The "green train" of Sardinia

In the heart of Sardinia, between the Gennargentu Mountains and Mount Arbu, you can spend a whole day, unique in its kind, on board a train of the State Railway: the famous "Trenino Verde": the small green train.

The most characteristic route that the service provides is the round trip from Arbatax to Mandas. It starts in the morning, at about from the small station of Arbatax or, if you are late risers, from that of Lanusei that leaves a few hours later. It is appropriate to bring a picnic lunch, or better, to book a stop in one of the cottages and restaurants that you can find during the passage of the train: a Taquisara Gairo, Seui, Niala, Sadali, or, finally, in Mandas.

The menu is great, typical, full of local produce, accompanied by a delicious hospitality and scenery natural primitive and almost surreal.

The traveler of the green train is then protagonist. Free and carefree he can travel on board of the old and noisy train, very slow, shaky and unsteady, but allows you to see the surrounding landscapes: holm, oaks, Mediterranean maquis, and even small families of beautiful horses, wild boars and majestic Sardinian deers, by rapid and short shots. No less fascinating the railway architecture: high pierced iron bridges and tunnels of Sardinian granite, small stations evoke an atmosphere of bygone days.

The narrow-gauge railway line that connects Arbatax to Mandas, is considered, with its 159 km, one of the longest in Europe. Crossed by many fans of the Sardinian language and culture it was masterfully described by the pen of English David H. Lawrence, who in his "Sea and Sardinia" describes it "a strange railway [...] hurtling up the hills and down the valleys and around sharp bends with the utmost nonchalance, not as they do the real, major railways, advancing grunting in deep trenches and while polluting the air in the tunnels, but runs up a hill like a little dog panting, and looks around , and goes in another direction shaking us behind hit, with great indifference. "