Across the lava field

Across the lava field, Nicolosi, Italy · Video

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Etna, Greek temples and Taormina · Jul 2024 · 84 photos

Sicily at the end of July 2024: fierce sun, almost cloudless skies, turquoise sea and sun-baked stone. The route begins on the east coast, below Etna: in the evening, from Riposto, the volcano stands against the sunset, with lit clouds above it. Then Syracuse, a colony founded by Greeks from Corinth in the 8th century BC and today a UNESCO site together with the necropolis of Pantalica, with the island of Ortigia and the ruins of the Temple of Apollo.

Riposto

Etna at sunset, with lit clouds above the volcano, seen through palm fronds, and an avenue of palms lit at night.

Etna at sunset, Riposto, Italy
Etna at dusk, Riposto, Italy
The palm avenue at night, Riposto, Italy

Syracuse

The harbor and the island of Ortigia, the ruins of the Temple of Apollo among palms, the breakwater by Porto Piccolo and a small beach at sunset, with boats at anchor.

Syracuse harbor, Syracuse, Italy
Porto Piccolo, Syracuse, Italy
Temple of Apollo, Syracuse, Italy
The Ortigia marina, Syracuse, Italy
Syracuse, Italy

Isola Bella, below Taormina, is a small island tied to the shore by a narrow strip of pebbles and protected as a nature reserve. Etna, the tallest active volcano in Europe, is over 3,300 m high, a figure that changes with its eruptions. On the southern flank, above Nicolosi, the route climbs past 2,500 m. Mount Etna has been on the UNESCO list since 2013. The day of the climb, Etna's summit craters send up columns of grey ash every so often, rising above the cone and drifting apart in the wind.

Isola Bella

The island with its dense greenery, the bay with clear water among the rocks, the cliffs of the nearby cape and the Taormina coast.

Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy
The bay at Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy
The rocks at Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy
Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy
The cliff below Taormina, Taormina, Italy
Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy
Isola Bella, Taormina, Italy

Etna

The cable car over old lava, side craters rimmed in rust red, fields of lava and black ash, and smoke and columns of ash at the summit.

Rifugio Sapienza, Nicolosi, Italy
The Etna cable car, Nicolosi, Italy
The first ash burst, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
The ash cloud drifting away, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
Toward the craters, Nicolosi, Italy
A crater in the fog, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
Etna, Nicolosi, Italy
An extinct crater, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
A crater with red rims, Nicolosi, Italy
Etna, Nicolosi, Italy
The smoking summit, Nicolosi, Italy
The explosion from afar, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
The ash column, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
The ash column, Nicolosi, Italy
Etna, Nicolosi, Italy
The summit in clouds, Nicolosi, Italy
The lava field, Nicolosi, Italy
Side craters, Nicolosi, Italy
Etna, Nicolosi, Italy
The volcanic cone, Nicolosi, Italy
Lava and the summit, Nicolosi, Italy
Lava blocks, Nicolosi, Italy
Etna, Nicolosi, Italy
A lava channel, Nicolosi, Italy
An explosion at the summit, Nicolosi, Italy
The red rock, Nicolosi, Italy
Across the lava field, Nicolosi, Italy · Video
Smoke over the summit, Nicolosi, Italy
The red crater, Nicolosi, Italy
The road to the summit, Nicolosi, Italy

At Agrigento, the Valley of the Temples preserves the ruins of the Greek city of Akragas, founded in the 6th century BC. The Temple of Concordia is one of the best-preserved Doric temples in the world. The site has been on the UNESCO list since 1997.

Valley of the Temples

The temples of Juno, Concordia, Heracles and the Dioscuri, the city wall cut with tombs, the garden of Villa Aurea and the valley of the Kolymbethra garden.

Temple of Juno, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of Juno, Agrigento, Italy
Tombs in the city wall, Agrigento, Italy
Walls of Akragas, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of Concordia, Agrigento, Italy
Concordia from the front, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of Concordia, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of Concordia, Agrigento, Italy
Villa Aurea, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of Heracles, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of the Dioscuri, Agrigento, Italy
Temple of the Dioscuri, Agrigento, Italy
The Kolymbethra garden, Agrigento, Italy

On the northwest coast, the town of San Vito Lo Capo sits at the foot of Monte Monaco, and to the south opens Macari Bay, with Monte Cofano in the distance.

San Vito Lo Capo

The pale sand beach and turquoise water below Monte Monaco, the main street at dusk and Macari Bay, with clear water among the rocks.

San Vito Lo Capo beach, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
Clear water, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
The main street at dusk, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
Macari Bay, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
Macari Bay, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy
The beach with umbrellas, San Vito Lo Capo, Italy

In the afternoon, Palermo, with its botanical garden founded in the late 18th century, and in the evening, Castellammare del Golfo, on the gulf that bears its name. Farther along the north coast, Cefalù. Its Norman cathedral, begun in 1131 by King Roger II, is part of the UNESCO site of Arab-Norman Palermo, together with monuments in Palermo and the cathedral of Monreale. Finally, back on the east coast, Acireale, with its cathedral square and the Baroque churches built after the 1693 earthquake.

Palermo

The botanical garden, with giant ficus trees and their aerial roots, bamboo, a dragon tree, lotus and iron greenhouses, then a Baroque church in the city.