Serving the coastal town of Alghero in northwestern Sardinia, this small terminus station offers daily trains to Sassari in the east.
The station is some 15 minutes walk away from Alghero’s city centre, with the journey to Sassari taking around 40 minutes. See timetable here.
Alghero is the third university centre on Sardinia, after Cagliari and Sassari. It hosts the headquarters of the Università degli Studi di Sassari’s Architecture and Design department, and in 2012 it was the 10th most visited city by tourists in Italy, with many visiting the nearby Neptune’s Grotto cave system.
Also known as L’Alguer, Alghero is a town of some 44,000 inhabitants, with part of the population descending from Catalan conquerors from the end of the Middle Ages, when Sardinia was part of the Crown of Aragon.
As a result, the Catalan language is co-official (a unique situation in Italy) and known as the Alguerès dialect. Wikipedia has more detail:
A dialect of Catalan is spoken in Alghero, introduced when Catalans settled in the town. Catalan was replaced as the official language of the Island by Spanish in the 17th century, then by Italian.
The most recent linguistic research showed that 24.1% of the people have Algherese Catalan as a mother tongue, which is habitually spoken by 18.5% and taught to the children by 8% of the population, whereas 88.2% have some understanding of the language.
Since 1997 Catalan has had official recognition and national and regional laws grant its right to be used in the city. Currently, there has been a revival of the arts in Algherese Catalan, with singers such as Franca Masu performing original compositions in the language.
Old turntable.
Engine shed.
Here’s some more photos from my short visit a couple of years ago.
End of the line.
Related posts:
The magnificent Neptune’s Grotto cave system in Alghero on the island of Sardinia, Italy
Macomer, Sardinia: steam loco, narrow gauge railway and abandoned warehouses – in photos
Fifty photos of Nuoro, Sardinia: landscapes, street scenes, architecture and street art
The canals and stunning architecture of Comacchio at night, northern Italy’s ‘Little Venice’
In photos: the magnificent curves and Victorian architecture of York railway station
Cardigan old railway station, Wales [photos]
Photos of Saxmundham railway station and the closed Railway Pub, East Suffolk
Cirencester Town disused railway station – Victorian Gothic stuck in a car park
