Tuesday, May 19, 2015 (again!)
Ciao!
Wow, have we had a very fun day looking for (and actually
finding some) archeological sites here on Sardinia! First of all, are the nuraghe. These are the stone remains of a pre-historic
culture (also called Nuraghe) who built from 1800 to 1200 B.C. The remains include the nuraghe towers which
are basically just huge circular structures made of blocks of stone. How these people managed to raise up these
stones to the heights they are is rather incredible, seeing as how they did not
even have metal yet to cut or dress the stones.
It is rumored that there are more than 8,000 nuraghe scattered all over
Sardinia, and apparently finding them can get into something resembling a
competitive sport! There are also
dolmens (single-chamber megalithic tombs) and menhirs (standing stones) dating
from the 3rd millennium B.C., as well as necropoli
(cemetaries/burial grounds). You just
have to find them…
As we were driving, we passed a sign for a nuraghe, so
decided to pull off the road and explore.
The signage was in several languages, and it was just 50 feet or so to
our very first nurage! It was rather grown
over, but we were able to find the entrance and have a look at the small space
inside. So – 1 down, something like
7,999 nuraghe to go! (But who’s counting…)
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| Our first nuraghe! |
After that, Various excavations have been carried out there,
and the dates of the tombs range from the Recent Neolithic (3400-2800 BC)
through the early Bronze Age. We checked
in at their small museum/gift shop and bought our tickets. Then one of the guys took us over to the path
leading UP and we were on our way … oh, did I mention that it was 80 degrees by
then, and after the walk up the path, we came to the 100 steps?? Whew! Really warm by the time we got to the top,
that’s for sure.
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| View from the top |
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| Note ocher color and design |
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| From the spiral tomb |
There was a small school group already there, but
fortunately, the site is well spread out in the natural amphitheatre of a
hillside, so there was plenty of room for all.
We spent most of our time looking at the first series of tombs, as the
man selling tickets indicated that the other 20 or so tombs weren’t all that
great. So…hope he’s right, or we’ll have
to come back – but definitely in the “off-season!”
Tomb 2 was really the best – it’s called the “spiral” tomb
because – guess what? There are all
sorts of spiral designs carved into the stone all over it – and they’re still
visible! There were other designs as
well, along with some red ocher paint that had survived all these years. Now that I call truly amazing – as R says,
then why do we have to repaint our house every ten years?
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| More spirals |
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| Interior of a tomb |
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| Me inside one of the tombs |
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| Very large tomb |
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| Stone circle outside a tomb entrance |
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| Cute mini-pony but not a miniature horse! |
Having worked up a thorough sweat by now, we decided to head
back to the comfort of the air-conditioned building. Bought some Cokes and just sat for a bit
reading the displays that were available inside. When we had somewhat recovered ourselves, we
decided to look for a menhir in the nearby village of Villaperruccio – and with
a bit of help from Emmy (our GPS) we found it!
Just standing in a field minding its own business! Hard to believe it has been there,
unmolested, all this time!
It being lunch time now, we decided to head to the island of
Sant’Antioco which has several sites as well as a reportedly nice museum. They also had food! We drove on a low bridge to the island – and
passed, as a matter of fact, the remains of the original Roman bridge built
somewhere in the 200 B.C. range. We
found a very nice piazza facing the water, and tried Il Moro pizzeria. R ordered
pizza marguerite and I ordered pizza with mushrooms and prosciutto. These pizzas had to be some of the most
difficult pizzas to cut we have ever run across – but in spite of that, they
were both delicious and we enjoyed them very much. Then, we headed back to the coast road and
followed it around to the Parco Arcologico.
As it was early afternoon (2-ish by now) there weren’t many people at
the Parco, but we were able to first view the tofet – which is the remains of a
Phoenician cemetery and shrine on the top of the hill next door to the
museum. We then visited the museum,
which was fairly small but contained some beautiful things. As Robert points out, we are getting SO
confused on this island – there are Phoenicians and Carthaginians all running
around before the Romans – and while we initially thought that Punic referred
to the Phoenicians, apparently it doesn’t – it refers instead to the
Carthaginians (but who were Phoenician colonists!). So, there you have it. By the time we were finished with the museum
it was 3:30 p.m. and we thought we would head home …
However, as we were driving back to Villa San Pietro, we
passed a sign for another nurage – and this one was beautiful! At the top of a hill – with either two
churches built on either side of it, or one church in two parts – but it was
beautifully kept up and signed, and we were just amazed at the height of the
entire thing!
From there, it was finally back to Villa San Pietro for some
down time before dinner. (It was already
after 5 when we got here.) Hopefully
tonight we will NOT go joy-riding
late into the evening, and will be able to have an early dinner so that I can
get to bed EARLY tonight!!
Lots of love,
m
xxx
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