West Coast Weekend Trip

After a fun filled late night of enjoying a Bob Dylan cover band at a local rock venue, we woke up early the next day to embark on our first weekend trip. Actually 'woke up early' is a total overstatement, as the first words I heard upon opening my eyes that morning were "the bus is here". I made it to the bus as quickly as i possibly could, albeit late and totally under packed for an overnight stay. With everyone finally on board (me being the person now making that statement true) we headed out to our first destination, the Sardinian geo-mining park.

The drive to the geomining park was about an hour of stunning views of the Sardinian western mountain ranges and the dramatic cliffs of the coastline. Long steep roads lead us through the windy route to our destination, a white sandy beach surrounded by tremendously tall and flat rock faces:

View from just right of the beach

After about a 20 minuet hike alongside the basses of the mountains, we found ourselves at the entrance of the geomine, a now closed but once active mine. The site is now used as an example to show visitors the basic structure and layout of the mines that once flourished in the area. It is very interesting to see the now abandoned ghost towns in the surrounding area that were once heavily populated during the peak operation of these mines. We went on a tour of the mine which was cool and even cooler when we reached the end of the dark mining tunnel and were shown what was probably the best view I have seen on the island thus far:

 

We spent the night on an agroturismo tucked away in the mountains about another hour from the geomining park. An agroturismo is essentially a farm in which tourists are provided with rooms to sleep in as well as breakfast, dinner, and lunch, usually consisting of foods produced on the farm itself. Everything was delicious and it was nice to have a great sit down meal of authentic and fresh Sardinian food after a long day outside. After dinner a few of us went outside and laid in a nearby field to talk and stare up at the stars for while. It was a good end to a good day.