Costa Verde
The silence of the sand dunes and deserts, the echo of the miners’ voices from the abandoned mines: this is the charm of Costa Verde in the south-west of Sardinia. The Costa Verde is an area of huge beaches and impressive cliffs; very high sand dunes and deserts extend more than a kilometer inlands and descend to the sea. In the distance, a green landscape of Mediterranean maquis drawn by the force of the wind, which bends even hundred-year-old junipers to the ground. The magic of these places is linked to simple hospitality; those who choose Costa Verde do not arrive here by chance. It is mainly demanded by those who do not like organized entertainment, seaside resorts and equipped beaches, but a spontaneous and familiar welcome in small family farms and guesthouses, where one can find the original features of the Sardinian lifestyle. In spring, the Costa Verde also becomes a paradise for surfers, who find the best waves to ride here; in summer it offers tranquility with a rare magical atmosphere and very long days on the beach with a postcard-like sunsets, which are among the most fascinating in the Mediterranean. This coast is so untouched and isolated that even the Caretta Caretta turtles lay their eggs along the beaches of Piscinas and Scivu, the heart of the Costa Verde. However, the local coast is not only the sea, silence and nature, but also a living testimony of the extreme exertion of the miners’ work through the monuments of industrial archaeology. “From Mines to Sea”; to Porto Flavia lead rails used by carts full of coal from the mines of Buggerru, Montevecchio and Ingurtosu. Now they are abandoned mines and villages, palaces and tunnels, the ruins which tell the stories of people and toil.