During this new travel we will discover very interesting places, in northwestern Sardinia, close to Porto Ferro.
Situated just north of Alghero and Porto Conte, this area is characterized by a long beach, surrounded by promontories and cliffs along the coast; the environment is still rather wild and with few tourists out of season.
Just a few kilometers from the sea there is Lake Baratz. In Sardinia, it is the only vast natural freshwater basin (about 0.6 km²). Looking at a map of the Island, you can see many other lakes (Omodeo, Coghinas and Flumendosa), but all artificial basins.
Porto Ferro area
In this part of the region there are no large settlements and you can organize long hikes in nature. Along the coast, there are numerous towers and fortifications.
The sandy beach of Porto Ferro is frequented by surfers in the summer months, thanks to the wind and high waves.
Today we do not have much time for a long walk, so we prefer to get to the car park south of Porto Ferro by car overlooking the cliffs; from here the panorama is wonderful. Within a couple of minutes walk we reach the remains of the tower of Tres Elighes.
The view is superb: we observe the whole bay of Porto Ferro and the mountains that close it to the North. On the opposite side we can see the long succession of cliffs overlooking the sea, alternating with small coves, in the direction of Capo Caccia; an impressively flat path, of about 5 km above these cliffs, leads to the beautiful beach of the Porticciolo Tower.
Lake Baratz
We move by car to approach Lake Baratz; in fact you can reach it from Porto Ferro also along paths crossing a first stretch of dunes and a pine forest.
We reach a park near the lake and we start our walk in nature.
We cross wild scrublands, whose silences are broken only by bird singing and wind blowing.
In a short time, we reach the shore of the lake; the marshy environment is probably similar to many areas of the ancient Sardinia, before the creation of agricultural fields and pastures over the last few centuries. Anyway, the vast pines around the lake date back to the early 1950s, created by man with the introduction of trees not typical in this area.
Here we stop for taking pictures, listening to the song of nature.
More adventurous people will be able to discover different paths, perhaps a whole tour around the lake with new views. And with some luck they will also see the animals of this environment, including aquatic turtles and many bird species.
This place is also known for a legend. There are those who think that under the clear waters stand the remains of the ancient Roman city of Barax; in particular the buildings sank into the ground, perhaps after an earthquake. Today there is no historical-scientific evidence that confirms this belief… Anyway the name Barax is reported on some Roman maps of northern Sardinia.
