SUNDAY, MAY 15 , 2022. THE WASHINGTON POST EZ EE F3
shrubs burst with yellow blooms.
To the soundtrack of cow bells,
we walked past traditional shep-
herds’ huts, constructed in a
domed teepee style with tree
branches, and a trail mainte-
nance crew who, in a mix of
Italian, French and English,
wished us congratulations on
President Emmanuel Macron’s
reelection victory in France. Our
destination was what the Sardin-
ia To urism website calls “the
most spectacular canyon in Eu-
rope and ... also one of the
deepest.” We were looking for
falcons and the golden eagle that
nests in the craggy cliffs.
According to Google Maps, we
were hiking through a national
park called Golfo di Orosei e del
Gennargentu. Although its
boundaries were established in
199 8 and it’s delineated on maps,
the national park has never been
operational because of local op-
position. Communities fought
outside regulation of lands
they’ve inhabited for millennia.
“It was a survival issue, not justbecause of a rebellious spirit,”
explained Maria Luisa Pira of
Chìntula, the organization that
manages the gorge. “We are able
to take good care of our land and
have every interest to keep it
pristine. Both shepherds and
tourist operators can make a
living here i n perfect b alance. We
were afraid that sacrificing so
much of our land would also
mean giving up our ancestor
culture.”
Pira hails from the nearby
mountain town of Orgosolo,
which gained fame for its resis-
tance against and ultimate
blocking of a planned military
base in 1969. Perched high in the
remote mountains, the town to-
day is covered in Cubist-style
wall murals, many with political
themes. (Orgosolo is also notori-
ous for former banditry and
kidnapping.) Indeed, the history
of Sardinia is one of defiance
against a constant tide of invad-
ers. It’s said the Romans were
never a ble to conquer the i sland’s
rugged interior; the region calledBarbagia stems from the word
“barbarian,” which Cicero used
to describe the inhabitants.
As we spoke with Pira beneath
the sheer vertical walls of the
canyon, we were entranced by a
graceful yellow bird. “The balle-
rina gialla,” Pira said, is the
Italian name for t he grey wagtail.
She also told us about a project
called Life Under Griffon Wings,
which aims to reintroduce vul-
tures to the area. The older
generation of Sardinians remem-
bers the days when the skies
were filled with these soaring
scavengers before they were vir-
tually wiped out.An age-old culture
It was in a dazzlingly different
landscape — the coastal trail
linking Cala Fuili to Cala Luna —
that our intrepid birder finally
spotted an Eleonora’s falcon in
its preferred marine habitat.
With sweeping views of the tur-
quoise sea, this hike ranks as one
of my all-time favorites. It’s part
of the famous Selvaggio Blu, along-distance hiking route estab-
lished in 1987 in a truly wild
Mediterranean milieu. Cecilia’s
falcon sighting was on a quiet
stretch before we reached the
beach, considered one of Sardin-
ia’s best and therefore packed
with sunbathers, most of whom
had arrived by boat. Only acces-
sible by foot or sea, the sandy
crescent is backed with lime-
stone cliffs housing cavernous
grottoes. (The Grotta del Bue
Marino is even etched with Neo-
lithic petroglyphs.)
Our last hike brought us to an
extraordinary Bronze Age ar-
chaeological site sequestered in a
cave on top of a mountain peak.
The trail led up stone steps and
through cracks in the cliffs,
where w e hoisted ourselves up by
our hands and knees. Tiscali was
first documented by historian
Ettore Pais in 1910 ; the village’s
circular stone dwellings demon-
strated remarkable masonry. It’s
thought t hat the Nuragic site was
inhabited starting in 15th cen-
tury B.C., then later by Sards
fleeing Roman occupation.
There’s not much left of the
ruins, but the setting gave me
goose bumps: Water dripped
down the limestone walls be-
neath the cave’s collapsed roof,
swallows nested i n the r ock and a
view of the Lanaittu Valley was
framed through a heart-shaped
“window.”
Jane and I descended the
mountain ahead of the lingering
birdwatchers, and as we walked,
minds wandering in sync with
our feet, she had an epiphany
about a creative school project —
an underrated benefit of a hike i n
the great outdoors. She stopped
to record her thoughts on the
phone, and it was at that mo-
ment when we encountered an-
other hiker: the friendly German
we had met on our first evening
in Sardinia. When we greeted
him, the look of astonishment on
his face was priceless.Nicklin is a writer based in Paris. Her
website is marywinstonnicklin.com.
Find her on Twitter: @MaryWNicklin.If You Go
WHAT TO DO
Gorropu Canyon
Urzulei, Province of Nuoro
011-39-389-420- 8595
gorropu.info/en
Beneath soaring limestone walls,
the boulder-strewn gorge is home
to wildlife such as the mouflon and
golden eagles. Gorropu can be
accessed by a Jeep tour from the
Chìntula organization’s base camp
at Kilometer 190 on the SS125, or
via a steep downhill hike from the
free parking (Parcheggio Gorropu
gratuito) at the Passo Ghenna
Silana on the SS125. The hike is
about five miles one way, but the
ascent makes the return difficult.
Open 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Canyon
entry about $5 per adult and
about $3.50 per child under 12.
Jeep tour about $25 per adult,
about $20 per child 7 to 11 and
about $10 per child 3 to 6.
Tiscali archaeological site
Dorgali, Province of Nuoro
011-39-348-478-0104
bit.ly/tiscali-site
The ruins of a Bronze Age
settlement are hidden away in a
roofless cave atop a mountain.
There are multiple trails; we chose
the loop hike starting from Oliena
in the Valle di Lanaitto. Open May
through September, 9 a.m. to 7
p.m., and the rest of the year 9
a.m. to 5 p.m. Tickets about $5
per adult and about $2.50 per
child 12 and under.
Cala Luna
Gulf of Orosei
bit.ly/cala-luna
This beautiful beach, backed by
soaring cliffs, is only accessible by
foot or boat. The hiking trail from
Cala Fuili is a little more than six
miles round trip. Open daily. Free
admission.INFORMATION
sardegnaturismo.it/enBY MARY WINSTON NICKLINOn our first night in Sardinia,
we struck up a conversation with
a solo diner at the next restau-
rant table. “I left my kids at h ome
so I could hike,” the German said
as he studied a topographic map
of the second-largest island in
the Mediterranean. As he de-
tailed his ambition for a multi-
day trek, my husband and I could
only look at each other, slightly
envious, and suppress smiles as
our kids did cartwheels in the
adjacent square. Delayed two
years because of the pandemic,
this spring break trip was meant
to be an immersion in nature
away from our urban Paris
home. Could we persuade our
daughters, ages 9 and 11, to hit
the trail?
For many people around the
world, Sardinia is synonymous
with spiagge, the powdery
beaches on the Costa Smeralda
(Emerald Coast). First developed
in the 1960s, this glitzy destina-
tion in the island’s northeast
quickly became the jet set’s play-
ground, complete with night-
clubs, megayachts and celebrity-
hunting paparazzi. But about an
hour south of Olbia, the moun-
tainous hinterlands near the
Gulf of Orosei offer a different
sort of playground: a thrilling
variety of landscapes and natural
wonders threaded with hiking
trails for outdoor enthusiasts.
The month of April, long before
the crowded summer high sea-
son, brings an additional al-
lure: a colorful palette of wild-
flowers blossoming in the sun-
shine.
For my older daughter, Jane,
nothing could be better than
listening to Spotify and reading a
book while bronzing on the
beach. Likewise for her younger
sister, Cecilia: Utter the word
“hike,” and there’s an instant
protest. Let’s just say bribery was
involved. (A Snickers is the ulti-
mate energy bar.) But even more
compelling than our tasty pic-
nics was our modus operandi:
Instead of “hiking,” w e’d b e going
on a quest to find the rare
Eleonora’s falcon. We’d alternate
hiking days with other activities,
so as not to overdo it and put our
children off hiking forever. Look-
ing for this raptor — named for
the Sardinian queen who’s said
to be the first in history to issue
such legislation when she grant-
ed the falcon protective status in
139 2 — created a thematic treas-
ure hunt that got us outdoors
and into the wild.
The beauty of birds
Birding was a pandemic rev-
elation for Cecilia. It all started
when I loaned her my digital
camera and she managed to
photograph a Eurasian kingfish-
er by a creek in Brittany. Peering
at the screen, I was astonished to
see a tiny bird, its plumage
colored an intense blue and or-
ange, that I hadn’t yet seen with
my own eyes. Soon, her world,
devoid of people during the coro-
navirus crisis, was populated
with birds, each species more
mesmerizing than the last. She
carried her dog-eared field guide
everywhere, adopted my camera
as her own, and even created a
bird shrine in her bedroom deco-
rated with feathers, figurines
and drawings. (Plus, every inch
of wall space is covered with bird
posters.) At first, I thought her
joy derived from identifying and
collecting b irds — much like with
her rock collection — but she
corrected me. She loves birds
because of the fun facts and
distinguishing characteristics,
including some incredible super-
hero powers.
We i dentify birdsongs on apps,
record sightings on Merlin Bird
ID and watch YouTube nature
videos. But there’s nothing like
being outside in their real habi-
tat. With birding, travel takes on
another dimension. Over the
course of three hikes in Sardinia,
each about eight miles, we took
the time to linger over the land-
scape and notice the details of
the avian inhabitants: the swal-
lows swooping in the crepuscu-
lar light (“No, Mom, that’s an
alpine swift,” Cecilia corrected
me, “capable of flying for
200 days without stopping”), the
clever crows finagling food
(“Wrong again, that’s a hooded
crow, considered its own spe-
cies”), the Eurasian hoopoe
showing off its marvelous crest
(“Like a fan!”), and the nightin-
gale singing its heart out (“The
first time I’ve actually seen
him!”).
As we stopped to watch, we
observed other wondrous things
about the Sardinian scenery and
culture.
A phantom national park
Beneath the Supramonte
range, the trail to the Gorropu
gorge descended through the
island’s wild and remote terrain.
Purple crocus flowers bloomed
in groves of holm oak, and broom
In Sardinia, city kids connect with the great outdoorsPHOTOS BY MARY WINSTON NICKLIN FOR THE WASHINGTON POSTCLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The beach at Cala Luna, backed by
limestone cliffs and only accessible by foot or boat, is considered
one of the prettiest in Sardinia; the mountainous interior of
Sardinia’s Nuoro province is a place of rich tradition, inhabited by
shepherds and their flocks; the trail to the Gorropu Canyon leads
past shepherds’ huts crafted in wood and stone; Cecilia and Jane
take a break beneath rock cliffs on the trail to Tiscali.