INSPIRATION

At last, the weather is good and I expect a bit more miles today. I start traveling soon and after a few kilometers I start to skirt the famous and controversial military base of Capo Teulada, a very extensive territory. I stop in a bar in the middle of nowhere for a coffee and a pasta, and I go on for a bit of climb, before arriving at the straight road that enters Teulada, in which I notice a row of white stone statues.

After crossing the bridge over the stream that cuts the village in two, I arrive in the main square where Paolo, who will host me for the day, the Mayor Daniele and Councilor Gloria, are waiting for me. Paolo is a school manager in the local school and he must leave us to solve an emergency linked to the canteen service. The three of us get into the car and go to visit the municipal territory, very large, the fifth largest in Sardinia, which extends from the sea to the mountains behind the village to Punta Sebera (which separates it from the other surrounding municipal areas).

First stop is in the locality of Tuerra, at the church of Sant’Isidoro next to which stands a large square medieval watchtower. Here in summer there is an important festival in honor of the saint. We continue towards the coast and we arrive just above the little harbor, on a rocky coast where the Spanish tower of Budello is located. From here you can enjoy a beautiful view of a beach below and the harbor, which we descend immediately after.

The next stop is the beach of Porto Tramatzu, beautiful, fine white sand, the sea in front of a unique turquoise, the Isola Rossa, the small dunes that, as they tell me, are growing fast, and some beach facilities that will soon demolished. This part of the beach has in fact been recently returned to the municipality by the military, who used it for their activities.

Back to the village we meet Paolo who solved the emergency. I take this opportunity to take some pictures in the beautiful Town Hall square, decorated with stone sculptures. I come to know that for many years here in Teulada there was an international sculpture exhibition that brought artists from all over the world to create urban works for the village.

After a quality lunch cooked by the Mayor, we head to the baronial house of Sanjust, historical feudal lords of the area. From here we continue the visit the center, the parish church, other small squares with sculptures, and then we pass the other side of the stream to see the church of San Francesco. It is here that I notice that many walls are made of schist stone typical of the area.

The evening continues with an aperitif at the central bar with Daniela already met in Nuxis but who lives here in Teulada, and a group of friends, and then ends at Paolo’s house with a dinner based on fish and many talks in front of two bass ukuleles, mine and Paul’s!

 

SOUND FRAGMENTS

 

SHORT SARDINIAN STORIES

Time has come to talk about another path, of which I now hear a lot of talk, after the Santa Barbara mining path (which also reaches this Municipality, and described in the page of Iglesias) and that of Santu Jacu (described in the page of Perdaxius.) This is the Way of the 100 towers. From the fortieth day of this tour, at San Vero Milis, I began to see the sea, the coast, and in it the coastal towers that began to be built in the Middle Ages to spot possible invaders. I have already seen so many, in the Oristanese, in the Iglesiente and now in the Sulcis … and I know that I will see many more, even if not all of them!

The route reaches 88 municipalities, a total of 1284 kilometers, practically the coastal tour of Sardinia, which can be traveled on foot, by bike, on horseback and even in a canoe! Conceived by a visionary engineer from Cagliari, Nicola Melis, after completing the Camino de Santiago, the journey of the 100 towers was completed by him and by people who joined for several stretches in 2018, an anticlockwise turn. Several stages have been identified to which various names have been given: the way of martyrdom, the way of the giants, the way of the mines and others. As for the other paths, there is a passport, where the stamps that certify the completion of the stages are affixed.

This is also very beautiful, but there is a part of me that hopes to find no more ‘paths’ in Sardinia, for fear of wanting to complete them all, and never return to my musical activities!