Lava Trails and Mountain Peaks: Hiking Mount Etna

Covered in rich amazing mythology Mount Etna, in Sicily, is one of the world’s most active volcanoes. I went because I love Greek mythology and in Greek mythology, Zeus (god of the sky) buried Typhon (father of monsters) under the mountain and when he struggles the volcano erupts. Another myth states that Hephaestus (god of fire and metalworking) has a secret workshop inside the volcano. 

I visited Mount Etna in May and it was a very windy day. Me, my family, my friend Keira, her brother Fynn, and their parents all squeezed into two rental cars and drove up the mountain. The views on the way up are very beautiful and it is surprisingly green. 

Once you arrive up the mountain is very nice, though I don’t recommend paying for a tour guide or taking the gondola to the top (or even going to the top at all). Driving up to the main center is just as nice. First, we visited a few shops (browsing there is amazing because of all the items in the stores) then a crater on one side of the parking lot.

In the crater, someone had built a huge spiral out of stones and we built TCK which stands for Tiki Courage Kids (our boat names are Tiki Tour and Courage). We kids had fun running through the crater and running up the sides so it’s a place that children will likely enjoy. 

We then took, what felt like, a very long hike to the top of one of the peaks on the mountain (there are little hills all over the mountain). There was crazy wind and by the time we reached the top, we were all exhausted. We hid under our hats and rested while our parents took photos then ran down the side of the little hill. We climbed a few more hills and then did a vote on whether or not to keep climbing. The kids won and we went down the hill.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at a cute little forest where we ate lunch and did a lot of playing. We explored, played hide and seek, and more. Overall I would recommend a visit to Mount Etna but for the parents, I recommend keeping it short because the novelty wore off on us kids quite quickly.

I hope this was helpful! Have fun!

-- Sage Sedivec