The circular trekking from Cala Domestica to the Canal Grande of Nebida is one of the most panoramic on the South West coast of Sardinia, passing through a plurality of amazing natural sceneries.
It starts from the wonderful beach of Cala Domestica, famous for the landscape of fine sand dunes and cliffs on the sea, to go up in the direction of the spectacular rocky coast, a geological paradise, up to the natural monument of Canal Grande di Nebida, a rocky bay accessible only by feet or from the sea. Here we admire the Sea Cave of “Le Spigole”, with lively plays of light and shadow. You return along an extremely steep route, which offers unique glimpses of the bay you have just visited and allows you to look out over rocky conformations with suggestive shapes, such as the “crocodile” and the natural marine caves. We will go back up to admire Porto Sciusciau, another impervious rocky bay visible only from above. Finally we return to the beautiful beach of Cala Domestica.
- Distance of km. 9
- Differences in level: uphill 375 m.
- Journey time 5 hours
Itinerary
The trekking from Cala Domestica to Canal Grande of Nebida passes by the sea to move briefly inland, starting at the old mining railway that connected the canyon behind the beach with the ancient mining landing place of Cala Domestica. This is the oldest electric railway in Sardinia (1904), of which we will see the old viaduct.
The outward route will be quite simple, first on the flat and then, leaving the railway line, gradually uphill. Having reached the top of the plateau, we will descend from a bumpy dirt road to the bay of the Grand Canal of Nebida.
Here we will stop and admire the rocky inlet marked by an impressive trend of the earth's crust, since it is evidently the inclined orientation of the rock layers. This place is known to all geologists because trilobites have been found, the guiding fossils of the geological era known as the Cambrian, approximately 560 million years ago, which have made it possible to date these rocks as the oldest in Europe. Here there is also a suggestive sea cave about a hundred meters long.
After the break we will leave to return to Cala Domestica, this time choosing a much steeper route, almost overlooking the sea, which winds through old junipers worked by the wind and fragrant Mediterranean scrub. We will look out over other bays reachable only from the sea in the presence of rocky arches and sea caves. On the way back we will look out over a section of coast with spectacular shapes, such as the famous "crocodile" (Punta de Nascu), a tongue of rock on the turquoise sea.
Among the mastic bushes we head north and admire from above another spectacular inlet, Porto Sciusciau, with high rocky cliffs on a cobalt blue sea.
From here we descend towards Cala Domestica until we reach the back of the beautiful sand dunes again and conclude the trek on the beach.
