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Now let the sea day I'll be doing. Hello, my name is Claudia. I was born and raised in Sardinia and I still call it home. I am the mastermind behind the Streetly Sardinia Travel Blog and now the Streetly Sardinia Podcast where each week I'll bring you the best Sardinia has to offer and share my most useful tips that will help you plan a memorable trip to my wonderful island. Island in the last episode I taught you about Carlo Forte and San Pietro Island. This week I will share with you my tips on visiting the nearby sant' Antioco Island. Let me stress that as always, you will find a more detailed version of today's episode on my blog streetlistardenia.com pop into the episode description for the link to my blog post and don't forget to read that for more information. Also, let me remind you that if you ever need more help and more tips to plan your trip to Sardinia, you can book a one hour consultation with me. The link for that again is in the episode description. Now today's topic sant' Antioco island. This island is located on the southwest of Sardinia. It's the fifth biggest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily, Sardinia itself, Corsica and Elba Island. It's part of the sulky archipelago, the to which also St Pietro island, the one we talked about last week belongs and it's famous because of its beautiful beaches, but it has a lot more to offer than that. It's been inhabited since very ancient time and it's always been a rich prosperous land, especially thanks to the lead and silver mines in the area and the abundance of fish. Despite being an island, it can be reached by car. In fact, it is currently connected to mainland Sardinia by an isthmus and an artificial bridge and it is only over an hour from Calliaris. Because it's fairly close. Some people visit on day trips, but honestly I recommend staying longer. There are two main towns in Santioco Island. First of all, Santioco, the main one, and Calazetta. It's a place that it's lovely to visit for all tourists. You will want to spend at least a couple of days there. Now let me first remind you something about the history of Sant' Numerous Norages and Domus de Janas, fairy houses as we call them in Sardinia, which are pretty much a necropolis dating back to before the Bronze Age, have been found in Santioco island and they witnessed the fact that the place was in inhabited during prehistoric times. But Santioco really flourished under the Phoenicians. These called the island the City Sulky. They founded it in 770770 before Christ. A prosperous harbor that thrived thanks to various businesses like the mines of the Sulkies area and a rare byssus weaving. Some historic papers and findings suggest that it was founded at the same Carthage was supposedly making it the first Sardinian town to be ever found and one of Italy's oldest towns. The city was eventually inherited by Carthage from their motherland and at the end of the sixth century B.C. it remained a strong colony until the end of the Punic Works and when it was invaded by Rome under Roman rule. The city, which was now called Sulci to reflect the softer sound of Latin compared to Phoenician, kept flourishing and once considered the richest city in Sardinia together with Caralis, which is current day Cagliari. It was so rich that when the civil war between Caesar and Pompey started and the village supported Pompey, it had virtually no issue with paying the huge fines Caesar imposed after winning the war. Now it kept its head up and continued being an important Roman colony until the end. Until the fall of the Roman Empire in 476 AD when the Vandals took control of the island. Like many other coastal areas, it was abandoned during the Middle Ages in order to escape the pirates. But it started being inhabited again around the 18th century under the Savoy when a huge population of miners from the area of Iglesia started moving to Santio with their families. Now that you know a bit about the history of this island, which is fairly ancient and fairly stratified, let's see about the best places that you can visit in Santiago. First of all, there will be Nuragic ruins. There are quite a few around the island. The most important ones are the Grutier Aqua complex, the Sege Marte du Norage and Sacrifice Kichipudita Nuraga. These sites are all located on the coast and served both as watchtowers and settlements. The largest one is Grutiagua which is a complete village with roads, temples and counters. Houses and several relics have been found there. Many have been actually stolen. It's located to another prehistoric ruin, the Sunil Esurobo giant's tomb. You will also find Domus de Janas nearby. Now next you will find Punic and Roman ruins. The Punic remains of the ancient Sulky are all very close to the modern sant' Antioco town. What can still be seen and visited is very limited to the necropolis and the Tophet which is a children's cemetery. The majority of urns that were found there have been replaced with copies and safely stored in Santantico Archaeology museum to save them from the robbers. Not much is left of the Roman ruins as well. Because the modern city just evolved from the oldest one. There were several beautiful mosaics which have been disassembled to decorate other places. And given the importance of Sulci during the Roman era, we can assume it was a big developed city, probably resembling other cities in Sardinia. Other Roman cities in Sardinia, such as Nora and Taros. The only Roman relic, the Fountain of in Santio center was built by the Romans and it's in fact called the Roman Fountain now. Churches One of the most impressive churches you can see in Santioco is the Basilica di Santioco Martyra and its catacombs. They are one of the most ancient Paleo Christian remains in Sardinia. Used by Christians between the second and the seventh century. Built over the Carthaginians, Tophet and the Necropolis. They were created through digging and putting together the older Punic Roman cemeteries. And they were meant for the worshippers to be buried as close as possible to their patron saint, Antioch, who was martyrized and buried here. The church was built above the catacombs. You can visit both on the same day. The first time that the church made an appearance in official documents is 1089. So that's a fairly old church. Though the sulky was a bishop seat from 484 until the 13th century. Now another place I recommend visiting is Supisu Fort. A fort that was built with old Nuraga stones on a hill close to Santioco town between 1813 and 1815. Back then, Santioco was facing several ferocious raids from the Tunisian and Ottoman pirates. And so it needed protection. He needed to see their ships as far as possible. The fort fell in 1815 and more than 100 person were kidnapped and deported as slaves. It open during the peak season. There's a small admission fee if you are in Santiago. Definitely consider visit now. There are several museums in Santiago that you should consider visiting. The most important one is the Ferruccio Barreca Archaeology Museum which is boasts relics from the most ancient age. There is the Byssus Museum. The Byssus is a particular type of fabric which is weed from the fibers of the pieces. Pina nobilis mollusk. The special cloth was firstly made by the Punic. And it's still a practice that continues in sant'. Antioco. You also want to check the ethnographic museum called Sumagazine Subino which in Sardinian means wine's warehouse. It's an interesting place to better understand the traditional way of life of the island. Also located in Santioco, you will find the small town of Calazeta, which is absolutely darling. The entire town is white. It was inhabited since prehistory and Punic era, but got abandoned in the Middle ages. And the peculiarity of the village is that it's very similar to Carlo Forte in terms of its foundation. Its inhabitants went Sardinian Genoese, coming from the island of Tabarca. When they established themselves here, they still spoke the dialect that they brought to Tabarca from Genoa. So the language spoken in Calazeta, much like the language spoken in Carlo Forte, is more similar to Genoese than it is to Sardinian. Calazeta is a lovely town. You will find a beautiful watchtower. Take time to explore the narrow alleys with all the white buildings. Make sure to visit. To visit the. To visit the Man Museum, which is one of the most interesting. The Mac Museum, one of the most interesting museums of contemporary art. There is also a winery that you could visit here. Other places that you shouldn't miss. One is Capo Speron, located at the southern tip of the island and from where you can enjoy stunning coastal views. Then there is the Arco DEI Baci, one of the most famous places to visit in the island, beloved by locals, beloved by tourists. It's in the East Pranedas Bay, on the west coast of sant'. Antioco. You can go there via short trail through a nice pine forest, a Mediterranean scrub. Eventually it takes to a sunny rock formation that gives away to the clearest waters you can imagine. There is a lovely natural pool below with shallow transparent waters where you can swim. And it's just great. One of the most famous spots on the island by and large, the Faro Mangabarque Manjabarque Lighthouse. It literally means that it eats this eats the the boats. It's located off the northwestern coast of Santio Con easy drive from Calazeta and one of the most scenic places to visit here. If, if not in Sardinia during the summer you can access a small beach below, which is a place for snorkeling and even diving. The name is not by chance boat eater in English. Is that because despite the presence of the lighthouse, many boat crashed on the rocks in the area, often victim of the strong mistral winds that swipe this part of Sardinia. I visited with my sister on a very windy day and the views were absolutely stunning. Speaking of beaches of Santioco, there are several that are worth visiting. Maladrogia and Portigedo are the most famous beaches here. Water is very shallow, safe for children. It's close to a small village. It's a fully equipped beach where you can find everything you need for the day. I also like Cala Sapone which is divided into a group of smaller inlet that you can see one after the other if you explore the area and it's a corner for There's a corner for every tourist. The water is clear turquoise, about 20 minutes from Calazeta and Sant' Antioco and the sand is quite thick and it's mixed with pebbles and corals. It's a unique place. I also love Caralunga. It's a sandy beach on a side of the island that's usually sheltered from the wind, so it's a good spot on a windy day. Water is very shallow and the sand is white and fine, so a good place to spend the day if you have kids. Santan Tioko is very easy to reach from Caliari, so if you want to visit for the day, you're better off driving there because transportation can is a bit public transportation is a bit tricky. You'll have to take the train to Carpone and then the bus to Sant Antioco, so I recommend driving and you likely need a car to explore Explore the island. Now this brings me to the end of today's episode. As you can see, there's quite a bit to do here in Santioco Island. Before I share the topic for the next episode, let me remind you that if you ever need more tips to plan your trip to Sardinia, you can book a one hour travel consultation with me. The link for that is in the episode description, so make sure to read. That of course is my blog sweetlysardenia.com that has even more tips to help you plan your trip. Next week I will be telling you everything on how to get from Calgary to Alghero in case you want to visit both destinations in Sardinia. Finally, if you like my podcast, share with your friends who are coming to Sardinia. Give it a five star review now. Until next week. Goodbye.