Ferrovia Circumetnea (FCE), Sicily- highlights with views of Mt Etna PT1 13/04/22

Index points: 00:00 We start in the country side just north of Piedimonte Etneo 00:39 Nice view of Mt Etna 01:20 Extended view of Etna 03:29 Terremorte with Etna in background 03:47 Passopisciaro 05:07 Etna has started giving off smoke! 06:58 Stand off with a dog blocking the level crossing!! 07:57 The mountains to the north of Etna 10:11 View of Etna over lava field 10:15 We skip to mountain views just before Maletto 10:53 I'm not sure what this vehicle is! 11:05 Maletto (the highest station on the Circumetnea) 13:29 Full length view of Etna! She is so large it is hard to capture the volcano in one shot 13:36 Lava fields above Bronte 14:04 Nice view over lava fields of Etna offgasing 16:10 The railway is cut through the lava here! 16:36 Twisting down through the 1843 lava field above Bronte (this nearly destroyed the town) 17:25 Mt Etna standing over Bronte 18:15 Bronte station- Lord Nelson was made Duke of Bronte, but may not have visited 20:09 Looking back over Bronte 20:32 The line twists along the mountainside, with Monte dell'Aquila in the background 22:40 Monte Minardo, with Etna to the left 22:58 Running through the 1843 lava fields (they are huge!) 23:41 This is where the classic Circumetnea photos are taken of the trains running through the martian landscape! 26:14 Passo Zingaro 27:55 Looking back over to Monte Minardo and the lava 29:21 Don't get slapped by a Prickly Pear cactus!! 29:43 Adrano- where the line is gradually morphing into a modern metro! These extended highlights of my trip on the FCE were taken using a cheap sport camera. I used this, as I wouldn't be too bothered if it got dropped out of the window! by accident!! The benefit is the video is in 60FPS- however, there is also a "fisheye" lens effect. To me, this actually works quite well, and captures the full panorama. In fact, it is the only way you can get the whole of Mt Etna in one shot!. The first part of journey was on a pair of 1990s vintage railcars (ADe 24 and 25). It is now necessary to change at Randazzo- I went onwards on 1990s unit ADe 22, working on its own. This is an improved version, as the Youtube encoder turned the original into blocky hell! I have also included station labels. The video includes extended highlights between Piedmonte Etneo and Adrano Nord. Unfortunely, I was having a bit of a panic with the tickets for the first part of the journey- the ticket office could not accept cards and the app wouldn't accept a UK mobile number. In the end, I just put my UK number with an Italian code and it worked!!