A Sardinian Journey

Text and photos from the Sardology 2003 CD-ROM

Nuraghe Ponte is typical of the 7.000 antic mysterious towers standing in Sardinia today.
Some 15 meters high, this megalithic structure includes a dome shaped room of the "tholos" type.
Past the enormous lintel of the unique entrance, an helicoïdal stairway set beetwen the outer and the tholos walls leads up to a platform of which the overhang has collapsed.
No one knows by whom, how or why the nuragic towers have been erected. This 4.000 years old enigma remains one of the most unfathomed marvel of the mediterranean world...

In front of the tomb, on each side of the great stele, semi-circular rows of standing stones surround a ceremonial area. Rituals are still practiced there :
laying for 5 days and 5 nights, the initiate experiences states of modified consciousness and might receive propitiatory or curative messages.

Tomb of Giants at Coddu Vecchiu
Sardinian folks call Tombs of Giants the burial monuments left by their prehistoric ancestors.
This one is of the very few still showing their typical thin blade of stone, some 15 feet high, embossed along its curved outlines and pierced at the base by a small opening through which offerings could be made.
The monolith irresistibly evokes a door, opened or closed on afterlife.
The tomb itself is a low corridor recalling the continental "covered alleys".

Perfume-spray
This strange ceramic statue is an ancestor of today's perfume-sprays : perfume was kept in the amphora and in the body of the man .
When one would blow through the hat of the man, the frog would spit a jet of perfume !
The object, of Phoenician- Carthagenese origin, was found in a tomb of the ancient necropolis of Sant'Antioco.
It stands witness to the wealth and ingenuity of the Punic folks who occupied parts of Sardinia between the V° century BC and the III° century AC.

Archeology - Flora - Portraits - Places

Text and photos from the Sardology 2003 CD-ROM

Calasetta (Silk Creek) is a small harbour city spread on a rocky hill at the western tip of the island of Sant'Antioco, south of Sardinia.
If the listless tone of Calasetta's streets, the pastel colors of its terrassed flowered houses and the smiling friendliness of its folks seated by their doorway at dusk, evokes the atmosphere of north-african towns, it is because Calasetta was founded by coral divers of ligurian origin, after their colony on the tunisian island of Tabarka had been sacked by the Bey of Algiers in 1770...

Cardedu was founded in 1951 by people from Gairo, a mountain city threatened by land-slides.
Cardedu became a township in 1984 and its population is now of 1.500. Its territory includes a pristine natural domain stretching down from the sides of Mount Ferru (875 m.) to the white sandy sea-side beaches.
The fertile soil of Cardedu and its year-round mild weather allows for quality oranges, peaches and grapes, as well as honey and yew cheese.
Yet, the best product of Cardedu's agriculture is undoubtedly wine : the family owned vineyards of Petra Rubia and Alberto Loi, yield classy wines, either from Canonnau vine (pungent and fruity red) or from Vermentino (delicately balanced, dry white). .

Beaches at Cardedu are still unspoiled by mass tourism, but the stability and permanence of its local winds make it a perfect wind-surfing spot.

Costa del Sud - cap Teulada
Between Teulada Bay and Cape Malfatano, the Costa del Sud, served by an excellent road, offers a string of panoramas, each one more beautiful than the other but equally expressing the forceful charms of Sardinian coast lines : draped in abundant vegetation, rocky promontories dominate the Mediterranean vastness and protect, as in Malfatano Bay, or in Piscinni Creek, dazzling white sandy beaches where waters give all the hues of topaze.
This southern coast is one of the natural jewels of Sardinia

Archeology - Flora - Portraits - Places

Text and photos from the Sardology 2003 CD-ROM

Departure
This is a school-outing day for the kids, but their laughter stops
when they board the old Little Green Train to leave family and city, to scale the chaotic mountains of Barbagia and discover
the signs bequeathed by their mysterious ancestors.

Mario, an emigrant who came back home
As a teenager, he learned two hard jobs : these of sea-fishing and silver mining.
During the 50s, the pits closed one after the other. He was then one of those who left the island to earn a living abroad. Like numerous Sardinians, his courage and his know-how in ore processing allowed for the development of northern France's mining industry. In the misty plains, he stayed more than thirty years and fathered a large family.
When of retirement age, the patriarch came back with wife and children to sunny Sardinia. If you ever stop in Buggerru, you are likely to see him, either tilling his garden in a corner of the harbor or looking out for any octopus that might venture in the docks. Do pay him a salute and spend some of your time listening to him : this is a man.

Lovers

Archeology - Flora - Portraits - Places

Text and photos from the Sardology 2003 CD-ROM

Beside its vivid colors, the Crocus sativus flowers offers a pricy coloring spice : saffron. Hand picked at down and then dried, its long orangy red anthers are saffron, at the count of 120 flowers per gram.
Native of the middle-east, the plant is depicted on frescoes in the palace of Cnossos in Crete.
3.000 years ago, Phoenician sea-merchants brought it to Sardinia which ensures today 80% of the total production in Italy...

Myrtle flowers
Ancient Mesopotamians considered myrtle a sacred plant.
Nowadays, oil from Myrtus communis helps to clear the respiratory system.
In Sardinia, myrtle wine stands as a national beverage
and a small glassful of it, served chilled, is part
of Sardinian hospitality.
Myrtle flowers all summer long.
Berries are picked during mid-winter, then left to macerate in alcohol for one month. The mixture is pressed, filtered, and diluted with sugar and water.
This is how red Myrto wine is made.
From the leaves, one makes white Myrto, which is "dry", but just as refreshing.

White Asphodel
Asphodelus Microcarpus
To the ancient Greeks, asphodel was a flower from the Realm of Death.
An emblem of Sardinia, the asphodel flower blooms all over the island from late winter to early summer.
The starch from the asphodel bulbs was used for making glue for book binding.
When dried, the asphodel stems, more than one meter long, thin and full of pith, are excellent material for basket-work.
Asphodel honey is highly appreciated.