Campervan Therapy

Nora Lagoon

Nora’s Phoenician site lies east of Cagliari, on Sardinia’s south coast. Phoenicians, Carthaginians and Romans have come and gone here. We park in Nora’s camper stop, by sea and lagoon, hazy mountains in the distance.

Archaeological Site

We peep over the rope at the Roman mosaic floor, take in the columns by the sea. But the compulsory guided tour doesn’t appeal.  For my sins, I have an aversion to being group-guided round anywhere.

Nora Lagoon’s Natural Park

I spot a noticeboard through some open gates and here is a wonderful surprise – Laguna di Nora Natural Park. The signs in English and Italian guide us along the sand spit which divides the lagoon from the sea. On one side waves crash against the Phoenician port’s quayside.

On the other side, the lagoon waters are full of life – a spot for egrets and purple herons. We watch a herring gull feasting on a still wriggling fish almost as big as himself. Seán examines the reed funnels used for fishing since ancient times.

The morning kayaking group returns to the spit and I wish I could scuba-dive because the scuba divers can visit the submerged ancient port.

Of course, I have to extract my technical one from the Roman cistern, quay and quarry in the natural park. The stones from here were used to build Rome’s coliseum. The lagoon is carpeted in sea purslane, red and green glasswort, sea fennel and lavender.

The Turtle Sanctuary

The highlight of the day is the turtle sanctuary and meeting the turtle with the one flipper. The marine biologist explains how the juvenile was caught in a fishing wire, so they had to amputate his flipper in 2019. It’s been a long recovery, but the turtle has learned to compensate for the missing flipper and soon will return to the sea.  

I ask what the turtle’s chances of survival are. The young man shrugs and says as good as any turtle but they face so many dangers. We watch the turtle swimming smooth and calm round the pool. Let’s hope the turtle makes it out there on the open sea.

There’s information boards on biodiversity and the horrifying threats the turtles face: some suffocate on plastic bags, mistaking them for a jelly fish dinner; some are poisoned by battery fluid – one gram can pollute 1,000 litres of sea water.

Salt Lakes and Cagliari

As we approach Cagliari from the east, the sea crashes on one side of us, saline beds line the other side of the road. They are full of flamingos, some on one leg, many with their heads buried in the lagoon. White salt mountains glow.

There’s a strange mixture of nature and industrialisation here, with factory chimneys rising up by the sea. And then there it is – Cagliari’s fortified old town hugging the hills in front of us. It seems to rise up out of sea and lagoons like a mirage, or as DH Lawrence described it in Sea and Sardinia, like a sort of Jerusalem.