As our blogger Fyllis Hockman writes, "then there was Mount Etna on the east coast just under four hours north of Catania – at more than 10,000 feet high, Europe's largest active volcano. Although the last eruption was in May 2017, we were repeatedly assured we were in no danger of a repeat. I’m a hiker. I’m used to climbing over rocks and roots. But this was my first experience with lava stones and fields – a topography I had never encountered before. As we climbed up the almost two-mile trail, we passed two centuries worth of vegetation from tiny tufts of green still recovering from earlier eruptions to huge, long-standing pine trees of old. I’m a travel writer and I’m supposed to be able to bring experiences to life but this was so surreal and otherworldly, so without comparison to anything I’ve seen before that I feel inadequate to capture it in mere words. A stop afterwards for a shot of "Fire of Etna" – a 70-proof concoction of rose petals and herbs -- shook me out of my volcanic reverie."

Read more about the tour in her post Sicily, Where What's Not on the Tour Itinerary Is as Important as What Is.