Santa Teresa and Capo Testa

Today we went back to the coast: we drove to the northernmost tip of Sardinia to the small town of Santa Teresa di Gallura.

First, we explored the center of the town.

There were some preparations for celebrations that were going to take place in the town this weekend.

As we passed by the church, an orchestra was already playing and preparations for a procession were starting.

For the feast of the patron saints, a long procession of people with statues of saints marched through the old town before returning to the church for mass (although some stayed in the café on the market square and did not go to the church).

We went to the viewpoint by the sea, from where you could see all the way to Corsica.

Then we continued to the Capo Testa peninsula.

We hiked from the beach through the landscape with the bizarre-shaped granite rocks.

After a short path along the coast, we saw the lighthouse rising on a hill above the sea.

Here, it started to get more crowded again because there was a parking lot nearby and many visitors were climbing on the surrounding rocks.

We continued a bit further until the path started to descend again.

Behind the old lighthouse, we started the ascent again. However, this part of the trail was a bit more difficult because the path disappeared at some point and we had to climb up the rocks.

We did not know yet that this would be the easy part of the trail...

Behind the old lighthouse, we followed a small path where we quickly encountered a turtle sunbathing. But when we approached, it preferred to hide under a bush.

Unfortunately, our path kept disappearing in the thickets, so we had some difficulties making progress.

Eventually, we came across a bigger path and tried to find the way to the 'Valle di Luna', whose rock formations were supposed to resemble the lunar landscape.

In the valley, there are the 'apartments' of a hippie commune. We saw some tents and eventually also encountered a group enjoying the sun together.

Now we had to decide whether we wanted to go back the same way or follow a hiking trail that was supposed to lead around the next mountain.

We chose the new path, which led over the beach to the rocks.

Unfortunately, this path disappeared as well and we had to climb over rocks to cross the next valley.

Then the path led back to the coast and we climbed over the rocks again to make progress.

Unfortunately, the paths marked on the map on our phone were not always there and occasionally the GPS signal was lost, so we were relieved when we finally found a path that was supposed to lead us back to the road.

Unfortunately, this path ended at a fence where we were greeted by excited barking dogs, so we had to turn back again.

We looked for a new path and hoped to reach the road soon. Then we ran into an angry Italian who explained to us that this was private property (at least we understood this part). However, there were no signs or hints on our way that this was not a publicly accessible area.

Since we really didn't feel like going back the difficult way, we asked him how we could get to the road. (By now we had found out that the not very friendly gentleman spoke French at least.)

Since it was obvious that we didn't want to turn back, he told us to take the small path to the beach and then continue from there.

We followed the indicated path, but did not go all the way to the beach because there was already a path branching off in the right direction before. Unfortunately, this path ended in front of a gate, which we simply climbed over. On the other side, we finally saw the signs prohibiting access...

Apparently, we had ended up in a restricted residential area of wealthy Italians, even though komoot showed a public hiking trail and a road here...

We were glad when we were back at our car and after an ice cream break in Santa Teresa, we continued to a Bronze Age tomb, the 'Tomba di Giganti Li Mizzani'.

Some Italians were already sitting there, and one even lay down in the former burial chamber. We had read online that some locals believe there are special energies here that are released when you touch the gravestone...

On the way back, we stopped at the beach 'Talmone' and took a short walk there.

From there, we drove through the village of Porto Rafael back to Palau.