40:33.87N 08:18.49E Alghero
40:33.87N 08:18.49E Alghero
Alghero was founded by Dorias in the early 12th century and then conquered by Pedro IV of Aragon two centuries later and settlers from Barcelona and Valencia came to Sardinia. The original occupants of Sardinia were expelled and today the Catalan language and culture are evident in old Alghero which is consistently Spanish. There are lots of alleys and cobbled streets and the harbour area is surrounded by the old battlement walls and defensive towers which makes a lovely walk looking out to sea. Several restaurants are on the wall walk looking out over the beautiful sea area.
The massive 16th century Torre di Porta Terra is known as the Jewish Tower after its Jewish builders which overlooks one of the main squares. San Michele has a bright tiled dome.
The beach area surrounds much of the huge bay. The umbrellas are coloured coded for the hotels and their pieces of beach and the ordinary person’s beach area is usually a small area on the end.
We spent several days visiting Alghero and enjoyed the old city anchoring most nights in one of the bays of Porto Conti.
On one of the cliffs overlooking Porto Conti is several nuraghe buildings dating from 1800 to 300 BC. The strange cone structures were built without any bonding from huge basalt blocks taken from extinct volcanoes. Little is known about the identity of the nuraghic people. They were well organised and possessed remarkable engineering skills due to their building skills but there is no written word about the people. The mystery of the nuraghic people has intrigued Sardinians for years.
Bronze figures showing people with four eyes and four arms are among objects discovered on nuraghic sites and associated with the nuraghic people. Nothing else is known about them.
My friend Fay joined Ariel in Alghero and we are sailing around to Olbia retracing our journey to Alghero but visiting a few different places we missed on the way down. Therefore, Fay has been able to experience the beautiful bay of Porto Conti, Stintino and the wonderful light blue sea colour off of the Isle of Asinara.
Next stop is Castelsardo.
