Petralia Sottana Day 1 - Walk 1 Between Petralia Sottana and Petralia Soprana

To get into the mountains and our first town we had to take a train, bus, and taxi from Catania to Petralia Sottana. We got to this mountain town, and it is certainly nestled into the hills, a bit before noon. Fortunately we found staff at the hotel (name here) and were able to get into our rooms right away. The sun was in and out and the winds were blowing surprisingly hard. It was going to be a blustery afternoon.  

This town features narrow cobblestone streets that twist and climb amongst the hills where Petralia Sottana is located. We walked into the center of town to find a quick lunch and when you are not on level ground you are dropping quickly down streets as you walk a few hundred meters and descend 30 meters. People get good workouts walking in this town. We found our modest meal and that gave us the energy to tackle one of the Inntravel walks during the rest of the afternoon.

The walk is a circuit-walk that starts at the hotel and winds through the town before climbing out of the habitation into a small forest. Now and then views of Parco della Madonie were seen. Now and then we could look back down into the town we had left. The clouds moved in and the wind picked up. It was about 60F but felt colder with the windchill.  We continued along modest paths and small roads that eventually would take us into  the town of Petralia Soprana. This town seems to have just as many twisty narrow streets that climbs among more hills. Many little, and not so small, churches were passed. Places to grab a bite to eat too - too bad we had eaten already.  It seemed like a nice town.

We left it curling around the backside of a tiny hill (why Inntravel calls it a mount eludes us) before we began descending paths that wound past pastures before we reached an aqueduct that still spots some deck between the several standing arches. Sheep grazed by the aquaduct and we continued down the grassy paths back towards Petralia Sottana. The walk was just over 8.3km and we climbed (and then descended) about 240 meters. Inntravel writes it would take 2 hours 45 minutes to walk and that is about what it did take. They were a bit off on the elevation gain and loss but we won’t complain about having less to do. It was a nice opening taste of the area and used up the bulk of the remaining afternoon.

If their is a downside so far it is dinner. The restaurant that is attached to the hotel seems to just have pizza. They have some ante pasta dishes but you don’t (well we don’t) want cold dishes for dinner after a good day of hill walking. The pizza was OK but it isn’t going to live in memory as  a remarkable dish either.

Stats: Blustery afternoon tending towards overcast with winds pushing 26MPH and a high temperature around 60F. We walked into the downtown twice and each time that meant of walk of about 1.2km roundtrip with ascent/descent of 30m. The major walk was 8.3km and we ascended/descended 240m. Walking time for the major walk was about 2 hours 47 minutes and we took just 9 minutes (or so) in breaks.

Photos

1. Petralia Soprana. The upper town that may be smaller than the lower town but that is just maybe how it felt to me. 
2. A view of Parco della Madonie from Petralia Sottana.
3. I know not much of a picture but it gives you a tiny sense of the twisty narrow steep streets that fill both towns.
4. A small church not far from Petralia Soprana. Too bad there is a bunch of trash strewn about the grounds. We This fountain and small church of the piazza San Michele in Petralia Soprana is quite nice. 
5. Sheep are doing a great job keeping the grass short by what remains of this Roman aqueduct.