Etna Glory

Late August I hiked to the top of Mount Etna (Sicily), way up to the 3300 m summit of this large active volcano. I ignored the sign saying 'danger' and that it's better to go with a guide, and head off on my own. Up the steep slope while your feet are sinking away in warm, black volcanic ash, untill suddenly, there is the huge crater falling away in front of you. Between the clouds of sulphoric smoke (which make your eyes tear, tickle your nostrils and get you coughing unstoppable if you make the mistake to breathe through your mouth) you peer into the depths. As the smoke moves so do the beauty and colours, and you are looking once at yellow and red slopes, then at ominous spikes rising up from the deep and dark as the nigth. There are three craters, and I climbed to see two of them. It was magical...