Our late afternoon airport arrival forced us to end this day of traveling in style. We quickly learned about Sardinia-style. The road led us to Iglesias. I was getting excited, are we going to meet Julio? As soon as we reached the town of Iglesias, he was not at home...he seems to live in Spain. Let's follow the road after Iglesias and see what the next destination had to offer.
Chasing the sunset, this was the result
Landed on the island
After 2 flights we landed at sunny Sardinia...a large contrast with the snowy mountains that I saw from the window of the plane. It was so quiet at the airport, it feels definitely like off-season. Our tiny rental car was easy to get. It was already far in the afternoon and we'd booked accommodation close to Bosa. Getting there was a bit of driving, so there was not much to see before reaching the comfy beds.
Window seats are the best...for the view
I looked at the map and discovered that there was a nice place to visit on the west coast, recommended by @xsasj. It was 1,5 hour driving and I was on the hunt for a nice sunset. While driving over the SS130 it seems a bit more busy. A lot of older and damaged cars, many spaces along the highway where you can stop for all kind of reasons (and most people seem to use it). It was a challenge to avoid the big holes in the road and I told my girlfriend we were heading to Iglesias. But hey, we landed in Italy and not in Spain, I guess Julio (Iglesias; a Spanish singer, songwriter and former professional footballer) is not there. We were getting hungry and thirsty, but I wanted to be in time for the sunset. There will be a little shop were you can buy something in the town of Nebida. Before we reached that little town, we passed several old mining facilities, I wanted to stop to explore...but we would not make it in time then. Nebida...there we are. Oops, off-season. Everything is closed. No little fountain or anything. "It will be just a little walk downstairs, walk around for 30 minutes and get back" I said. Well, I was just as right as with the water...
Walking down to the mines with these views, you will forget being thirsty
You're Mine!
When women get thirsty, they might get a bit grumpy. Disappointment all over when there was nothing to drink. "You and your mine!" my girlfriend said. Yes I know, I am yours ;) But hey, the trick is to walk faster. Then you won't hear the comments. Oops, she also reads this post. We left the stone pathway and walked over a bit a grass to reach an older track. There it was: Laveria Lamarmora. It's part of an old mining facility. You won't recognize much of the mining past in the former mining town of Nebida. But the Laveria is worth a walk. The brick buildings, which slope towards the sea, were built in 1895. Rocks from the Buggerru mine were transported down an inclined plane in wagons. Parallel to the stairs along which you can descend on the other side, you still find the rails. In the laundry complex, the rock was broken to extract minerals such as lead and zinc. That is why the buildings are surrounded by chimneys and ovens. The ores were transported via a small port. Today it's a collection of ruins, the roofs and windows are gone. Improvised wooden scaffolding must keep the round-arched windows in line. There is a bit of old tolling laying around. I was actually impressed that storms did not take the complex down during all those years on a windy coast.
There is an option to slide to the lower ruins
The round window with a view on the coast
I love this place. So much to explore. I was searching for this gorgeous round window. I really needed to find it, because I already lost the sun and my girlfriend here. Actually, it did not take that long to find it. I was happy and I wanted to share this place. But where is she? The sun was hiding behind the clouds, but where is thirsty Kat? Did she find the hidden tunnel? No, she didn't. I found her posing at one of the arches. We were heading back the other way and now I understood why my Hive-friend was talking about such a long & high stairs. It was literal and figurative breathtaking, when we climbed it. But before the climb, I went for a little extra walk...I saw a tunnel. Not the same tunnel as my friend talked about, but there was also light at the end. The view on the other side? Spectacular. If we had more time, this was a perfect spot for a sunset picnic. The sun tried hard to say goodbye, it made the sky even more beautiful. Back to those stairs, with a lack of food and still no water running to the throat, it was a beast to climb. We controlled the beast and made it! We climbed the stairs next to the ROLLING STONES (Referring to the wagons with stones that rolled down the rails in the past). You didn't really think we met up with the Rolling Stones right? Although, they would fit into this ancient scenery.
Setting priorities
On our climb back to the car, we saw another ruin that I wanted to visit. The sun was down, rain was coming in, a pile of cacti blocked the entrance and we were soooo thirsty. We decided to get back in the car and then it started to poor down. We didn't drink the rain. We drove back to the SS130 and stopped at a local gas station for sweet snacks and water. We continued a bumpy ride and passed 5 accidents before we arrived at the B&B. After some wine and 'Lange Vingers' (which they normally use in Tiramisu here), it was time to sleep. One of the beds was just as wobbly as a waterbed. Later that week I realized that a wobbly bed is a lot better than a mattress without filling.
Let's climb back up this way, where they used to roll down the stones. It's easy :)
Light at the end of the tunnel...and a nice villa
The view from the tunnel vs. the view a bit higher up
No escalator here
We got used to closed places at the island
What a wonderful visit at the Nebida Mine. And nice to see there is hardly any contrast with the discovery and the more sunny pictures of my Hive-friend. We didn't make it to the ruin downstairs, because it was too steep and slippery to go down there today. That would have RUINed the day. Although there was a stone structure that looked like a big slide into the ocean. This little exploration was a nice start of the Sardinian adventure.
Happy start of the trip