catania

i got off at the airport because i had seen a decathlon right next to it. while some elderly dutch couple kept an eye on my luggage, i tried walking there. turns out it's one of those highway centres, so no chance - still without camping mat, i booked a hostel.

met an albanian, a norwegian and a russian there, we went out with them the next day. had a really interesting convo about family and kids, you could really notice that it's a cultural thing and that the eastern european guys had a very traditional, conservative stance, while the the girl from norway was way more progressive and sided with me.

i also met a couple of other peculiar individuals at the hostel, one jamaican guy that just sat in the hostel yard downing a bottle of whiskey everyday and an older italian who i would describe as the most extroverted person i have ever seen.

the next day, i had to get up at 7 am for the etna trek i had booked, but i was up even earlier because there was a guy ripping ass so loudly that everyone but him woke up from it (12 person dorm ny the way). i ate some chocolate spread toast and headed out to the meeting point.

met the group, got into a sprinter van and reached the side of mount enta an hour later. out of the 20 person group, i was the only one that decided to go up without trekking poles, which made it harder than i thought. the volcanic debris is so fine in texture that it feels like walking on sand, or up a dune in this case.

because of several miscommunications, i hadn't brought any lunch, so i was more exhausted than anticipated when we reached the turning point of the tour after about 3 hours of uphill hiking with short breaks filled with geology lessons from the guides. the going down part was way quicker and more fun for that matter because you could run and slide down the ash fields.

came back super exhausted and hopped on a night bus to naples the same evening. it was operated by itabus and although i didn't sleep much, it was the most luxurious bus ride, way better than flixbus.

also, i finally decided to buy some cheap cable headphones. was well overdue after going more than a month without.Read more