SARDINIA THARROS ARUTAS ITINERARY

A few months ago we started our special Sardegna Vera column. (we also created a #sardegnavera hashtags to use on instagram). This column aims at the discovery of new sites and the creation of itineraries concerning natural, landscape and marine paths, but also paths that enhance our tradition, culture, history and gastronomy. All or almost all of the routes we offer are also suitable for families with children as they are very simple itineraries and within everyone's reach. What do we propose in this post? Two routes in the west of the Sardinia, one about history and one about landscape. A beautiful itinerary in Tharros and Arutas.

The first route is fantastic that spans thousands of years of difference in a few kilometers away. Have you ever heard of the tombs of the giants? Well we strongly advise you to first visit the archaeological site and then the Giovanni Marongiu civic museum, here you will find a lot of history…. history! THE  Giants of Mont'e Prama  I'm  sculptures  nuraghic  to  all round. They were accidentally found in a field in March of  1974  in the locality of Mont'e Prama. The statues were found in connection with a vast Necropolis, in which young individuals were buried in a seated posture, almost all perhaps male and with highly developed musculature, a fact which, in connection with the iconology of the statuary, underlines their belonging to the class. warriors or aristocrats in any case. The dating? Stunning. Depending on the hypothesis, the dating ranges from  9th century BC  or even al  XIII century BC, hypotheses that could make it one of the oldest in the round statues of  Mediterranean basin, as prior to the  kouroi  of the  Ancient Greece, after  Egyptian sculptures. (Sardinia Tharros Arutas itinerary)

Itinerary in Sardinia to Prama Tharros and Arutas

THARROS

Where to go next? Maybe in the late morning you can walk a few kilometers to the southwest to admire another archaeological site, which you think in 2016 recorded more than 100,000 visitors. We are in Tharros , an area of cabras which was dominated by various civilizations. The city was founded by the  Phoenicians  in the eighth century BC  near a pre-existing Bronze Age Nuragic village. Subsequently, under the domination  Carthaginian, the city was fortified and enlarged and experienced a period of economic prosperity with the intensification of trade relations with mainly African countries. Conquered by  Rome  In the  238 BC, in the imperial age there was an intense urban renewal with the construction of the  thermal baths, of the aqueduct  and the arrangement of the road network with paving in  basalt. The city obtained the status of  municipium  of Roman citizens. (Sardinia Tharros Arutas itinerary)

After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, Tharros, ruled first by the Vandals and then by the Byzantines and harassed by Saracen raids, gradually entered a profound crisis that led to the abandonment of the site around 1050. The area is currently an open-air museum and excavations are continuing bringing to light more information about the past of this city. What is possible to see dates back mainly to the period of Roman domination or early Christianity. Among the most interesting structures are the tophet, the baths, the foundations of the temple and a part of the area with houses and artisan shops. Lunch break in the middle of the Roman ruins? Why not, since after lunch we go to the sea to relax.
IS ARUTAS

The second itinerary is in layman's terms: relaxation . You go to see one of the symbolic beaches of the west coast of Sardinia, the pearl of the Sinis peninsula, Is Arutas. But why is this beach so famous? Several hundreds of meters of turquoise sea and rounded grains of very fine quartz, similar to grains of rice, declined in a suggestive escalation of colors, from green to white, passing through the very delicate pink. It is a perfect beach for those who love to relax in a dream nature: you will reach it passing through the village of  San Salvatore. On this beach, after a great morning immersed in the history of Sardinia, it doesn't take much: a camera and a diving mask. The second, to be used immediately, the first instead, from the quartz sea, from the landscape to the breathtaking sunset.