Introduction
In this journal you will find out the thoughts as well as useful information on the activities that were on
offer in the Sicily Trip 2008 Day 1 - Departure
We left from school, buzzing, after spending most of our lunch sitting on the floor outside the room in
which our luggage was held. Not that we actually had to. The coach journey to Stansted passed quickly
and check in was painful as I saw a bag reach 15.2 kg – the maximum being fifteen – but it was let
through anyway. The flight took three and a half hours but it felt like a lot longer. The heat that hit me as I
exited the airplane was immense. Along with this finding ones fellow school friends was also a slight
challenge but was overcome. After a varying amount of passport scares our bags were collected, we made
it through security and onto the coach. The drive was long and bound to be tiring given the time at which
we started. We landed in the north west of the island from where we proceeded to the east of the island
where our hotel was situated.
There were many towns and cities around the airport (north) as well as lots around where we are, in the
hotel (east.) It appears that there are scarcely any villages and very few cities elsewhere on the island.
This was noticed on our journey from the airport to the hotel so I an unable to comment about other areas.
The hypothesis is that the towns have built up around the volcanoes. This is because the ground is
extremely fertile. The reason why the ground is fertile is because of the nutrients present in the mantle
and the centre of the earth which are ejected by erupting volcanoes. These cities have grown around
fertile ground because of the lifestyle in the times these cities were created. Previously the main industry
and way of living was agriculture and this was supported well by the soil. The reason why there are
scarcely any cities in the centre of the island is because of this issue of soil quality. Based on this my
prediction of the number of villages in the areas we were unable to see is that where there are volcanoes
there will be people and where there are people there will be cities or villages.
Just as the temperature hit boiling point, literally - towards the end of the journey, Mt. Etna (tomorrow’s
excursion) came into sight and was aglow with bright orange lava seeping from the top. Apparently this
was a regular thing, well as regular as a part erupting volcano can get for a thirteen year old Londoner in a
coach, but we were the first Sicily trip to see this physical feature thing occurring. We arrived at 1:30 in
the morning, and not knowing where we were out of tiredness, were sent to our rooms to get some well
needed sleep. We did eventually get an
amount. I knew there was a big day ahead
of us and was really excited about the
prospect of going up to Mt. Etna and all
the great things that were to be learnt.
Day 2 – Mt Etna
After only a few hours sleep we (my
room mates) all woke up very tired.
Breakfast was fast and the rush for Mt.
Etna, which was again smoking from the
top, was evident. On the drive up to the
cable car we all fell asleep frequently due
to the lack of sleep experienced the night
before.
We arrived at Mt. Etna in a cloud of water
vapour that was surprisingly cold. From here we proceeded to take a cable car that would take us near to
the top. The old along with recent lava flows were visible from the cable car. The distinguishing feature
between the two was the plants that have started to grow on the fertile soil provided by lava and the
nutrients it contains. The new ones have yet to prosper but that will soon be solved
The cable car arrived well above the clouds with a view you would expect to see from a plane rather than
a mountain. From there you could see the way that the water is evaporating from the sea and then being
carried over to the land as cloud by the wind. This left no clouds gathered over the easily seen sea.
Tourism is a main part of Mt. Etna’s
economy, displayed by the large
amount of shops and restaurants owned
by locals to earn money from the many
tourists flooding to the area, along with
its geographically unusual features.
The next form of travel used was a bus
taking us nearer to the top where we
had a clear view of the top. Near to the
top was a lot of yellow matter. This, I
soon found out, was sulphur that has
come from the gasses given off by the
main vent at the top of the volcano. We
then proceeded on a circular walk
around a crater, along with a buried
house and café, as well as what was a
hike for most other people up a hill and
back down again. As we sat on the warm ground I contemplated the last major eruption which was in the
nineteen thirties along with the activity which once again started in May of this year.
The buried house and café were buried at least ten feet under the ground with only a slight hole where the
ash had been moved away. When a volcano erupts, ash and small rocks can fly as much as three thousand
feet into the air and large lumps of lava called “lava bombs” are launched seven hundred feet into the air.
These together are called the pyroclastic clouds.
We then walked on to a secondary vent of the volcano where around the vent a lot of the rocks had taken
on a red colour, this means that there is iron present from the volcano. I then knocked a very small rock
all the way in to the vent as Miss Bud watched and commented that as I am writing this journal it would
probably be melted in the mantle becoming molten lava.
The next thing we found were rocks, “fools gold” as they are called, which had a mixture of normal rock,
glass, silicone and around 0.0001 grams of gold. These rocks were shaped and given the characteristics by
the time taken to cool after they are launched out of the volcano.
We then hiked up the hill and once at the top I found a small hollow in the ground, rested my hand on the
bottom of it and found that it was hot enough to burn me if I kept my hand there for too long. This is
because of all the magna that is nearer to the surface here than in most other places in the world as well as
having a lot of volcanic activity underneath me.
After that we headed back on to the bus to take us down to the cable car, stopping for another group
photograph along with a sit down on the small pebble like stones that somehow always find their way in
to your shoes before we left On the way down we were followed by a cyclist – who was actually faster
than us – but I wouldn’t have liked having to ascend the mountain beforehand this way.
While I sat quietly freezing to death eating my lunch I had the ingenious idea of having an ice cream, like
I couldn’t get any colder. The cable car journey was quick and once we arrived at the bottom the evidence
of the importance of tourism to the community was again displayed by the number of shops and cafes.
We then boarded the coach to take us back to the hotel.
Heading to the beach for some well deserved rest and relaxation I went over in my mind tomorrow's
excursion and the long trip that would await to get there. The beach was one of stones, which was actually
preferable to sand as the former do not stick to you unlike the latter which gets everywhere. On my exit
from the crystal clear water I helped to bury two of my fellow classmates before I helplessly got buried
myself. As the stones mounted up they became increasingly heavy and it was at this point decided that I
would appear as a suckling pig, but unfortunately an apple was too good for me so I eventually ended up
with a salty flavoured sponge ball that I could taste long after I had conjured up the strength to sit up and
expel the stones from my body.
We are going to have an early rise so I am going to get some well deserved rest after last nights limited
amount of sleep. Tomorrow is going to be another great day and I want to be raring to go.
Day 3 – Valley of the Temples
Today was a trip to the Valley of the Temples where we were going to see three Greek temples in an old
village along with a little surprise, catacombs.
We drove from the east of the Island all the way to the south-west corner of Sicily. There was a distinct
difference between the two parts of the Island as there has been most of the trip. In the south-west the air
was extremely dry and the grass had changed to a more straw like colour because of these dry conditions.
The fact we were only a hundred and twenty miles from Tunisia is evidence of the sweltering heat.
Another change was that instead of large mountains there were rolling hills and the landscape definitely
did not contain any volcanoes. Because of this there were no citrus fruit trees like there were back by the
hotel. The reason for this is that citrus fruits need good and fertile soil to thrive and the lack of volcanoes
means that the ground quality is very poor and lacking in nutrients, so instead of citrus tees which
proliferate in the east there were a vast amount of olive trees that can live on very poor quality soil.
Evidence of the poor soil can also be seen through the way agriculture is carried out. The farmers burn the
remnants of their crops after harvest in an attempt to fertilise the ground because they do not have any
naturally occurring fertilisation. The way this works is:
We arrived at the temple and the impact of tourism was once again visible because of the ice cream van
that had parked in the car park. The geographical features of this area support his business because of the
warm and dry conditions and the many visitors who come to see the Greek temples.
The first temple we visited was the Temple of
Hera, this temple had all of the pillars upright
but the roof was missing and had probably
eroded because of rain, wind, salt water from the
nearby sea and other climatic events. Tourism
has helped with the preservation of this temple
as work has been done reinforcing the pillars to
make it safe for visitors.
The village was founded in 581BC – this means
that it is over 2400 years old - and in a decade its
population had grown to that of 200,000 people.
It was also described as “the grandest city in the
mortal land” by the Greeks themselves, The
Greeks built their temples at the top of the hill
because they believed they would be closer to
their Gods, and the rest of the city was
constructed down the sides of the hill.
We then moved on to a café where we ate ice
cream (which was especially great with the heat
being as intense as it was). After the food we
moved on to the Temple of Concorde – the
second best preserved Greek temple – this temple had a roof along with all of its pillars which were still
intact. Because it was so well preserved we were not allowed to go in to it as it was fenced off to protect
it.
There were fossils of sea creatures on the ground in the rocks around the temples from when Sicily like
many other countries were below sea level, millions of year ago. This once again provides further
evidence for what scientists believe; that millions of years ago a much larger part of the Earth’s surface
was under water than is the case today.
We then journeyed on to where we saw a lot of catacombs, Christian graves dug in a coffin shape with a
stone placed on top. There were literally thousands of them in rows and whilst walking between these
rows we found a series of underground tunnels that contained more catacombs. Unfortunately these
underground tunnels were locked but we had a good view of them through the gates.
The third and final temple that we visited was the Temple of Hercules. This temple was pretty much in
ruins and the pillars (that were made of several pieces of stone piled on top of each other) were scattered
around the temple area. The pillars only remained standing on one on side of the temple and even here
were not complete. On most of the rocks on the floor there were little black segments that remain because
of moss that once grew there and left its mark.
Today has been another amazing day on the trip and I can’t wait until tomorrow to experience those mud
baths. However I am a bit concerned because apparently they are very odoriferous.
Day 4 - Vulcano
Today was once again a day to remember. We took a two hour journey to the island of Vulcano, part of
the Aeolian Islands, a group of five volcanic islands. Vulcano is an island made entirely out of the Grand
Crater of Vulcano. It is actually named after the Latin route of the word Volcano from the god Vulcan the
Greek god of fire.
We travelled, once again, from the hotel (east) to the port to embark on a ferry trip to Vulcano (northeast). We arrived on the Island after a choppy and queasy ride along with a few sick people along the
way. The weather was touch and go to start with
but once we arrived on the Island it cleared up
and turned out to be a lovely day with beautiful
views of the top of the volcano. Because of
these volcanoes there was little change in the
landscape and it was still volcanic.
As soon as we exited the boat the effect of
tourism on the island was as crystal clear as the
water surrounding it. There were many shops
and most of them had adapted to “tourist
needs” to battle the heat. They were selling a
variety of items including ice cream, fans,
shorts, flip-flops and cold drinks.
Because of the unusually choppy waves our
planned sight-seeing boat trip around the island was
unfortunately cancelled and instead we were given the option to either relax around the city or climb all
the way to the Grand Crater. Looking back I think that the hike to the top, to see the main vent of the
volcano, was better than the boat trip would have been. I along with half of my classmates set off on this
journey equipped with suitable foot wear accompanied by teachers shod in flip flops who herded the
pack. They knew this wasn’t a great choice but they had no idea of what was to come on this hike up the
steep slope.
From the bottom the effect of altitude on the volcano was clearly visible. At the bottom the ground was
slightly moist sand like ash, which then turned into a dry sand-like ash half way up. Nearer to the top it
transformed in to a dry clay-like style
ground and at the very top it had
become lots of medium sized loose
rocks. These rocks had taken on a
variety of colours including the famous
yellow for sulphur and red for iron.
The start of the climb commenced with
the meeting of a woman who told the
guide at the top to expect us. She did
this along with handing out gas masks,
one between two, to my extreme shock.
The look upon my face when we were
handed gas masks at the bottom must
have been a sight to behold as the
realisation that this could be extremely
serious crept in to my half shocked
system.
Once the ego fulfilling “first person to reach the top of the mountain” was over we saw clouds of
poisonous gas rising off of yellow rock which were extremely hot. A hundred years ago Scottish prisoners
mined the sulphur from the volcano for gun powder. The business of emptying shoes was carried out
quickly but left a rather large pile of sand like ash that is probably still at the top right now.
We were met by the guide who took us on a tour around these incredibly hot sulphur crystals. The first
thing he did was take a piece of paper and place it onto a freshly cut piece of sulphur and it went up in
flames instantaneously. He then cut out some more sulphur crystals that you could hear cooling and
cracking with a crackling sound. If a lump of crystal cools slowly the small crystals that make it up
expand and crack whereas if it cools fast they are small so form together.
Next to these rocks were so called “Lava Bombs”. Large lumps of lava launched out of the volcano in an
eruption which later cool. The cooling process is one of great interest. The outside cools quickly as the
inside cools slowly releasing gas that crack the
already cooled surface, like a loaf of bread.
We then made our way quickly down the
mountain to get some time in the mud baths as
our part of the group were late and others
were already in the mud baths.
Our stay at the mud baths was short but
enjoyable. The only thing stopping it from
being relaxing was the awful smell coming
from the mud beneath. This is also evidence
of tourism as a physical feature was taken up
to make money from the tourists who decided
to bathe in the natural mud baths.
There was then time for a quick ice cream before
the much less queasy boat trip home. The smell of sulphur slowly built in the coach on the journey home
as we spent our last real day in Sicily together because of the amount of travelling tomorrow. The time
that we arrived back at the hotel was too late for a trip to the beach like previous evenings so we ate our
diner and went of to pack for tomorrow’s journey home.
We will have to wake up at around 4:00 tomorrow morning so I am in desperate need of rest after today’s
long yet exciting activities.
Day 5
Day five was consumed with the journey home but as I sat on the Airplane staring out of the window I
was reflecting upon all that I had seen over the past few days.
Conclusion
The trip was amazing and a sight to behold. Not only did it have the value of experience and fun but also
an educational value that I have already noticed in class. I strongly recommend anybody contemplating
the idea of going on this trip to go. It was amazing and I would like to take this opportunity to publicly
thank all the teachers for giving up there time and for the hard work they put into this trip. I am truly
thankful. It is a trip, along with the smell of sulphur on my clothes that will never be forgotten.