Mount Etna changed our flight plans!
A short trip to Sicily to experience some of the lovely Mangia Hotels and Resorts had to be extended by a day due the activities of Mount Etna!
This summer has seen a number of smallish eruptions from Mount Etna, and being a bit of a geological geek, I was delighted that one of her (smaller) eruptions happened during my visit to Sicily. I didn't experience any violent explosions or lava flows that are sometimes incorrectly shown on social media, but as you can see from the photo, the gas and smoke plumes from the volcano can be seen really clearly from our hotel.
Whilst the beauty of this eruption is plain to see, it did however, put a spanner in the work in terms of our flight home. As the ash from volcanoes can damage aircraft engines (we all remember the Iceland volcano of 2010!), Catania airport was closed for about 48 hours, which did unfortunately cause a bit of chaos with holiday makers trying to return home.
We, therefore, decided to change our plans and fly home from Malta! I hadn't realised just how close to Malta Sicily actually was, and after a short hop in a taxi down to the Pozzallo on the south coast we boarded the 3 hour ferry over to Malta. It really was pretty simple. Granted we had to overnight at the airport before our flight home the following morning, but honestly, it was a really smooth and easy change to our itinerary. Certainly easier than having to fight for a flight home from Catania over the coming days when the airport re-opened!
