venerdì 1 novembre 2024

Tavolara Island

opposite to Olbia

Tavolara is the smallest kingdom in the world and appears as a harsh high mountain 558 meters, 4 km long. wide and less than one, lying on a granite base and consists of a white limestone mantle, resulting from Mesozoic sediments.
It has an almost rectangular base whose vertices are Punta Timone, Punta del Papa, Punta La Mandria and Coda di Mezzo.
An impressive body in the sea that impresses for its strong verticality, military area in the eastern sector (Spalmatore of Outside is off-limits) and accessible in its west flat offshoot, the one facing Sardinia, called Spalmatore Earth ( Tarra tail Gallura), where there are beautiful beaches, a small marina, a couple of restaurants and a few houses, including those of Bertoleoni, masters of the island, indeed royal family rulers of the small Kingdom of Tavolara, descendants of an adventurer navigator, Giuseppe Bertoleoni, landed on the island in the late 1700s and settled here.
At his death he was succeeded by his eldest son Paul, who in 1848 on the island housed the King Carlo Alberto, come for a hunting trip to the wild goats.
He leaves the sovereign greeted Paul Bertoleoni who turned as king of the island, so important words that spread throughout Europe and even earned him a picture of the neo royal family at Buckingham Palace halls, where photos of all are preserved the rulers of the world.

Tavolara is characterized by its high and steep ridges (cliffs), for its natural arches, like Ulysses Arco and coastal caves such as the Cave of the Pope, so called because of its shape resembling the papal tiara, reachable only by sea, inside which were found traces of the Paleolithic period and Punic Roman, as well as in Grottone the Herd.

To reach the top of Tavolara you must embark on a challenging trek of about an hour and a half from a path that is located on the right just landed on the island and that leads to the base of the wall.
From here the trail turns left, climbing to the summit, Punta Cannone (558 m), with the last meters to be made in the wall, very carefully and mountaineering experience. Once at the top the view is amazing

To the south of Tavolara, granite and less rugged nature, the island of Molara, characterized by low vegetation with more rounded shapes and easier access.
The maximum altitude is reached at Punta la Guardia (155 m). On the island you are also found remains of an ancient medieval community disappeared around the sixteenth century. (Village of Gurguray), remains of a tower of the Judicial period, and the ruins of the small Romanesque church of St. Pontian, reached by a path from the church or from Cala Cala Spanish, the beaches of the island.

Populated by chestnut trees, oaks, cistus, mastic giants, olive trees, junipers and tafonati, Molara granite houses a unique lizard in the world: Lacerta tiliguerta ranzii.
Located 5 miles from the extreme tip of Tavolara, Molarotto, a small island with an area of ??over 20,000 square meters, with its highest point reaching 54 meters. The coast is formed by imposing granite blocks populated by seabirds.

Pictures
Tavolara Island
Tavolara Island
Tavolara Island
Tavolara Island
Tavolara Island