Barumini

The Barumini Nuraghe “Su Nuraxi” the Unesco Heritage site of Sardinia (duration 4.30 - 5 hours max.)

Leave Cagliari to start driving across the Southern Campidano plain along the SS131. Enjoy the romantic countryside of Southern Sardinia in the fertile area called Marmilla with wheat crops and olive groves. Reach the small village of Villamar which houses are painted with colourful murals and sandstone carvings. Admire the rural architecture of the old traditional adobe houses and then reach the village of Las Plassas where a perfectly cone shape hill stands out with the ruins of a medieval castle perched on the very top. The cone and castle of Las Plassas belonged to a legendary queen of the Sardinian Medieval Arborea kingdom called Eleonora.

We finally arrive at the village of Barumini where just on the outskirts we find the most important prehistoric monument of Sardinia: the massive nuraghe and its extensive village. The Nuraghe, which number over 7000, are the most impressive architectural achievement of the ancient world. The Nuraghic Bronze Civilization developed a distinct identity of its own constructing the defensive dwellings, citadels with dry stone walls, the inner chambers of the towers capped by a corbelled roof known as “tholos”, common to the Mycenaean world. The Nuraghe are expression of the complex Megalithic, Cyclopean architecture of Sardinia. Su Nuraxi is the finest and most thoroughly excavated nuraghe. The nucleus consists of a massive tower built around the XV century BC which was, in a later phase, surrounded by four subsidiary towers, forming a half moon shaped open courtyard. More defensive outer walls and towers joining the peripheral round towers were constructed in different times. A large settlement, with round huts and workshops, lies around the massive towers.

At the end of the tour return to Cagliari and enjoy a brief sightseeing in the City of Cagliari before returning to the ship. Note: extensive tour - it involves climbing on stones, ladders, steps- walking into narrow corridors, uneven surfaces in order to enter the Nuraghe fortress, not suitable for people carrying walking difficulties or wheelchairs