Want an “easy” volcano to climb instead of grappling with Mount Etna or MedTrekking up Stromboli?

The bowl-shaped Crater della Fossa on Sicily’s Aeolian Island of Vulcano is the place to go. But you may get a bit muddy by the time it’s all over.

The crater seen from Vulcano’s Porto di Ponente.

Vulcano is not too high (390 meters), has an intriguing history (Vulcan, the god of fire, hung out here), contributed to the dictionary (the word “volcanology”), has great views (of Sicily, Stromboli, Lipari and other islands), and is comparatively safe (there hasn’t been an eruption since 1890).

The Idiot Gets Up Vulcano’s Crater della Fossa.

In Vulcano’s volcano.

For the record, they’ve just started asking for a three-euro “contribution” to make the climb and there are lots of fumaroles if you want to OD on smoky sulfurous vapors. And if you walk down the pathless backside of the crater you’ll see some intriguing graves-to-be that The Idiot thought had been prepared for visitors who don’t make the contribution — and wind up very much under the volcano.

Under the volcano.

Once you get back down to sea level don’t skip the sulfurous mud thermal baths that (and I swear this is true) are so therapeutic that they’ll heal all the bruises and cuts you incurred getting up, in and under the volcano.

The Idiot dove into the soothing, therapeutic and smelly mud baths.

When you’re at the top you’ll find yourself @

[wpgmappity id=”8″]

NB: This concludes The Idiot’s seven-week MedTrek outing in Sicily. Joel Stratte-McClure will attempt to post Idiotic Musings on Follow The Idiot from China/Tibet during July. His adventure travel contributions from the Mediterranean Sea will resume when he MedTreks (and sleeps with the monks at Mount Athos) in Greece from September 5-October 8.

Text: Joel Stratte-McClure

Photos: Joel Stratte-McClure and Toby Lorenzen

Follow

About Joel

Joel Stratte-McClure has been a global trekker since the 1970s. He lived in France for over 30 years, working as a journalist, before he turned his attention to a unique life-time-project of walking the shores of the Mediterranean. The first 4,401 kilometers are explored in his inspirational and entertaining first book "The Idiot and the Odyssey: Walking the Mediterranean." The next 4,401 kilometers are covered in the gods-filled sequel, "The Idiot and the Odyssey II: Myth, Madness and Magic on the Mediterranean,” published on Valentine's Day 2013. The last 4,401 kilometers will be discussed in the last book of the trilogy currently entitled "The Idiot and the Odyssey III: Alexander the Great Walks the Mediterranean."