Etna mountain and around

So we arrived in Catania and the same day started our road trip around Etna mountain stopping in a few villages and points with great vistas. Etna covers an area of nearly 1,200 square km with circumference of 140 km.

Volcanic soil is very fertile and there is plenty of agriculture on Etna's base. Vineyards, orchards, olive groves spread across the lower slopes of the mountain. Lots of farmers sells their produce along the main road.

That's how pistachio tree looks like. The region around Bronte town are mainly pistachio farms.

 ..and pistachio nuts.

Bronte town is famous for its pistachio gelato but also the town was simply lovely to wonder around.

Men spent all afternoons on the streets sitting on chairs brought from their homes and talking. I promised this charming "quattro" that I will not call them "old" or "grandfathers" if I show their picture anywhere. So here they are, beautiful, smiling Sicilian men. Indeed.

The lower part of Etna mountain with still some vegetation.

Etna's summit was of course our final destination. This is the highest we could get - 2,700 m of elevation. Hiking to the summit is not allowed due to the volcano's more active months.  It's a lunar place with dried lava and volcanic ashes, some of the lava is dated 300,000 years old. I was fortunate to be with Marc-Olivier who took these great pics. As I forgot my camera (talking about stress..) we exchanged his camera and covered the trip together. 

We accessed the mountain from the North side (Piano Provenzana 1,950 m) which is less popular than the South access. We took this Star 4x4 bus which is the only option if less time. But we also had some hiking and exploring time.

Agriculture farm San Marco where we stayed for a night.

We spent two days around Etna and certainly June days was the right time to visit with many less visitors and still lots of quietness around the mountain. I loved to see so many farms in this region and such rich and abundant produce coming from this fertile soil. Driving around Etna's base gave us a good understanding of how big this mountain is and you can only imagine the power this huge volcano hides beneath. 

San Marco farm where we stayed for a night was a place of peace and serenity. The farm lays just at the  base of Etna and you can see the mountain while enjoying this lovely pool. We had our best dinner there, home made, real sicilian food of love cooked by the host lady, she was so sweet and I regret very much of not taking a photo of her. There are vineyards around the farm, vegetables and fruits are grown, there are also a few goats and indeed the goat cheese was delicious. I wish we stayed there longer! More stories from Aeolian Islands will follow soon.