Coast by bike: Putzu Idu - Is Aruttas

The bike route winds along the narrow streets of the village of Putzu Idu, we will pass along the coast to get to S'arena Scoada. Some say that the turquoise sea of ​​S'arena Scoada is unsurpassed in beauty and transparency. The beaches disappear and the cliffs begin: We will pass around an ancient mine where sandstone was extracted, which has now become "The Park of Sounds" an exciting location for events and live concerts.

The landscape changes again: the white cliffs of Su Tingiosu appear, with brown and yellow streaks, dominating the landscape unopposed. Continuing the road, before arriving at Mari Ermi, you arrive at a point where, turning 360 degrees, you cannot see any human trace around you.
Mari Ermi, whose meaning is unknown, begins the famous quartz beaches, but our journey aims to arrive at Is Aruttas, to find a mysterious sculpture in the rock in the shape of a Sphinx.
Is Aruttas, "the caves" in Sardinian, has the particularity of having these sandstone cavities, certainly exploited in the Phoenician and Roman times as a quarry for building purposes, because the waste can be seen along the way.

The Sphinx is part of these rocks. It remains perched on a hill, looking out to sea. According to some archaeologists, it is oriented towards the summer solstice. Other archaeologists say that based on the orientation and the nearby nuraghe, it may have been an "Egyptizing" sphinx from the Nuragic period, according to an ancient tradition of contacts between the two civilizations. Instead, The academy claims it could be an old sandstone mine, which has left processing waste and been worked by the wind over the millennia.

We leave the mysteries of the Sphinx of Sinis,it's time for a refreshing swim and some well-deserved rest. The return awaits us according to a stick path.
Back in Putzu Idu, we will leave the bikes, and we will head by car towards Mandriola, a village attached to Putzu Idu, where under a grove of mimosas, we will appreciate a snack in nature.