[2016]
[Sunday 24 July 2016]
Sardinia
Le Palme Hotel & Resort, Porto Cervo, Sardinia
Archaeological sites near Arzachena
We got up ca.7.40am on what was another sunny day, soon to become hot. My breakfast was grapefruit juice, Kellogg’s Corn Flakes, and toast and jam, probably cherry conserve (I had that a number of times). We were down in reception (“up” in reception from the point of view of breakfast-with-wasps on the terrace; but we’d been back up to the room since then, so “down”) just before 9.00am, the time I’d scribbled on my notepad when we made the booking.
We sat in the seats built into the wall of the shallow porch just outside the entrance door; and our guide, Pietro, duly arrived, and led us to the same minibus as the day before yesterday. Again, we were the only customers. Before we boarded we said we wanted to pay, so that’s what happened.
We went as before the 11-mile journey to Arzachena, then passing through we continued a further 3½ miles more or less southwards to our first stop: the Nuragic archaeological site, Nuraghe La Prisgiona. We’d already seen a model of it in the Arzachena station museum
(“Saturday 23 July 2016 — 17:39:32”). At the entrance to “Parco Archeologico di Capichera” (“Capichera” is the name of the valley in which Nuraghe La Prisgiona is situated) was a sign, which I photographed. It was all in Italian, though, and was partly shaded, so the photo wasn’t much use.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:36:34
“Archaeological Park of Capichera”
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:36:34 (detail)
“Archaeological Park of Capichera”: plan of Nuraghe La Prisgiona
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:36:58
Archaeological Park of Capichera
We walked into the park, and a bit farther along, we reached the Nuraghe La Prisgiona site itself. There was a notice board with items pinned to it, four of which related specifically to Nuraghe La Prisgiona,—
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06
Notice board
—including a plan of the site, which used the same legend as did the model in the Arzachena station museum
(“Saturday 23 July 2016 — 17:39:32”).
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06 (detail 1)
Notice board: plan of Nuraghe La Prisgiona
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06 (detail 1a)
Notice board: plan of Nuraghe La Prisgiona (with translations)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06 (detail 2)
Notice board: how Nuraghe La Prisgiona appeared before excavations began
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06 (detail 3)
Notice board: artist’s impression of how Nuraghe La Prisgiona would have looked
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:51:06 (detail 4)
Notice board: aerial photo of Nuraghe La Prisgiona
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:52:06
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: wild olive tree
We entered the courtyard (“C” on the plan), and Pietro pointed out the well (“P”), still with water at the bottom.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:52:28
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: well (“P” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:53:18
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: well (“P” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:56:28
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: well (“P” on the plan)
Nearby was a round structure (“C1”), at the opposite end of the courtyard from a cluster of similar structures. It had a ring-shaped bench around the inside of the wall and a circular central feature, and was perhaps a meeting place for leaders of the community.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:56:48
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: “Tower-Hut” (“C1” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 09:57:26
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: “Tower-Hut” (“C1” on the plan)
From there we made our way into the nearest of what remained of the main towers (“Tb”). I remarked on the hugeness of one of the stones in particular out of which it was constructed. From there we went across to the other main tower
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:00:30
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:01:06
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: passing through the southern tower (“Td” on the plan) on the way to the south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:02:32
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: entrance of the south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:03:10
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: in the south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:03:46
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: niche in the south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:03:52
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: entrance/exit of the south-western tower (“Tb” on the plan)
Then we went across to the opposite tower (“Tc”).
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:06:44
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: entrance of the south-eastern tower (“Tc” on the plan)
Pietro pointed out a small doorway in the north corner, which he said led to the first tower we’d been in. I couldn’t initially visualise how that was possible.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:07:00
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: in the south-eastern tower (“Tc” on the plan)
Pietro points out an small entrance to a corridor.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:07:16
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: in the south-eastern tower (“Tc” on the plan)
Just right of centre: entrance to a corridor
Left: the main tower/keep (“M”)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:07:24
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: in the south-eastern tower (“Tc” on the plan)
Right of centre: entrance to a corridor
Centre: the main tower/keep (“M”)
We waited for a group of tourists to come out of the keep (“M”), whose entrance was midway along the corridor between the two towers we’d visited, then entered it ourselves. Because we’d come early we weren’t troubled by too many other visitors. The lintel over the entrance was even more massive than the stone I’d pointed out earlier. Above it was a tiny window, perhaps to give a glimmer of light if the entrance was closed with a door. I had to stoop somewhat to get in; so I mentioned how tall the figures in the museum in Arzachena station had been, asking whether that was an authentic representation. “No,” Pietro told me: “the Nuragic people were 1.5 or 1.6 metres tall” (4' 11"–5' 3").
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:09:12
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:12:56
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan) — window in the floor-boards, showing the original floor
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:14:24
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:14:54
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan)
There were steps within the outer wall, which originally led to the top of the tower. Climbing them wasn’t allowed because they were dangerous.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:15:10
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan) — stairway to the top
The deepest and darkest of the niches that Pietro pointed out was probably used for sleeping in.
Janet didn’t fancy that herself at all!
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:16:38
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan) — niche
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:17:28
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan) — a second niche
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:17:34
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan) — a second niche
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:17:40
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: main tower/keep (“M” on the plan)
Going back to the courtyard, we looked at the round structures to the south of the keep, called “Capanne” (“Huts”) on the plan. The place had once been surrounded by many more similar buildings, dwellings, most of which still hadn’t been excavated; but these ones, close to the towers, seemed to have had the function of workshops.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:18:22
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: one of the “huts” (“C2” on the plan)
Leaving the courtyard and walking round the outside, we looked more closely at them.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:18:48
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: one of the “huts” (“C3” on the plan)
“C10” appeared to have been a bakery.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:21:32
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: looking in one of the “huts” (“C10” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:21:52
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: looking in one of the “huts” (“C10” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:22:12
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: looking in one of the “huts” (“C10” on the plan)
“Cooking” ceramics, Pietro told us, was a difficult process — I guess we would have said “firing” ceramics — requiring heating to very high temperatures and very slow cooling: not easy today, and certainly not in the bronze age. “C2” appeared to be a place where items of pottery, which had cracked during “cooking” were repaired with metal staples.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:23:10
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: looking in another of the “huts” (“C2” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:24:36
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: looking in another of the “huts” (“C2” on the plan)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:25:38
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: This looks like “C33” (not on the plan).[i]
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:27:02
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: The sign says “Vano 19” (“Room 19”), also not on the
plan.[ii]
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:27:24
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: The sign (left) says “Vano 23” (“Room 23”), and the sign (right) says “C21”, also not on the
plan.[iii]
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:27:24 (detail 1)
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: The sign says “Vano 23” (“Room 23”), also not on the
plan.[iv]
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:27:24 (detail 2)
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: The sign says “C21”, also not on the plan.[v]
- [i] The south-eastern corner of the plan is very sketchy.
[ii] See the above note.
[iii] See the above note.
[iv] See the above note.
[v] See the above note.
We returned to our starting point by walking around the back of the keep, beside the remains of the curtain wall around it and the other towers. Just before this, I’d noticed a stone lying on the path, and an indentation of the same shape in the material of the wall beside it; and had pointed it out to Pietro.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:27:56
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: walking to our starting-point around the rear of the keep
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:28:28
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: walking to our starting-point around the rear of the keep
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:28:52
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: walking to our starting-point around the rear of the keep
Pietro went to report my find to the people in charge; and I availed myself, during the time he was gone, of going back and mounting one of a couple of little wooden viewpoints that we’d passed.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:31:02
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: views from the viewpoint
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:31:10
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: views from the viewpoint
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:31:20
Nuraghe La Prisgiona: views from the viewpoint
It was then, seeing the entrance to the corridor that Pietro had pointed out earlier, that I realised that it must have gone around the back of the keep, between it and the bastion wall. Pietro was with
Janet when I got back, and we went in the minibus the short distance, less than half a mile east-northeast (even less distance in a straight line), to the first of the “giant’s tombs” that we visited: Coddu Vecchiu.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:42:52
Entrance to the Coddu Vecchiu site, named on the sign “Coddu ’Ecchju”
Just adjacent was a vineyard, with a sign “Capichera”. The Capichera Winery takes its name from the valley.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:44:08
An adjacent vineyard of the Capichera Winery
This burial site was probably connected with the Nuraghe La Prisgiona, but well distanced from it not least because of its foul putrefactive smell. It came from two periods; the curved row of vertically placed stone slabs and central stele at the front were added to a pre-Nuragic communal tomb. The semi-circular space in front of the stones would be used for rites in honour of the dead. The opening in the stele was too small to be used for inhuming corpses; one of the slabs covering the top of the tomb would be removed for that. The small opening may have been used for inserting offerings, or it may have been symbolic: a way for the dead to pass through to the afterlife. The design on the stele, of a square topped by a semicircle, may represent earthly life and the afterlife. I seemed to be waiting ages for people, just aimlessly hanging around the front, to move away, before I could photograph it.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:52:30
Coddu Vecchiu
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:52:48
Coddu Vecchiu
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:53:42
Coddu Vecchiu
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:54:34
Coddu Vecchiu
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:55:26
Coddu Vecchiu
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:58:20
Coddu Vecchiu
Pietro pointed out that the Capichera motif included a drawing of the Coddu Vecchiu front.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 10:59:36
Capichera sign with Coddu Vecchiu included in the motif
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:01:28
Coddu Vecchiu: an information board
Our next stop, the giant’s tomb of Li Lolghi, in a straight line would have been
ca.1½ miles north-west of our current position, but the route was indirect and so was about twice as long. It was similar to Coddu Vecchiu, in that it had a curved row of vertical stone slabs with a taller central stele, which had a small door at its bottom and a design of rectangle topped by semi-circle engraved on it. The burial corridor, though, was much longer, and instead of a well-defined wall it was surrounded by a mound of stones. And it was by no means as well preserved.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:19:46
Li Lolghi
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:19:56
Li Lolghi
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:20:50
Li Lolghi: view through the gap between the central stele and the stone to its right
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:24:48
Li Lolghi
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:25:52
Li Lolghi
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:27:08
Li Lolghi
At the back of the ticket booth beside the car park where the minbus was, I saw a poster on the wall showing an aerial view, which gave a better impression of the site than the ground-level photos I’d just taken.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:30:24
Li Lolghi: aerial view
Then we went back eastwards and stopped in Arzachena, a little over 4 miles away. In our traverses of and visits to Arzachena its most striking feature had till now escaped our notice — a mushroom-shaped rock on top of one of the hills overlooking the town — and it was this that we now came to visit. The region was known by the Romans as “Turibulum” (“the censer”) after it. Everywhere, where there were outcrops of granite, we’d seen weathered “tafoni” (hollows) in them; in this the tafoni were underneath the domed summit all round, producing the appearance of a mushroom. (If we’d visited Arzachena hoping to find a “centro storico”, as in Tempio Pausania, we’d have been disappointed, for although there’d been a village here for centuries, the town only grew substantially after the jet-set tourist boom of Costa Smeralda.) We climbed by steps up to the top — a bit precarious as the steps led to a surface that sloped down to the right with a sheer drop, before one came under the “mushroom” itself — and admired the view from there.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:44:14
La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:44:14 (detail 1)
Shrine to St. James at the foot of La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:44:14 (detail 2)
La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:44:36
Shrine to St. James at the foot of La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:45:00
Ascending to La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:46:04
Ascending to La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:47:56
Views from La Roccia del Fungo
Granite Peaks of San Pantaleo (in the distance)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:48:02
Views from La Roccia del Fungo
Granite Peaks of San Pantaleo (in the distance)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:48:12
Views from La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:48:18
Views from La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:49:48
Tafone in La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:50:58
Behind La Roccia del Fungo
Granite Peaks of San Pantaleo (in the distance)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:52:04
La Roccia del Fungo from behind (not quite as mushroom-like)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:52:20
View from the back of La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:53:06
La Roccia del Fungo from the side (not quite as mushroom-like)
We got back into the minibus, but before we left to be taken back to the hotel, Pietro stopped for one last view of
La Roccia del Fungo.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:56:56
La Roccia del Fungo
Monday 25 July 2016 — 11:57:06
Zoomed-in view of La Roccia del Fungo
We were back at the hotel ca.12.45pm. We went back to the room before going down for lunch. Then we had soft drinks on the balcony of the room, and did this and that, then we went to
Bar Le Vele for a couple of rounds (14:29 on the till receipt). There was no toilet there, so we went back into the hotel proper for this purpose. After a walk in the hotel park, we explored yesterday’s “place across the main road that appeared to have been abandoned by the hotel [where] there was a very pretty waterfall and walkways”.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:44:58
Park of Hotel Le Palme
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:45:10
Park of Hotel Le Palme
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:45:24
Hotel Le Palme and beyond
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:56:42
Abandoned park
There was a very parlous-looking wooden bridge, with rotted and missing planks, over to another part of the park across the water. I wondered whether there was a way to that from the path we were on, but this path — often overgrown with bushes, some of them thorny — just led us to the top of the hill.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:58:36
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:58:48
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 14:59:46
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:02:16
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:02:44
Abandoned park and Hotel Le Palme beyond
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:03:46
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:06:36
Abandoned park and Hotel Le Palme beyond
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:09:30
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:12:00
Abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 15:12:38
Abandoned park
We went back to the hotel grounds, and to the bar near the beach for a couple of drinks. I also had a
caffè americano there, a brand I hadn’t seen before, “Caffè Hausbrandt”, a bit tastier than the ones they served at
Bar Le Vele. Janet went back to the room, but I went back to look for a way in to the other part of the “abandoned park”. I followed the path and found it led to the broken bridge that we couldn’t cross earlier.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:25:06
Other part of the abandoned park: way in
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:26:48
Other part of the abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:29:04
Other part of the abandoned park: looking back
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:29:32
Other part of the abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:29:54
Other part of the abandoned park
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:31:40
Other part of the abandoned park: “Eddie
Lizzard”
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:34:14
Other part of the abandoned park: the source of the waterfall
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:35:16
Other part of the abandoned park: the broken bridge, seen earlier
The tower at the top of the hill, which our path had approached earlier, looked like some antique tower, but was in fact an electricity substation. (I would see many similar examples on our travels the next day.)
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:36:28
Other part of the abandoned park: the broken bridge and an antique-looking electricity sub-station
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:37:04
Antique-looking electricity sub-station
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:43:46
Going back to Hotel Le Palme
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:46:10
Hotel Le Palme: main entrance
I set the computer up on the balcony.
Monday 25 July 2016 — 16:55:08
Seen from the balcony
Transferred 112 photos from my camera to the WD Elements
HDD (17:05–17:10). Nine were from yesterday so I transferred them to a new folder. Looked through the remaining 103 photos using
Windows Photo Viewer and rotated eight that needed it (17:16–17:20).
Janet and I looked at all the photos I’d taken so far. Ca.6.50pm we went to
Bar Le Vele. Janet had a Coke Zero and I two of the ready-mixed
Camparisoda (19:35 on the till receipt). Then we went for dinner. Janet
recalls, “It was a good meal — we enjoyed [it].” My chief recall, though, is the lamb chops: tough. I managed to eat them, though — unlike the disgraceful beef they served yesterday evening. “It was almost 8.45pm before we finished,”
Janet wrote, “and I suggested a brisk walk in the park. It was getting dark. We were back in our room not long after 9pm.… We were both in bed just after 10pm. Around 11pm we were woken up (or rather, [John] was) by the phone ringing — then a knock at the door.” Not “ringing”, strictly speaking: I was startled awake when suddenly I heard loud music from the direction of the TV set. I got up to investigate, and realised that it was in fact the phone, situated behind the TV; but I got to it and picked up too late to reply. Minutes later, though, there was a knock on the door. I opened it a crack (I only had underpants on), and it was one of the reception staff with a message.
The call had come from “Luca”, to say that the “pick up” time “tomorrow” to go to “Alghero” would be “8.45”.
[Tuesday 26 July 2016]
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