The second trip we took was to Mt. Etna, the epic volcano just an hour North of Siracusa. I've been taking a volcanology class for the past couple of months, so this trip was to teach us more about Mt. Etna, and it was really cool. We woke up bright and early and drove North in the good ole Reale Bus to Mt. Etna. The volcano itself is around 3000 Meters tall, but the top 2000 meters are a national park, so anyone living on the volcano has to live 1000 meters up or below. The plan was to go hiking on a lava flow field (the area where lava once flowed out of the volcano. Etna has many, many fields, most are covered by the more recent eruptions) that was fairly high up, but unfortunately it snowed (!!!) the night before, and the weather was looking iffy for that day, so we changed spots on the volcano. We hiked up the 1979 lava flow field, which you can basically see in the first picture. I know it looks like a bunch of rocks surrounded by trees, but you gotta realize there were once trees where the rocks are, and that those rocks were molten lava at one point. Yeah, a bit cooler now, right? So we hiked and hiked until we got to the top of a small hill on Mt. Etna, where we could then see across the Valle del Bove, a valley that had been carved out by much older lava flows. That's where we could see the snow capped peaks of Mt. Etna, and the whole valley, which led down to the sea. It was an epic view, so naturally, we all took turns having our picture taken in front of it. We also saw a rainbow on the way up, and I think you can just about make out the second rainbow from that picture. (Yes, this was referenced: http://youtu.be/OQSNhk5ICTI).
All in all, a very cool day. I have officially hiked on a volcano and have taken a selfie on a volcano. Bucket list is going pretty well.