Walking In Sicily

The trip starts today at our base for the week, the seaside town of Giardini Naxos. Once a quiet fishing village, Giardini Naxos is now a popular resort, known for its beaches, panoramic view of the bay and surrounding hills with Mount Etna in the distance, and a small fishing port. Its position is ideal for accessing the endless hiking opportunities and incredibly varied scenery of eastern Sicily. The beautiful hill top town of Taormina, famous for its remarkable ancient theatre, is situated in the hills above Giardini Naxos and can be easily accessed by public bus. Your trip Leader plans to meet everyone in the hotel reception at 6pm for the welcome meeting followed by the chance to go out for dinner for those that wish. There are no other activities planned today. Should you miss the welcome meeting, your Leader will inform you of any essential information as soon as you catch up. If you would like to receive a complimentary airport transfer today, you'll need to arrive into Catania Fontanarossa Airport (CTA), which is around an hour's drive from the hotel. We stay at Hotel Villa Linda, a small and friendly family-run hotel situated in the peaceful Recanati area of Giardini Naxos, just a couple of minutes' walk from Recanati Beach, there are a number of restaurants, bars and a small supermarket close by. The well-appointed en suite bedrooms are air-conditioned and include a flat-screen satellite TV, hairdryer and safe. Free Wi-Fi is available.

Our walk today is on the northern slopes of Mount Etna, the highest volcano in Europe (3330m) and one of the largest in the world. Mount Etna is one of the most active volcanoes in the world and is in an almost constant state of activity. We drive up to 1900m on Etna's slopes. Hundreds of subsidiary cones and spent craters have been formed by lateral eruptions along regular lines of fracture which, together with twisted lumps of lava strewn chaotically around, provide an otherworldly setting. Setting out from a height of 1700m, we walk to the fissures of the 2002 eruptions and site of the former ski resort area of Piano Provenzana. We reach a high point on the walk of 2200m. Afterwards we follow the now solidified lava flows downhill through the pine forests to 1900m. Our waiting bus takes us back to our base at the seaside. Today's moderate grade 10 kilometre walk is expected to take around four hours with a total ascent of 500 metres and a descent of 250 metres.

This morning we drive to Milazzo on Sicily's north coast from where we take a ferry to the Aeolian island of Vulcano, named after Zeus' son Vulcan, the God of fire and metalworking. Although now dormant, Vulcano has erupted spectacularly throughout the centuries - the last dramatic explosion being only 100 years ago. In 183 BC a huge eruption gave birth to 'Vulcanello' (the Little Volcano) visible from the port. Today, Vulcano puffs out a steady stream of gases and vapour. Even offshore the presence of the sulphur, which was once mined here, is obvious. At the time of writing (April 2023), the hike previously undertaken to the crater rim is off limits due to gaeous emissions from the vulcano. If this ban is still in force at the time of our visit we will take a bus tour of the island instead. The trip will take us up to the caldera ring for a great view of the Gran Cratere, volcanic cone from a distance. We'll also stop at a number of other panoramic view points with great views of the Aeolian islands scattered around us. Afterwards we can cool off with a swim in the sea from one of the island's black sand beaches. We return to Milazzo by ferry and drive back to Giardini Naxos.