walk to the bus station, admiring the view of Etna smoking in the sunshine, (top) and had an espresso and '.cornetto' in a cafe on the way. (Cornetto is a little croissant ).

The bus took us up to Etna which we could easily have driven to, and we got the little gondolas up as far as they went. Then we got a 4x4 vehicle which rose into the cloud. Decanted, we were marched, a bit puffed, finding ourselves suddenly at 10,000ft, round a rim. We felt the heat emitting from fissures all round, but saw little (lower picture) as we were in thick cloud. S and M had not been so high before or on an active volcano, but for us it was a bit of a non event after White Island and the Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand. It was atmospheric in the cloud though, and to go up Europe's highest volcano is exciting in a way.

On our return we walked back to our B and B via the Greek theatre. €10 But a beautiful setting - above the town and sea, and amazingly for this trip so far, in sunshine.

We had supper of what they said was 'dolphin fish' but assured us it was not really Dolphin.