INSPIRATION

Today’s road is one of the long stages of this tour … at last! I get out of Teulada and go back an a road I passed yesterday rejoining the coast that will take me to Chia. After a few kilometers I reach the sea, and I see the places where I was yesterday, the Spanish tower, the port. The more I go up the coast the more the panorama opens up, the Isola Rossa, and the edge of Capo Teulada.

The climb is really tiring but when I get to the top the view is breathtaking. I continue in a continuous alternation of climbs and descents, with magnificent views, and I pass a whole series of little beaches, including the famous Tuerredda which is still part of the Municipality of Teulada. Immediately afterwards I go back up for the last time and I dive into the plain of Chia, now the territory of Domus De Maria.

This is a territory that I know quite well because of the famous beaches, Cala Cipolla, Su Giudeu, Campana. I pass the ponds and I stop at the legendary Mongittu bar for a coffee. Today I will be staying right here in Chia, at a friend’s place, but I expect a few more miles to get to the village.

I enter the road in the middle of the pink granite and fig trees that then meets the state road, which I cycle on, next to steep walls of rock on one side and the course of a river on the other (*). I enter the village. At the entrance I immediately notice a metal statue of a woman with two children. A little further on is a small square with the statue of Maria which gives its name to the village. It’s Sunday and almost lunchtime, there’s no one around. I cycle further on and take a picture of the municipal building. (**) I move on, I notice a couple of old houses, also in ladiri bricks, but given the absence of contacts I decide to return to Chia, cycling the same road I came from.

I get to the beach of Sa Colonia. In one of the houses facing the beach my friends Giuseppe and Marcello are waiting for me. I will spend all afternoon and evening with them. We are a stone’s throw from the site where the Phoenician city of Bithia supposedly stood. And on the left of the beach stands the promontory with a Spanish tower, the Chia tower. It is precisely here that the oldest rocks of Sardinia and Italy are found, from the pre-Cambrian period.

I enjoy the view of the sea in front, the deserted beach, sand of a beautiful yellowish color. We light the fire in the living room and spend the evening in total relaxation. Night falls, friends leave and I remain alone. The weather has worsened. A storm breaks out. It’s raining cats and dogs. I open the door to enjoy the sound of the rain. And I write something on the electric piano. I sleep on the sofa, with the fire slowly extinguishing, along with my mind.

SOUND FRAGMENTS

SHORT SARDINIAN STORIES

(*) A car gets by my side and rings the horn. I look and I find it hard to recognize the person inside. If he had not sent me a message before to tell me he was in Chia and he would like to see me again, I never expected to meet him. This is Alberto, a fellow geologist I had not seen for about twenty years. With Alberto we have prepared an examination together, Historical Geology, and we have been many times in excursion, to try to recognize fossils, rocks and strata.

(**) Alberto follows me in the car and we stop to have a coffee at the bar in the central square. Between a chat and the other comes out that Alberto lives in Sestu, where I will be shortly, and immediately offers to give me hospitality. Here’s how a fortuitous meeting turns into a concrete help for my project!