Tuesday 30^th December – Cagliari (Su Nuraxi, Barumini)

39:12.064N 9:07.510E

We were up early again today for the drive up to Barumini, about an hour drive north of Cagliari, to visit Su Nuraxi, reputedly the most impressive of the many nuraghi or fortified towers that Sardinia is noted for.  Once again the weather was being kind to us.

The staff were very friendly when we arrived and, as the tours were every half hour, we arranged to have a coffee at the nearby café and join the next tour.  Our tour guide was excellent, managing to conduct the tour in both Italian and English (for our benefit), and pass on lots of interesting information on the history and construction of the site.

The site dates from around 1600BC with most of the buildings built up from basalt boulders.  Best of all we were able to climb inside the main nuraghi structure to see the construction of the inner towers – the whole thing was so impressive and after the tour we were left to wander around the site and take pictures.  It is definitely a ‘must see’ for anyone coming out this way.

After the visit we drove on through the hilly countryside and small isolated villages of the region to visit Lago Mulárgia before heading yet further eastwards towards the coast to allow us to skirt back down around the mountains towards Cagliari. 

On the way back we called in to see the marina at Villasimius as we may be calling there on our way around Sardinia.  It is a large marina development in a very pretty location but again a long way from town and very quiet out of season.

Finally, as the sun set, we took the very scenic coast road back to Cagliari and rewarded ourselves with take-away pizza after a very long day.

Su Nuraxi, Barumini

Countryside

Lago Mulárgia

Villasimius

© Pyxis 2008