Sassari
I left the Thébaïde Villa the 8/27/2017 around 18:30 for a two month
journey in Sardinia. The departure of Lota by Corsica Ferries is
envisaged at 22:00 in Toulon. Weather was beautiful and hot in this
end of August. After the junction of the highway to Toulon two LED
ignited at the dash board, brakes and engine. The truck had
been revised in Montevideo, Uruguay, before the loading on the boat
of Grimaldi on March 21st, 2017 posting 114218 km i.e. 1527 km
traversed from Antwerp to Toulon! What disappointment, where is the
legendary reliability of Mercedes-Benz. After the unloading at 6:32
in Porto Torres I moved directly to Sassari where there is a
Mercedes-Benz dealer. I presented myself at the opening 8:30 to take
an appointment the following day Tuesday, August 30. Then I visited
the historical center of the city. With nearly 130000 inhabitants it
is the second economic city of Sardinia. It developed at the 13th
century on the site of the old village of Thathari surrounded by an
enclosure of 2.6 km of which there remain some vestiges. I walked
the circuit proposed by the Green Guide in the narrow streets; some
beautiful buildings of the Middle Ages remain. The temperature was
of +34°C. In end of the afternoon I found a car park behind the KIA
garage.
Sassari, click on the pic for opening the gallery
Porto Torres
On Tuesday morning as of 8:30 I was at the door of the garage… to
expect the receptionist. At once he called an employee who took into
account my vehicle then I answered the questions of the receptionist
to fill the ad hoc forms. Fortunately he spoke English. I went to
the waiting room. Around 10:00 the diagnosis fell, change of the
rear brake pads and change of a sensor with a filter of the engine.
But the parts were to be ordered to be delivered on Wednesday. I
believed that the premium vehicles by Mercedes-Benz respected the
legislation Euro 5/6 and, were equipped with predictive software for
maintenance. Admittedly the “G” is thirty years old of age but it
respects the legislation. Is this an error of Mercedes-Benz at
Montevideo? The brake pads are a normal wearing part especially at
114,218 km regarding the sensor and his filter I did not understand
what it acts. I will get information back to France in particular to
know if it is a question of a wearing part in order to put one in my
tool set for my journey in Southern Africa. I left the garage to
make supply at Carrefour supermarket then to go to visit Porto
Torres with its eponymous Tower and especially Basilica di San
Gavino of pure Roman style built between 1030 and 1080 with its two
opposite apses and its two gates one in north and the other in the
south. I started with the visit of the crypt then of the nave with
its altar opposed to the catafalque. I crossed the city to admire
the Aragonese Tower built at the 14th century to defend the port
with the invasions. In end I left in search of San Michele di
Plaiano on the SP-60 which I did not find. I stopped to lunch
frugally and make the administrative tasks before returning to my
car park in Sassari.
Porto Torres, click on the pic for opening the gallery
Sassari, Mercedes-Benz
I spent the day of the Wednesday, August 30 to expect at
Mercedes-Benz the repair of my truck whose spare parts were to
arrive at the end of the morning. My truck was returned to me little
before 16:00. Of course the brake pads are wearing parts but it is
not the case of the electronic sensor of the particle filter which
controls the filling of the so called-filter. Since the origin of
the vehicle it is third sensor out of work. I returned to the car
park for the third night.
Ozieri
The day of the Thursday, August 31 was announced still hot. While
passing in front of the Mercedes-Benz dealer I took a photograph
memory! Then I moved towards Osilo by the road of the schoolboys
stopping me in Sorso to visit the church San Pantaleo progressing
towards Sennori then Osilo in a landscape of medium mountains and
pastures. The road zigzagged from hills to small valleys. Wrongly I
engaged in the village of Osilo built on a hill with very narrow
streets. I leave from there only with the assistance the villagers
who wished me then "Buono Viaggio". The major and crippling defect
of Mercedes-Benz "G" is its too large turning radius, it shows its
age of design. Despite everything I visited the
ruins of the Malaspina castle by far as well as the church
Immalacolata Concezione. Hardly I had made a few kilometers that the
LED of the engine ignited again. Consequently I returned to M-B in
Sassari. After half an hour the diagnosis was an error of the
electronic system of the pedal,…, accelerator! The person in charge
and his assistant with the assistance of the Bing translator told me
a magic history of way of two levels of depression of the pedal and
kick-down which I never make. What did they make? God alone knows
it. The car was returned to me with the extinct LED. The afternoon
occurred without incident I visited the churches of the Roman Road
up to Ozieri where I found a bivouac at the edge of an overland
route. Along the road S #597 Roman churches follow one another the
colors all different but resolutely the austerity from the early
Christians and the blind arcade of semicircular arch. Alas some are
closed out the office hours. The temperature softens in the end of
the afternoon and during the stormy night without precipitations.
The Roman Road, click on the pic for opening the gallery
San Pietro del Crocifisso
On Saturday, September 2d I started from Tissi to go to visit
Castelsardo but via Sassari I stopped at the shopping center of
carrefour where Internet connection is of good quality to publish
the first part of the weekly page of my website in particular the
video of the driving through Osilo. Castelsardo is a fortress built
in 1102 on a piton by the Doria family to secure the port. The low
city is very tourist. The castle is worth just the detour for the
church Santa Maria delle Grazie and its crucifix of the black Christ
and its Ecce Homo of the high altar. The Cathedral di Sant' Antonio
Abate is primarily re-elected for its bell-tower. I left Castelsardo
by S#134 to visit the villages snuggled in the Anglona hills. On the
way I passed beside Roccia dell' Elefante where two young girls
wasted my picture. In Sedini a mural drew my attention while going
up to see the church Sant' Andrea and its beautiful gate. After
Bulzi the church San Pietro del Crocifisso in the countryside is
remarkable by its two-tone Roman architecture unfortunately closed.
The site held my attention. Further the village Perfugas has a
church, closed, which shelters a retable worthy of interest! At side
an archaeological excavation, closed, shown a nuragic sacred well.
I returned to bivouac at the bottom of San Pietro under the
benevolent protection of the Lord. The weather was gloomy with gusts
of wind and some drops of rain to refresh the atmosphere.
Castelsardo & the Anglona, click on the pic for opening the gallery
Isola Rossa
On Sunday, September 3rd I continued the visit of the villages in the
hills of Anglona with a stop in Laerru for the small rural churches
of Santa Margherita and Rosario. In Chiaramonti, snuggled on the
side of a piton at the bottom of castle I discovered murals as well
as the church San Matteo while walking up to Castello Doria of which
there remain only ruins and the truncated keep; it was built in the
13th century. Back towards Martis I took a road on the left close to
a fountain to further five kilometers discover the exquisite Roman
church Santa Maria Maddalena in full field being harmoniously
integrated in the bucolic landscape with a barrier to open to
approach it. Finally at the entrance of Tergu borough the Roman
church Nostra Signora di Tergu is what remains of a Benedictine
monastery built between 1065 and 1082. Admittedly the faultfinders
will say that for this first week in Sardinia I visited mainly
churches. I will point out to them that the roots of Europe are
Christian and that to understand people and its civilization it is
necessary to start by thus impregnating its culture of its religion.
The world tour that I continue is a religious immersion. Since the
man walks upright, homo erectus, it does not have there civilization
without religion. The philosopher Régis Debray, who cannot be
suspected of clericalism, writes in Civilization his last work:
“Would Armenia be still Armenian without Christianity, and Laos
still Laotian without Buddhism?” With due respect to the atheists of
any hair. I found a bivouac in the village of Isola Rossa,
unfortunately on a car park!
Anglona & Isola Rossa, click on the pic for opening the gallery
