Arborea
on Tina's Journal (China), 13/Sep/2010 19:35, 34 days ago
The Church in the centre of ArboreaYesterday I visited Arborea for the first time. It lies just a few kilometres to the South of Oristano on the West coast. I was quite impressed with the quaint little town as it's architecture is completely different to anything else I have seen in Sardinia. The buildings are Neo-gothic in style built in the fascist area under Mussolini. In fact when the town was actually first built it was named Mussolinia but later changed to Arborea after Eleonora D'arborea (Eleanor of Arborea). She was the 'Giudicessa' (Judge) of Arborea in the late 1300s. She is an icon in Sardinia perceived by some as 'Sardinia's Joan of Arc' as she fought off the Aragonese for several years. The crown of Aragon had claimed the island of Sardinia! Salvatore 'doing the shoppin'!!With some good friends of mine I cycled from the town out towards the marina where we passed fields and fields of corn plants. Really beautiful countryside. We got back to the town mid afternoon and I was so impressed with Noemie, who got saddle sore but just kept going!!Me and Noemie After leaving Arborea we took the coast road, not on our bikes but back in the car!! We passed through a picturesque fishing village called Marceddi and then drove down the Costa Verde to the famous Piscinas beach, supposedly one of the best beaches in Sardinia. Not in my opinion though, it doesn't beat Chia, which  is only 20 mins from my house on the south coast.Me, Noemie and Maria overlooking Torre dei Corsari beach Piscinas  It was a gorgeous day out, fantastic weather as we have really comfortable temperatures at the moment about 27/28C.  September is always a perfect month to be here it's one of my favourite times of year.