Today we left Alghero and headed to northeast Sardinia, stopping along the way in colourful Castelsardo for lunch. The nav was still avoiding highways so we stuck to backroads. The drive was narrow roads and rolling hills with occasional views of a vineyard, some sheep, or a few cows.
Our destination, San Pantaleo, is a village of about 650 residents, which sounds really small, it's a third the size of Ulassai, yet it feels larger and wealthier thanks to the many restaurants, cafes, and art stores, though some are closed for the season. The town is less than a half hour drive from the resorts of the Costa Smeralda so it draws a wealthier clientele; Ulassai draws rock climbers and hikers and people who stay in RVs. There is even an electric-car charging station, the first we've seen in Sardinia. Like Ulassai, San Pantaleo is surrounded by jagged, rocky mountains that are tempting us to hike.
Today we visited Nuraghe La Prisgiona, an archaeological site near San Pantaleo. It was unearthed about twenty years ago and is one of many such sites spread around Sardinia.
The nuraghe is an ancient structure found in Sardinia and built between 1900 and 730 B.C. More than 7,000 have been found to date. The structure is somewhat conical in shape with a hole in the center and is made of three layers, two of rock and one of dirt. The surrounding area contains smaller circular structures as well as a cistern.
On our last full day in Sardinia we hiked up to a nearby mountain pass, the one we can see from our rooftop deck. It was a rough trail going up--Sid would approve--but the views from the top were worth the effort.
