We'd driven north through Putifigari in search of Laccaneddu tomba di gigante (in vain, with poor babelfished directions and no signposting) and had planned to head for a beach and relax, but chief navigator Beardy spotted this on one of my bits of mapping and announced it was right on the road, on the way back.
Heading west towards Olmedo on the 127bis, there's a sign for this site about 400m before it, at a right turn. Don't turn right, but watch out for the layby contained within the slip roads of the junction as it's probably the best place to park.
Tomb 1 really is right up against the road.
A 16m corridor first - with a metal gate padlocked across the entrance, but someone had already bent back one of the bars and we were able to squeeze into the anti chamber with an impressive entrance to the main part of the tomb. Apparently discovered by chance 1959, still sealed by the stone slabs of the Bonnanaro culture circa 1600BCE.
I donned my headtorch and climbed in ....
The first room has two massive pillars supporting it, and a false door carved into the wall immediately facing the entrance. It's huge .... and dark! The torch wasn't thowing out much light at all, so I had to rely on the trusty method of flash photography and was immediately spooked by the shape on the right hand wall. The walls are painted in blood coloured ochre with carved doors, but I looked for the bulls horns mentioned in one set of research notes in vain.
A series of rooms lead off this main chamber, with their doors set maybe 3ft high in the walls. With limited light, I didn't climb in but have included a link to a diagram of the whole layout.
So, some not so dainty wiggling back through the main entrance and the bent gate, to explore the slopes of the hill ....
There are another 8 tombs up here!
The entrance area to one was flooded with thousands of tadpoles in the murky green water, and another was mainly collapsed. Further up though, crawling into a tomb revealed another huge double pillared room with chambers off it. Even though I'd been warned there was one in there, I couldn't help but shriek as the resident bat swooped past me .....
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Oh my! Wow! It took a while for us to find this place, we'd been trying to get to it from the wrong road.
Easiest - from Monte D'Accoddi, you are forced to turn south along the 131 towards Sassari (and it should be noted, there are two bits of 131 round here, you want the east branch to find the altar). At the first opportunity, turn back on yourself, pass the entrance to Monte D'Accoddi again, and straight on at the next side turns - you'll see a Q8 petrol station on the other carriageway and then 24km marker just before a large cluster of dilapidated buildings. Turn right (obviously!) here and choose the left hand one of the two tracks in front of you and drive to the end at the back of some houses.
The tombs start right at the edge of the track and continue across the scrub land between the fields. I'd seen a couple of images online and knew I had to visit, but wasn't expecting quite what was found ..... and further research reveals more we missed too!
The site has incredibly deep cart ruts - like those found on Malta for example at Clapham Junction - running across it.
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Mystery solved!
Having located its neighbour, it would have been rude to pass only a few km from Li Mizzani and we were feeling still in need of a good tomba having spent most of the week exploring domus je janas (groups of rock cut tombs).
The site had been so busy on our previous visit, we weren't surprised to see a few cars parked along the fence. We wandered in, to find just 4 people there, and in a combination of Italian, German and English, struck up conversation, and were fed delicious local cheese for our efforts. Cheers, Salvatore!
A couple of A4 laminates hung in the tree confirmed - the magnetic energy here is being used for natural healing!
I'm not sure about the claims that it can cure glaucoma and infertility, amongst other things, but this certainly is a beautiful place with a definite charm. I'll be back again.
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Follow the directions to Li Mizzani, but at the fork in the road where you turn left for that now signposted site, go right following signs to a church instead. Keep going, not far past the path to the church and 2.2km from the turn, you'll find an old wooden ladder and a more modern white metal one to help you climb over the dry stone wall under a tree on the right, with a fallen info board.
There's more than a tomba here!
A fallen menhir, the remains of a round building and a more recent rectangular building too.
The tomba itself ... sadly ruinous; there's no stele, no funeral corridor, all that remains is the esedra and that's quite overgrown. You could almost miss it while standing in front of it.
One for completists - we'd driven part way down the road 18 months before and not found this site, so I'd been determined to see what was there ....
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A short distance north east of the pretty fishing village of Marsaxlokk is Tas-Silg temple. I knew it wasn't officially open to the public, but decided to go and take a look anyway. The site has a reasonably tall wall round it, and the gates are chunks of solid metal. Nothing to see here, without an appointment!
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For directions and facilities, see Bois de la Plesse north.
This is the better preserved of the two allées here, but still has no capstones remaining. The side stones mark out a chamber about 7m long and 1m high. Its eastern end entrance has a row of 8 stones forming a facade reminiscent of the tomba di gigante on Sardinia.
The site was excavated in 1966/7.
The area around, and the field beyond, are littered with stones, maybe originally from this monument or its near neighbour.
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From the D903 less than 1km west of Lithaire, there's a road south, with a signpost advertising paintballing and other leisure pursuits; continue for 1km straight ahead, and you'll find a parking area to the left with map boards and a toilet block to the right.
Taking the track between these two, there's a kids playground and picnic area, and the path leads to the (filled in quarry) lake, with pedallos on it and some kind of shop/cafe (closed).
From here, it's a short but steep climb up woodland steps - so not suitable for the less mobile - and a right turn will lead you to the clearing with two allées couverte, this and Bois de la Plesse south.
About 500m in total, car park to site.
The information board mentions 3 allées, only two of which are visible here. The first, northern one, is quite ruinous, with 3 upright stones at its eastern end but other fallen ones showing the length of the chamber to have been about 9m.
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At the northern end of the village of the same name is a signpost to this site; it's 3.4km to the field track, signposted all the way. It's then about 150m up the track and the monument can then be seen 50m away to the left, in the field.
Our first French allée couverte!
It's about 20m long, running north-south; there's an information board with a map of nearby sites on the western side but the east side is overgrown with brambles and the sweetcorn in the field was planted right up to its edge when we were there.
Excavations and restoration were carried out 1968-1971 and finds included pottery and flint tools.
There are 6 huge capstones in place, creating a corridor with a cross section of about 1.5m square.
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The nuraghe at Tamuli is on a high point beyond the 3 tombas and the betili. It's surrounded by huts, the most impressive of these being at the end of the path beyond the nuraghe.
The nuraghe itself, we were warned on the info boards, is unsafe due to landslides, and it has been roped and fenced off.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinia 2 trip 3" |
From the fork in the road, it's just over 250 metres, and just past a house on the right, to the field the dolmen is in on the left. The signpost was lying in the long grass - Beardy picked it up and put in on the wall - but an info board (a little too weary from the sun to be of much use) confirmed we were in the right place.
No one had been here for a while, from the height of the grass and wild flowers!
It actually took us quite a while to find the dolmen ..... from the road, there's a narrow strip before the field opens out. From the end of this strip, there are two distinct clumps of trees ahead - go between them and look for a stone kerb on your left. There's a rocky outcrop at the end of the kerb, and I spotted, buried in the grass, a bright yellow "DOLMEN" sign. Look to your left and you should see the capstone.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
From the crossroads, it's about 800m to the dolmen. You should be able to see it in an enclosure to the right of the road, not long after a 90 degree bend. Just after you think you've passed the dolmen, there's an information board and a gate to the enclosure.
There's another info board within - shot up! The dolmen itself has 4 supporting stones, though the capstone only appears to rest on 3 of them. The capstone is huge - well over 2ft thick.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
Our first tomba of the day, and an unusual one in that is has two pairs of side cells off its corridor. The entrance to the tomba is away from the road, though the back has fallen so you can see right the way through.
The right hand wing of the esedra has been lost in the field; the left side forms part of the field boundary.
The info board showed a tomba in the field directly opposite, but we couldn't spot it and didn't investigate too closely as there were numerous dogs barking at us from the farm next door, but as usual no one in sight for us to ask.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
From Nuraghe Miuddu, head to the gate where you enter the field and then the corner beyond it. Follow the edge of the field south - there'll be a hedgerow to your left - and climb the (low) wire fence at the end. Now clamber over the big rocky outcrop to the right. The tomba is on the slope just below and to the right a bit.
Quite ruinous, with a bush growing right in front of the centre of the esedra. There's one capstone still in place - the views from here are incredible!This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
If you are heading west on the 129 towards Macomer, this is what you'll find at the first junction you come across for Birori.
There's no way in; there are two collapsed small tholos rooms on its south side, so the chances are it's at least a trilobate if not quadrilobate structure.
There are some village huts visible in the long grass around the nuraghe too.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
Wow! Until visiting Santa Cristina I'd not been to any holy wells anywhere, and much as that one had impressed me with its sharp lines, this just, well, words just about fail me to describe how stunning this place is.
Check out the pictures!
The well itself is a tholos construction with steps up - to a long passage guarded by betili, with steps / seats to the left and a bank to the right with a path along the top - and leading on to the most spectactular amphitheatre with banked seating all the way round and a clearing beyond that.
Was water brought to the waiting "congregation", or was a journey made from the amphitheatre to the well? Which ever way, the passage had an electric sensation about it ....
By far, my favourite place of the trip. I could have spent hours here.
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The third temple at Romanzesu is different in that it's rectangular (you'd never guess from its name!) with its entrance half way along one of its longer sides. It's in the lower part of the site, in the trees to the right as you head towards the well.
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Temple B is of the same construction as Megaron Temple A, and is a short walk up the path behind it. It's almost surrounded by cork oaks and is right next to a huge rocky outcrop.
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The first megaron temple is near the entrance and sacred enclosure. It has a vestibule and then the main room with an L shaped stone bench round 2 walls and a place for offerings. The back walls of the temple are extended, as we saw at Serra Orrios, and the information boards show the structure originally with a steeply pitched roof.
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Clearly signposted from the 389 between Bitti and Budduso; there's a left turn (if heading north) a couple of km north of the junction to/from Nule and Benetutti. Then 3km on single track lane, but actually a reasonable road and signposted all the way.
The site is open 09:00-13:00 and 15:00-19:00 (Sundays 09:30-13:00 and 14:30-19:00) with 3 guided tours run in each half day. Entry is 3.10 euros for adults with various reductions available. The ticket office is the hut on the carpark; we signed the guest book and were lent a plan of and guide to the site. There'd only been one other visitor all day, and unsurprisingly, we had the place to ourselves for the afternoon.
The complex covers 7 hectares, in a beautiful, if rather windy, spot, with cork oaks and clearings with dappled sunlight. About 20 huts are visible, though there are over 100, and there are 3 temple buildings and a sacred well, each listed separately. The grid reference given for the whole site is that of the entrance to it.
Straight in front of you, the first thing you see is the sacred enclosure with a couple of small huts beyond it, and the megaron temples to the right; following the path ahead goes to the main part of the complex, with the rectangular temple and holy well. The other main features here are huts with niches and hearths, and low benches round their interior walls; one hut is unusual in that is has a central dividing wall, and there's also the "great hut" divided into rooms.
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This tomba is right in Birori - it reminded us of the cairn circle at Aviemore for its proximity to the houses.
To find it, go to the centre of the village where, at a cross roads, there's a couple of shops. Turn to the north; the first, almost immediate, left turn goes into a parking area - we asked directions here - and were told to take the second left instead, and follow the road round. The tomb is signposted from here, with modern development all around. Look for the pink neon hotel sign to help you locate it, if lost.
The grasscutters were out with strimmers in the village, but hadn't reached the site yet, so we were waist deep in grass at many points.
The tomb is sizeable - approx 17m long and 12m wide; there's no stele, but the corridor has two side niches opposite each other, a feature that we'd only seen at Lassia nearby. There's a bench along the front of the esedra, and the walls of the corridor angle in towards each other.
The esedra in particular is easy to see is of double walled construction, with the cavity filled with smaller stones, rubble and earth.This post appears as part of the blog post " Sardinina 2 trip 4 - morning" |
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Yorkshire based stone searcher and Cope music fan with intentions to be tidy and green, and with a fondness for baking.
Married to Beardy - at Castlerigg - and honeymooned round Perthshire, Aberdeenshire, and the Western Isles.
Recently taken to European excursions.
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