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** SARDINIA-CORSICA 2009 - Weeks 5~7 ** |
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 SARDINIA 2009 - SARDINIA'S WESTERN AND NORTHERN COASTS: We left our wild-camp on the coast at Buggerru, with the sound of waves crashing onto the beach and filling the air with a haze of spray hovering over the arc of the bay. Ahead lay another challenging drive across mountainous terrain. But the well-engineered road gained height in sweeping bends without unduly steep gradient, and a long descent through hill towns brought us down to the broad, flat Campidano Plain. Beyond the village of Barumini lay our reason for venturing into the basalt hills of La Marmilla, the archaeological site of Su Nuraxi, the largest of Sardinia's Bronze Age Nuraghic complexes.
The sophisticated structure of Su Nuraxi, with
its bulky central tower originally 3 storeys and over 70 feet in height, was
excavated by the leading Sardinian archaeologist, Prof Giovanni Lilliu who
published the definitive study of the Bronze Age Nuraghic culture and their
megalithic structures. But despite all the research, the absence of any literary
remains means that any understanding of the purpose of these colossal structures
rests purely on interpretation; the stone remains must tell their own story. The
megalithic buildings of Mycenaean Greece were clearly royal palaces and the
tholoi aristocratic tombs, but the contemporary Sardinian Nuraghi were neither.
You need to
A visit to Su Nuraxi is not however for the faint-hearted: entry into the inner courtyard means a scrambling, muddy descent via the original steep passageway into the bowels of the upper tower in semi darkness. The original excavation revealed a piece of timber-support which, by carbon dating, enabled the original structure to be dated to around 1,600 BC. The central tower showed no aspects of military or defensive design features; it was simply massively imposing in height. The scale of the Su Nuraxi complex suggests it formed the capital of a territory controlled by a powerful chieftain. Could the original tower's purpose have been a political power statement asserting the chieftain's not-to-be-challenged dominant wealth and control over neighbouring tribes. A large village of circular huts clustered around the tower. But times they were a-changing, becoming more unstable with the threat of external invasion increasing. Later stages of Su Nuraxi's development added four supplemental towers with evidently military defensive features like arrow slots, and an inner courtyard with well and grain silo to withstand siege; the ground floor entrance was replaced with a new more easily defended access 7m up, massive reinforcing walls were added creating an inner space within the walls like a medieval barbican for easy movement of troops. The entire complex structure showed that its purpose and therefore design changed to meet changing needs over its 1,000 year history: the original power symbol of settled times had evolved into an ultra-warlike fortress built to withstand siege and the external threat of attack, culminating in Su Nuraxi's final destruction by Carthaginian invaders around 500 BC.
We camped that night at nearby Tuili in readiness for our second reason for visiting this region - a day's walking on the 2,000 foot volcanic plateau of the Giara di Gesturi, now protected as a nature reserve. Its broad, flat top is covered with macchia scrub and ancient cork oaks, and depressions in the impervious basalt have created a number of shallow pools with distinctive flora. It is also home to some 500 wild ponies - cavallini - thought to be descended from an ancient breed of small horse introduced by the Phoenicians almost 3,000 years ago. We spent a glorious day walking the paths of the Giara, enjoying its wildlife, not the least of which were the wild orchids. Our collection of wild orchid photos increased during our 7 weeks in Sardinian, and a sample is attached: click here for a photo gallery of Sardinian wild orchids We moved north to camp just outside Oristano in
readiness for a visit to this medieval town. Understanding the bus timetable was
like unravelling an Enigma code, but we eventually found ourselves in the heart of the old
centre The original city of Tharros on the coast with its harbours, originally
settled by Phoenicians and developed by Carthaginians and Romans, had
The ancient city spread across a headland and had been occupied from its Phoenician foundation around 800 BC for almost 1,800 years until coastal insecurity from raiders forced its citizens to move inland to Oristano. During Roman times, Tharros had been a flourishing port with fine public buildings, temples and baths, and a grid plan of streets with drainage system. The excavated remains of the Roman city are still visible today (Photo 3 - Roman temple remains of Tharros). Before leaving Oristano, we drove inland to
visit another holy site where a Roman shrine and later Christian church had been
built over a former Nuraghic sanctuary. Sardinians have been gathering here at
Santa Christiana for their religious ceremonies from time immemorial to the
current day. Memories are long, and Christians still gather here in early May
for the saint's festival continuing the religious tradition for 4,000 years.
To one side of the complex among beautiful olive groves stood a Nuraghic tower
dating from 1,800 BC, but the unique feature for us was the presence here of a Nuraghic sacred well-temple and underground shrine to their
mother-water goddess. Perfectly preserved square block steps lead down from At Nurapolis Camping at the northern tip of the Sinis peninsula, we were welcomed with helpful and hospitable grace and well-spoken English; although set among gloomy pine trees, this was one of the better campsites. And nearby, surf crashed onto a delightful wild beach which stretched away into the distance backed by dunes and totally deserted (Photo 5 - Wild beach on the Sinis peninsula). Here at Nurapolis Camping, we made our pre-arranged rendez-vous with longstanding travelling friends, Carolyn and Robert Ash, last seen 5 years ago in the Peloponnese. It was a happy reunion, and we particularly valued their companionship and support when Paul was forced to seek medical help. For their unfailing help and friendship we truly thank them, and hope it will not be another 5 years before we meet again with such precious friends.
The coastal corniche road north from Bosa passes through wild country, and from our camp amid the shore-side rocks and fragrant macchia at Torre Argentina, a magnificent sunset lit up the entire seascape (Photo 7 - Sunset over western sea at Torre Argentina). This wild terrain is home to the only two remaining colonies of Griffon Vultures in Sardinia; they feed mainly on livestock carcases left out by farmers, and circle up to 30 kms from the nest scouring the landscape for pickings. We sat below a crag-rimmed corrie watching several possible nesting sites among caves and rock-shelters, and were rewarded with several sightings of these magnificent scavengers soaring high overhead, displaying the shaggy ends of their long wing feathers spread like fingers. For a useful web site detailing this and other bird-watching sites in Sardinia see: Birdwatching in Sardinia
Having passed along this wild open mountainous
terrain and high craggy coastal cliffs, it was hideous to descend to the
cancerous concrete sprawl of Alghero's resortsville. Camping La Mariposa was our
base for the next few days; the setting was pleasantly verdant, shaded by
mimosa, tamarisk and eucalyptus, but overwhelmed by the noise of passing urban
Back in Alghero, the huge Wednesday morning market filled Viale Europa with stalls selling everything you could possibly want and a lot more too: household goods, clothing, shoes, fabrics and curtains, as well as flowers, fruit, vegetables and cheeses (Photo 11 - Buying vegetables at Alghero Wednesday market. And nearby, we found the first source of Camping Gaz in Sardinia to replace our empty 907 cylinder; Maxigas in Via Don Minzoni sells every make and size of gas in bombole you could possibly want.
Moving on northwards, we visited an even older
part of Sardinia's rich archaeological inheritance, the Neolithic Necropolis of
Anghelu Ruju. Set among the flat vineyards of the island's most prestigious wine
producer, Sella e Mosca, the necropolis of over 40 underground tombs was dug
into the bed rock by people of the Ozieri and Bonnanara cultures and was in use
between 3,200 and 1,800 BC. Elongated passageways give access to clusters of
burial chambers, some engraved with ritual symbols like the crescent horns of
the male bull-god. Feeling slightly sacrilegious at our intrusion, we were able
to clamber down to peer through the tiny square-cut openings into the chambers
Continuing across rolling hilly pastureland, we descended through the coastal macchia to the former silver-mining settlement of Argentiera. Silver and gold had been mined on this remote coastline from ancient times, but the mines had reached their heyday in the 19th~20th centuries closing in 1962. The abandoned town of Argentiera now has an empty end-of-world feeling of woebegone desolation. Its forlorn almost haunted air is redolent of its former thriving industry, but shafts now lie abandoned, miners' barrack blocks stand empty on the headland, and spoil heaps spill down to the sea. But the most striking vista is that of the huge timber-framed ore-processing buildings which stand in stark dereliction above the tiny port, waiting the restoration project as a mining museum, an over-ambitious, over-costly enterprise squandering EU-funding given that apart from the occasional curious visitor, few people stray out to this remote spot (Photo 13 - Derelict silver mine and spoil heaps at Argentiera).
In open farmland beyond the city, we found the Neolithic sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi. Looking like a Mesopotamian ziggurat, an earth ramp leads up to a high platform where a temple once stood (Photo 16 - Neolithic sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi). The whole place has a mystical air with an omphalos stone and huge flat altar to one side, and although the form and function of the sanctuary are unknown, it clearly had been a sacred place for so many centuries.
That night we wild-camped close to our final and perhaps most impressive Nuraghe, Santu Antine set in the high plateau land of the Valle dei Nuraghi. The complex site clearly had been developed over time as we had seen elsewhere from its original mightily imposing symbol of clan power, later acquiring fortress-like military defensive features to enable it to withstand siege attack in more unsettled times. The complex was skilfully designed with internal passageways circling within the inter-wall spaces and corbelled roof space (what does this remind you of Colin?) (Photo 18 - Inner courtyard of Bronze Age Nuraghe Santu Antine and Corbelled Tiryns-like inner passageway. A stone staircase spirals upward from the huge lower tholos chamber to a smaller superimposed upper tholos and the 60 foot tower was capped by a platform, all that remains of the former 3rd storey. The Santu Antine Nuraghic complex was a fitting climax to our Sardinian archaeological visits.
One of our last campsites proved to be the best we
had experienced among the generally mediocre sites around Sardinia; attitudes
were usually indifferent as if reflecting a feeling Our time in Sardinia was drawing to a close, and our final day was spent in the fortified town of Castelsardo, originally a medieval Genoese strong-point in their struggle in their struggle with Aragon. Despite now being something of a tourist attraction, the narrow lanes of the old town clustered around the hill-top castle made for pleasant amblings. The town's reputation is for its handicrafts, particularly basket weaving, and elderly ladies sit in doorways working at their craft with their wares laid out to attract visitors. On the seaward side of the rock, the mountainous face of Asinara graced the distant horizon while to the north the misty outline of Corsica was just visible. On our last morning, we drove the short distance over the macchia-covered hills down into the small port of Santa Teresa di Gallura to await our ferry crossing to Corsica. (Photo 20 - Ferry to Corsica from Santa Teresa di Gallura). We had been here at Santa Teresa seven weeks and many worthwhile experiences ago, and now drove up the steep ramp into the ferry's hold. The rocky coastline of Sardinia slipped away behind us as we headed out into the Straits of Bonificio, with the murky outline of Corsica ahead, unfamiliar and somehow uninviting. Follow our travels on to Corsica in the next edition.
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gaze at their Cyclopean walls built of such massive polygonal
blocks, to look down at the 3m thick walls, or stand in the skilfully
constructed inner tholos chambers, to be left in awed wonder at the inexplicable
mammoth scale of the Nuraghic complexes.
We were fortunate in having an English-speaking
guide who clearly was well-informed about the Nuraghic culture and its
megalithic structures. He led us down into the heart of the complex, around the
intra-mural passageways with their corbelled roof-space, and through the lintelled dromos with its weight-relieving space above, into the central chamber
(Photo 1 - the lintelled entrance to the inner tholos at Su Nuraxi Nuraghe).
What we learnt from the guide added significantly to our understanding of the
Sardinian Nuraghi and their development. It also raised other intriguing
questions: the Nuraghi showed evident design similarities with Mycenaean Greek
structures like the tholos and corbelled dromos; could the Nuraghic peoples have
learnt such techniques from cultural and trade exchanges with Mycenaean
seafarers as the pottery finds suggest? But our guide pointed out the obvious:
Su Nuraxi, the highest apotheosis of Nuraghic building, was constructed around
1,600 BC, whereas the equivalent monumental structures of Mycenaean Greece, the
tholos tombs and royal palaces, date from some 300 years later. This raises the
tantalising question - did the Greeks acquire their monumental building
skills from the Sardinian Nuraghic people?
by 1000 AD
become too vulnerable to barbarian and Moorish pirate attack. The citizens
decamped to the more secure inland location of Oristano, and by the Middle Ages
Oristano had developed to become capital of Arborea, one of Sardinia's four
Giudicati (autonomous territories). The city's fortifications were strengthened,
enabling the city to flourish, and powerful noble families in Oristano managed
to balance the rivalries for control between Pisa, Genoa and Aragon, with
authority vested in the Giudicato. The most famous of Oristano's rulers was
Eleanor of Arborea (1340~1404) who championed resistance to Aragonese rule, and
is credited with introducing the Carta di Logu, a legal code incorporating a
framework of legal rights not seen elsewhere until modern-day constitutions. Her statue
(albeit 19th century) stands in the central Piazza Eleanor d'Arborea; the
Giudichessa stands proudly bearing the scroll of her legal code, wagging a
judicious finger at her citizens (Photo 2 - Eleanor of
Arborea's statue in Oristano old town).
Her name naturally figures prominently in Oristano's tourist publicity: we
lunched in an elegantly restored 15th century house billed as Casa d'
Eleanor, despite the fact that it was built 100 years after her death. But why
let historical pedantry spoil a good story, rather like her alleged tomb in a
nearby church which in fact contains the remains of her aunt, or was it her
granny? The town's other treasure is its Archaeological Museum which displays
Nuraghic, Phoenician, Carthaginian and Roman remains from the area and which
like so many of Sardinia's regional museums, does its town proud with the
quality of its multi-lingual labelling.
Having visited the medieval inland town, we had
also to see the archaeological site of the ancient city of Tharros on the coast
of the flat Sinis peninsula. On the way, we stopped at the Sanctuary of San
Salvatore, one of Sardinia's chiuse norenari churches open only during the
saint's annual festival when devotees attending the celebrations live in the
nearby pilgrims' lodgings. On our arrival, it was clear that a service was
taking place in the tiny 16th century church. We witnessed what must be one of
most moving events of our travels, with a small choir stood in a circular group
leading the chanting of an eerily haunting repetitive hymn. The church was built
over a Roman pagan shrine, which in turn stood over the remains of a Bronze Age
Nuraghic well-temple. It was a transfixing thought that human beings had
practised their different cults on this mystical spot for some 4,000 years, and
today 21st century people still stood here worshipping with distinctively Sard
ritual. And outside, the secular part of the festival was getting underway with
traditional Sard music echoing around the crowded bar and pig-roast. We resisted
the temptation to stay and moved on to Tharros.
a
triangular opening into an underground tholos-chamber where a circular basin
still collects the sacred water from a fount-spring (Photo
4 -Nuraghic sacred well-temple of Santa Christiana). This was truly as much
a masterpiece of Nuraghic structural technology as their tower complexes.
Across the flanks of Montiferre, the road
descended to the coast at Bosa set on the banks of the River Temo, Sardinia's
longest navigable river at all of 5 kms. Looking across the river by the bridge,
the squat cathedral, pastel-coloured houses of the old town, and the hill above
topped by its ruined medieval castle made a splendid picture lit by the
afternoon sun (Photo 6 - Bosa old town and castle on banks of
River Temo), as did the river front curving towards the
sea and fringed with cycads and moored fishing boats.
traffic. Fortunately the site accepted the ACSI Card discount scheme, since
otherwise its prices are exorbitant; just one night's stay will save you the €10
cost of the ACSI Card. The terminus for the city bus is nearby, making this the simplest of journeys into town, with no challenging bus changes or
timetable uncertainties. A ten minute ride dropped us just by the old
town's marina. So different from the rest of Sardinia, Alghero immediately
betrays its Spanish-Aragonese origins, even down to the dual naming of streets
and squares in both Italian and Catalan. In the 14th century, a Spanish fleet
drove out the Genoese, ethnically cleansed the local Sards, and repopulated Alghero
with Catalan settlers. The city flourished under Spanish rule with
fortifications massively strengthened by towers and ramparts much of which
survives today along with the predominantly Catalan character, culture and
architecture. Having been accustomed to closed or indifferent TICs across
Sardinia, it was a delight to be greeted in Alghero's TIC with fluent
multi-lingual helpfulness, overwhelming us with maps and useful brochures - other
Sardinian towns should take note. After a splendid lunch of Alghero calamari, we walked
the circuit of the city's defence towers and ramparts which encircle the seaward
side of the old town (Photo 8 - Waterfront and Spanish
fortifications at Alghero), and wandered among the
town's narrow lanes visiting its churches.
Just beyond Alghero stands another well-preserved
Nuraghic complex, Palmavera, the central tower dating back to the 15th century
BC. The 8 centuries of subsequent development again suggested changing function
in the face of changing times with increasing defensive military features to
combat external threat and siege (Photo 9 - Bronze Age Nuraghe di
Palmavera). Continuing westwards to the mighty headland
of Capo Caccia, a stepped descent of the 800 feet cliffs brings you down to the
sea level entrance of the Grotta Nettuna cave. Against the dark blue of the sea,
these towering white limestone cliffs make an awesome sight. Not so
however the cave. The €10 fee entrance and visiting groups of over 200 filing
through the formations made this seem the ultimate tourist trap - best avoided (Photo 10 -
Calcite formations in the Grotta di Nettuna sea-cave). The descent and
re-ascent of the spectacular steps grafted onto the open cliff face are
sufficiently impressive in themselves.
(Photo 12 - Rock tombs at Anghelu
Ruju Neolithic necropolis). The 4,000 year old graveyard
owes its excellent state of preservation to the tombs being sealed with
stone doors, blocked by earth and the site buried, almost as if the people of that distant era
knew they would never return.
The narrow Stintino peninsula forms Sardinia's NW
tip and our base was the delightfully welcoming Camping-Sosta La Pineta. The
little port of Stintino, a recent settlement by Sardinia's standards of
antiquity, was founded in the late 19th century when the Italian state
appropriated the off-shore island of Asinara as a penal colony. The 45 resident
fishing families were re-housed in the new settlement of Stintino, located
on a sheltered promontory between two natural inlets which now form the town's
two harbours. And it's a delightful spot for a morning's ambling around the
lungomare between the harbours (Photo 14 - Stintino's Porto Vecchio in north-west Sardinia).
The town has thankfully escaped the ghastly unrestrained concrete developments
of modern tourism which blight the once unpolluted beaches further north
towards Capo Falcone. Denuded of their sand by constantly blowing wind, the
beaches are now largely shingle, further sullied by the unsightly eruptions of
holiday villages on the hinterland hillside. But the seascape between the
shoreline and the islands of Piano and mountainous Asinara are undoubtedly the
most beautiful ever seen: the shallows glowed a vivid turquoise, with the deeper
waters shaded in every hue of blue and violet.
Hopeful that Sunday morning would mean lighter
traffic in Sassari, we drove into the city to visit the renowned Sanna
Archaeological Museum. Our hopes were ill-founded, but despite oppressive
traffic, we managed to park. The museum displayed finds from the early Neolithic
to Roman periods from around the region, but of particular interest were the
Nuraghic remains and finds from the 2nd millennium BC altar-sanctuary of Monte d'Accoddi close to the city which we should visit that afternoon. The day was
searingly hot but, like mad dogs and Englishmen, we ventured into the old town
to see some of its sights. Sassari developed inland safe from marauding raiders
and remained under Aragonese rule for four centuries, as evidenced by its
churches' architecture. It now has a population of 120,000 but the harsh
economic realities of the modern world has brought major problems of
unemployment and drug abuse for the city's young. Walking the streets of the old
centre, it was the only place in Sardinia where we felt any concerns over
security or potential for street crime; shades of Palermo and a note of caution
for other visitors. Via Roma opened out into the grandiose urban space of Piazza
Italia, lined with the vast Neoclassical Palazzo della Provincia; looking more
like a presidential palace, this must be one of Europe's grandest office blocks.
And in the centre of the square, the statue of Victor Emanuel II stands atop its
plinth in splendid pomposity surrounded by palms (Photo
15 - Piazza Italia and
Palazzo della Provincia at Sássari).
The most memorable features of this northern
region of Sardinia are its prominent Romanesque churches dating from the 12~13th
centuries period of Pisan occupation. The church of Sanctissima Trinità di
Saccargia stands tall and solitary amid open countryside, its zebra striped
façade of dark basalt and white limestone conspicuously recalls its Pisan
origins, resembling Sienna cathedral in appearance. The narrow nave stands tall
and stark in its simple beauty, and vivid 12th century frescoes line the inner
surface and cupola of its apse. The later return drive over the hills to the
coast gave the opportunity to visit another of the great Pisan churches, San Pietro delle Immagini,
again standing alone in open farming countryside near the village of Bulzi
(Photo 17 - Pisan church of San
Pietro delle Immagini and 12th century frescoes at
church of Santissima Trinità di Saccargia).
of 'the tourists
will be with us always', and prices were at times unduly expensive. Not so
at the family-run Camping La Foce at Valledoria on the north coast, with its
hospitable welcome, good-value price and delightful setting among scented
eucalyptus groves; and that evening brought a worthy concluding sunset over the
neighbouring coastal stagno (Photo 19 - Sunset over Valledoria
Stagno at Camping La Foce, our last evening in Sardinia).
