Some of the things you must see if you go to Sardinia are the remnants of the Nuragic civilization. Sardinia is often referred to as an “open air museum” as there are more than 7,000 Nuraghi as well as Giants’ Tombs, Neolithic Necropoles and lots of other ancient remains.
The Nuragic civilization dates from the Early Bronze Age, around the 18th century BC. Not much is known about the people as there is no written evidence. All we have is the stone buildings they left behind, and a few artifacts. The real purpose of the stone buildings is not known, but there are a lot of them and they are very interesting to see.
Some of the Nuraghi are on private property and some are hard to find, but several are quite close to towns and have been very well set up for visitors to see. We found a couple around Arzechena and Olbia.
Near the town of Arzachena there is a tourist office set up where you can buy tickets and get good directions to 3 Nuraghe sites.
We bought our tickets, a book about Nuraghe and we were off.
Here is matchbox Jim so you can see the size.
We were able to go inside and climb to the top.
Wouldn’t you just love to know how these people lived?? The spaces inside the building were tiny. Did they live there??? Where did they sleep, what did they eat, what did they do?
A Nuragic weed perhaps?
The next one was a tomb.
Jim is just there for size again, we didn’t bury him.
These stones are huge. How did they move them around?
The last Nuraghe we visited, the Sacred Well of Sa Testa was near Olbia. It was a little more difficult to find as the directions and signs were not good. This one was free to enter. It was built between the end of the Bronze Age and the early Iron Age. It is formed by a wide circular courtyard leading to a well. A vestibule leads to a 17 step staircase with a granite flat-topped vault. The well chamber was built with narrowing stone rows to make the vault. The spring still spills out at the bottom of the room. The site was excavated in 1938.
Nuragic thistle?
Wild onion grows all over Sardinia.
I don’t know what this is, but it is beautiful.
I now have a taste for Nuraghi and I want to find more!!!!