Authentic Gallura
on board the Green Train, from Luras to Tempio Pausania
Once arrived in the rural station of Luras, by carriage! On the wooden Breda carriages from the 1930s, pulled by the old locomotive from the 1950s, you travel along 11 km of tracks in the most authentic Gallura. Even today, between a bold railway bridge and some tunnels, you can observe the greyish granite round shaped by the wind. From the windows you can see the cussorgie (ancient compounds) and the stazzi (rural mansions), the common thread of the agricultural-pastoral history of these places.
Once left the Nuchis station, after the first 40 minutes of experience on the Little Green Train, you will arrive at the Tempio Pausania station, built in 1930 to replace the one from 1888. You get off the train at 10.37am, and get back on at 15.30 . The right time to discover the most important center of ancient Gallura. the visit begins by discovering the historic center with its granite houses, colorful streets and balconies adorned with all sorts of colorful flowers. Its squares and its churches. A lavish tasting of typical local products will await you in a place where you can admire the modern dynamics of the Tempio area, together with the tourists who come here from all parts of Sardinia and the world.
We cannot fail to talk about Fabrizio De André, a famous Italian songwriter, who chose to live here (the Agnata estate, now a farmhouse), the story of his kidnapping and in general that dramatic period of banditry. Immediately after tasting some typical Gallura products, we head back towards the beautiful railway station, to admire and comment on the beautiful paintings in "Art Nouveau style" by Giuseppe Biasi (1931), which depict the "City of Stone" Tempio (as it was awarded by Vittorio Emanuele I already in 1833).
Not far away and unmissable, the guided tour of the adjacent railway workshops of the Palau-Sassari-Alghero lines. A majestic place, which remained enchanted in the early 1930s, they are in a museum with the machinery still working. You will visit them and you and also have the opportunity to see and visit the 1913 Bauchiero carriage on which D.H.. Lawrence travelled, with its luxury finishes, in wood and brass. Once back on board, in the direction of Luras, we will cross one of the most important cork-growing districts in the Mediterranean. Here, this precious raw material donated by the oak groves throughout the island has always been a source of economy and artisan traditions.
It's impossible not to talk about the legendary "Muto di Gallura" which is so popular in cinemas and which was filmed precisely in these unique and unrepeatable places, where Bastiano Tansu lived in hiding and the feud between the Vasas and the Mamias.
At 4.07pm, the experience ends, arriving at Luras station. An intense not ordinary amazing day.
