Episode 2: Expect the unexpected in Sicily - we climbed Mount Etna! | Behind The Bucket List
a desolate landscape unlike any other where scorching heat and strange gases do not favor the living this place is otherworldly um no we're still on planet earth this is my first volcano there jamie is this you've been up a volcano before but with scenery like this it's easy to forget we're on mount aetna europe's largest and most active volcano the defining feature of italy's largest and most famous island sicily it's a fact europe is home to incredible bucket list destinations and experiences you know those moments that no life feels complete without we're trying to find out why people love coming to athens oh okay i'm luke and i'm a professional tour guide from england never say goodbye i've been showing people around europe with tour company expat explore travel since early 2019 but it's time to leave the land of high tea little red phone boxes and hugh grant behind and do something a bit different we asked our travelers for their top bucket list destinations and experiences and i'll be discovering what it is that makes them so popular joining me is fellow explorer and australian cameraman jamie when he heard what we were doing he didn't take much convincing and together we're hitting the road to explore what it is that defines a bucket list destination we'll see the iconic sights but also venture off the beaten track we're on a mission to discover some of europe's biggest and best when it comes to travel experiences and then go deeper are you ready let's go behind the bucket list ah sicily an island that's known true hardship both geological and cultural from countless volcanic eruptions to its fair share of invasions the greeks carthaginians and arabs to name a few to starvation due to agricultural failure resulting in mass emigration and the rise of the mafia in the 19th century bringing with it huge amounts of oppression yet despite all this sicilians have shown tremendous resilience and in doing so leave us with incredible tales of triumph and resolve told through the amazing experiences available here no wonder sicily is at the top of so many people's bucket lists i'm eager to learn more about life here in sicily stories and of course the food jamie this is for you my friend where better to start our sicilian adventure than its major port and gateway to the rest of the world catania the city has a population of around 300 000 and lies under the shadow of mount etna aetna is ever present and has to a large extent shaped both the history and actual existence of catania devastating the city several times with its enormous eruptions the most violent of which was in 1669 during which lava flooded the whole of the city killing 12 000 people yet it's often in the face of adversity that the magic of resilience shines through this is a city that bounced back from disaster and despite the ongoing threat of the smoldering beast to its north it's truly thriving and there's one place in particular where this is felt most it's legendary fish markets that's a huge amount of variety on all the stalls here and an amazing energy to the place people aren't just buying it for cooking there are people eating raw fish in the streets and we've been frost upon us some of the fish here as well as a massive bunch of coriander responsible for over 20 percent of italy's entire fish trade it's no wonder it's home to one of its most famous fish markets the market is as old as catania itself and is considered by many as the beating heart of the city the fish markets also known as the pesharia in italian is just behind the baroque aminano fountain on the edge of piazza del duomo so here are the little guys here some of them have been decapitated some of them not and yeah we'll have to talk to jamie about how they taste but they smell delicious as you know i'm allergic why am i doing this because you love lyrics oh yes no trip to sicily is complete without sampling at least some of his fishy delights so no fish for me but there's another sicilian delicacy that i've been desperate to try arancini is famous all across italy but a lot of people don't realize it's actually a sicilian creation the superle version is the rome version but the arancini is iconic here in sicily and this is the best arancini i have ever had it's rice in a ball with a coned end as a tribute to aetna covered with breadcrumbs and deep fried incredible i'm doing the same i know we're meant to be avoiding this but i want you to take a bite as well jamie i'll tell you a bit off because this is phenomenal well this is like this looks like the ultimate almost i i couldn't even eat it because it looks so well presented you know yeah it's even on the gold plates a little green mountain and uh inside it's a pistachio speck but outside we have a double double pistachio wow and you can you can eat the pistachio every bite whilst this game changing bit of food made its way to my stomach it hit me just how amazing it is that this huge and vibrant city continues to thrive despite the ever-present threat of the volcano but it turns out not only have the sicilians thrived in the face of these ecological threats some are also using it to their advantage especially when it comes to wine there are 19 regions producing wine in italy yet sicily accounts for 15 of the country's total production this is a big deal it's diverse microclimates varied growing environments and a wealth of indigenous grapes have caught the attention of the world we want to know more about aetna's role in this so we're meeting the brothers of the mondi fesso winery on the foothills of aetna to find out more that's what's amazing about this uh obviously people who come to enjoy your wines to sample them to be able to see the original process there was uh i mean the distinction between of course white and red wine because you know the white does not need to be pressurized so you just squeeze the grapes and the liquid goes inside whereas the the red wine will will be processed with the with the press to to get also the you know the the tannins we called it the tanini we called it yeah we say it's heavens yeah and what would you say sets maybe sicilian apart from italian wine sicilian you have to distinguish because sicilian wine if you think about aetna yes you have a completely different climate and microclimate climate that differentiate from from from the other wines you got from the other part for of sicily meaning victoria or the other the other wine you got from from trapani or marsala like corvo or salafarutta or because the the grapes here also also the the harvest season is completely different here here we are in the ethernet dock as also you've seen me loads of ferrana trek estani here we are in pedara and so this grape has been in your family for multiple generations then the huncle of my of my father actually received it and i bought it and then my father actually renovate a replant so the wine here isn't just unique to the rest of italy this is unique to sicily as well exactly that's what i want to say yeah exactly they got it experienced because when you when you go skiing on the top of the aetna you see the the sea in front of you going down and uh yeah and you have you know winter condition on the top and then you go backwards to the to the big town in catania and you get warm weather so you can have sun by the sea and then 45 minutes beyond that you're you're skiing down a volcano but with snow and in between the two you have the wine you must come here and try the unique flavors at the mondifesso winery in the foothills of mount aetna i haven't tasted wine like it before and for a truly sicilian experience we hope you'll come and join us here soon with a salute and a ciao plus a surprise little homemade nochiolino hazelnut liqueur made by the guy's mother it was finally time to take my slightly merry self up the mighty aetna but don't worry jamie's driving and my god what a drastic change in scenery the mighty aetna can be seen from all around this part of the island whether catania to the south or messina to the north it can even be seen from calabria over on mainland italy aetna is what we call a stratovolcano meaning it's a conical volcano built up by many layers of hardened lava pumice and ash giving visitors the rare opportunity to literally hike up lava oh wow so didn't know what to expect when we came up here but looking up to the top of the volcano this is definitely some sort of magma river so solidified lava here this is incredible we're only a few minutes from the station and this is a very new experience for me last major eruptions 1986 1999 this is pure epicity at its best i just made that word up is that real word now when it comes to hiking there are plenty of trails ranging from easy going to the more extreme or if you're feeling a bit lazier you can even take the cable car followed by a specially adapted bus that looks like something out of moonraker to get you to the top and with this lunar landscape you really do have to remind yourself you're still on earth you can see in here these poor classic solidified lava that's cooled down this would have once been flowing all the way down these craters bursting out of them hoping we can find some bigger bits as we go up during our volcanic explorations we met some fellow explorers who were happy to talk to us about why they were here well first because uh it's quite warm and we're in autumn then it's still so lovely weather and enjoy the sun and everything and after that for the yeah the nature nature volcano it's wonderful the the landscape the scenery is just amazing we went to the aeolian islands oh wow yeah and nature is so wild the volcanoes also are amazing is it your first time to sicily yeah first time but not in italy but in sicily yeah would you say it lives up to your expectations really yes really like we really have a good time here the food is amazing yes yes in this direction yeah and after you have just like this this uh could you go down like this and you go just run so it's no big secret that i'm easily excited at most things and upon seeing that huge crater nearby i just had to run to the top partly for the view but also for the new experience of running up a giant mound of lava and ash [Music] it's harder than you might think though however coming back down was great fun [Music] when it comes to views of aetna there are so many great spots but there's one that steals the show and that's from the popular coastal town of taumina home to one of sicily's most iconic ruins the greek theatre of tauramina the greek theatre here at taomina is a huge reference to the greek heritage of sicily not only that though there are those that believe it's actually of roman origin which again is testament to the huge cultural mix of the history of the island not only the theater though in the distance we have perfect views of the summit of mount aetna we have the bay of naxos as well as part of the messina strait in the distance i knew the ancient history of this place was going to be incredible but i didn't realize that they still had performances today having seen the seat numbers here and spoken to the staff the performances that happened throughout the year take place in this ancient setting giving you an incredible feel for how it would have once been used this morning at the fish market we found this amazing little place called the shiroko fish lab but as we were here so early it was a bit too early for us to get some food so we thought we'd come back this evening to try it out but how long have you guys been here how long has this been here the fish lab five years four okay oh my god they look incredible so i'm going to go straight in it's really hot so i'm just going to have a little tip [Music] incredible man the head just exploded in my mouth and the flavors are the same [Music] when it comes to the greeks it's not just theater and entertainment that they brought to sicily they also brought their religion and we know how dedicated they were to honoring their gods with their many awe-inspiring column temples one of the most well preserved examples of this here on sicily is the valley of the temples in agrigento 6 30 in the morning we're getting some sneaky shots of the valley of the temples temple dela concordia behind us over here as the name suggests there's literally a valley full of various greek temples to find a greek structure this well preserved is truly amazing and sicily seems to have been attracting people from all over the world for two and a half millennia and with its booming tourism industry it still does today although the tourists are much more welcome than invading civilizations but what was it that made it so desirable to these invaders its perfect agricultural conditions the softest juiciest apple i may have ever tasted partly contextual because of where we are but also i wish you could taste it jamie i'll give you a bite but it might be a bit weird but i know you've got a banana in your pocket so it's all good but then there's the legendary sicilian lemons facial [Music] a whopping 90 of italy's lemons come from the island so it's no wonder it's also home to some of the world's best limoncello and after all our exploring i'm definitely ready for a drink oh wow okay this is incredible so how do they make this tasty treat you take the peel of a washed lemon soak it in grain alcohol for a month then add water and sugar store for another month in a dark room and incredible i have heard that sicilian lemons are the best lemons yes in the world [Music] in the world the lemon okay wow yes lemon italy is a 50 one lemon from sicily that's 17 percent of acids so if anyone is going to visit sicily i think it's very important they have experienced the lemons but maybe especially the limoncello yes okay so i have to ask you about this ah the legendary cannoli of italy a perfect accompaniment to this lemony treat jamie this is for you my friend you've been working very [Music] [Music] thank you so much thank you for you for for the education for the time and i think you were the perfect person and the perfect place to come and learn about these things thank you and come on in my shop before the drink typical drink from sicily from syracuse naturals no color only from syracuse only from the little island of sicily we came expecting only to try limoncello but that classic sicilian family hospitality meant we were in for a lot more than just that so much so we were almost late for our next experience we were just trying some of the famous limoncello and they said we have to come here to speak to you and it looks like you have something very special here biscotti [Music] [Music] oh my god it's incredible the combination the um the ricotta and the marzipan is delicious italiano italiano [Music] invading civilizations ecological threats we've seen some of the hardships of the past that have helped shape the sicily of today but there's a much more recent one that has led to widespread oppression corruption and even death for some it's the mafia although what we're more interested in is the rapidly growing revolution and we're meeting local guide and anti-mafia activist eduardo in sicily's capital palermo there are some people who have glamorized the idea of of the of the mafia and so we are here to discuss it and to demolish it the myth exactly this but we dispel the myth we give an example so that are clear about what the mafia really is and most of all we also once wanted people to learn about what is the anti-mafia movement it's it's not just only at your pizza or it's not something like recent i mean the the anti-mafia movement it's basically basically as old as the mafia you know so it's each generation in sicily uh they were in in during uh during the past years there was always someone or a group of people who tried to do something who uh struggled against the mafia some of them have been killed of course and so yes when we start from here we just uh it's it's it's the beginning of the story the mafia referred to by its own members as cosa nostra standing for our thing is a collection of criminal syndicates involved in racketeering drug smuggling and other organized crime activity across italy the united states and the world by 1865 the mafia had accumulated enormous influence in sicily controlling much of its farms ranches and businesses okay so where are we now at toronto we are in piazza della memoria it is a memorial dedicated to the prosecutors and judges killed by the mafia and this one is the courthouse so this space i mean you can read this you know the name so all the people that has been killed in particular between the late 70s and at the beginning of the 90s probably the most famous are falcone and barcelina that have been killed both in 1992. it's estimated the mafia extorts more than 160 million euros every year from shops and businesses in the palermo region this is all mafia free you know this whatever you will spend here even a single euro will not go to the mafia the fact that tourist shops that have this sticker other tourists can come here and see this and i guess it's a sign that it's safe for them to be here talking about these things and using these shops and that's i think it has a lot of power to it given that the mafia have murdered judges police prosecutors and others this is a huge deal and one that is now using the help of tourism with adio pizzo travel and people like eduardo here who run tours for tourists helping raise funds for the movement promoting the shops restaurants and other businesses that are a part of it to tourists and teaching younger generations about how they can be part of the wave of progression and freedom here in sicily we came here to uncover why it is that sicily appears time and time again on travel bucket lists we've tasted its legendary seafood sipped its delicious wines and had more than our fair share of limoncello we've explored its ancient ruins and even climbed the craters of its volcano yet in this moment of reflection these are not what come to mind i just can't stop thinking about the amazing resilience that this place has shown in the face of hardship so when you come here to enjoy its culinary delights or inspiring ruins or its volcanic adventures remember that people by their very nature are survivors and nowhere have i seen this more than here in sicily and that it's the incredible tales of triumph and resolve behind these experiences that will add true value to your great sicilian adventure you
2020-12-21 20:18
