Two Weeks in Sardinia, Part 1

The loud 4 am knock on our ferry cabin door was a harsh welcome to Sardinia. We jerked awake and dressed quickly to pick up our breakfast croissant and espresso coffee with the other blurry-eyed passengers departing at Arbatax, on the central east coast of Sardinia near Tortoli.

Map of Sardinia with the scale at upper left

Daughter Lindsey and I had flown from Minnesota to Rome to meet Darrell for a bicycle ride on the island - but we wanted to see some of the remarkable archaeological sites first! So, after a whirlwind two days in Rome, the overnight ferry, a thankfully open café for more coffee and breakfast pastries, and navigating the local bus to reach our rental car, we were finally on our way to see some of Sardinia's sites.

We headed north, winding around narrow mountainous roads and then dropping down toward the sea. We followed the walking directions to the Grotta del Bue Marino (Grotto of the Monk Seal); however, we really needed a boat! The grotto is a late-Neolithic site with cave paintings. It was probably several meters above sea level at the time it was occupied, but now is best reached from the sea. Our hike was aborted when we our track ended at a too-steep hill down to the water.

Lindsey somewhere above the grotto

We hiked back to the car and a short drive later we successfully found the Giants’ grave of S’Ena’e Thomes. Giants' graves (Tomba dei giganti) are collective tombs, and there are ~800 in Sardinia. We saw a slab type tomb with a central stele containing a door cut through it. If you crawl through the door (or walk around to the back) you can see the burial chamber with a stone cairn laying over a long alley that held the bodies.

    Giants’ grave of S’Ena’e Thomes

Lindsey in front of the burial chamber

We bought some groceries and found our Airbnb in a tangle of narrow roads in central Nuoro. We were lucky to find street parking not too far from the apartment. I'm grateful Darrell does the driving and I can just close my eyes!

Driving narrow streets - note the warning red image on the panel

Background: Nuragic culture dominated Sardinia in the middle Bronze Age, roughly 4,000 years ago, and began declining with Roman colonization around 238 BC. The name comes from the “nuraghe”, a characteristic tower-fortress of the culture. Over 7,000 nuraghes can still be found in Sardinia! The next morning we went looking for a Nuraghe right in town.

Nuraghe in Nuoro - on a hill in the town

Our next stop was the Santa Cristina Archaeological Park, home to a 3,000 year old sacred well and Nuragic village. I'm inserting a photo and information from this website to give you a better perspective on this area.

The stairs down to the well and the hole above the well

 

Stairs going down, note tight masonry

Lindsey's and my feet at well edge

The tholos dome over the well

Lindsey peering through the hole over the well

During the Equinox in March and September, the noon sun lights up the bottom of the well. The rays make it so an observer, descending the last steps, sees two shadows - one is projected on the water and the other descends from the tholos chamber upside down. Pretty crazy.

The well is also aligned with the Moon, reflecting its light in a trapezoidal opening every 18.5 years, which corresponds to the duration of the Lunar Year.

We also toured the Nuragic village at Santa Cristina. 

Nuraghe at Santa Cristina

We continued to the Sinis Peninsula on the central west side of Sardinia and did a quick visit of the Tharros Archaeological site – this one is primarily Roman.

Lindsey at the Roman Tharros Site

On the way out of town we made a stop at the small but mighty Museum in Cabras. The highlight was the ~3,000 year old Nuragic stone statues that literally brought Lindsey to tears.

The Giant's of Mont'e Parma in the Cabras Museum

We dropped the rental car off and taxied to our hotel in Cagliari, the largest city and the capital of Sardinia. We had seen a bit of the archaeology of Sardinia, but there was more to come!

The next morning was the Festival of Sant'Efisio, the patron saint of Cagliari. Folks from all over Sardinia came to the festival, wearing their traditional costumes, playing instruments, singing, and fingering rosary beads. The parade lasted hours and hours, so we snuck out and headed to the museum exhibit of King Tutankhamun's tomb! So more archaeology - though everything here was a replica of course.

King Tut ruled Egypt from 1333-1324 BC

Enough of the past for now! We'll pick up on our bicycle trip in Two Weeks in Sardinia, Part 2.