Palau and Capo d' Orso
The town of Palau was founded in the 18th century. Today's Palau is a charming small tourists port. and Capo d'Orso.
Situated on the extreme coast of North Sardinia, Palau offers to its guests, panoramic corners and magic belvedere of natural beauty. From Palau town you will get an exciting "meeting" with the most famous Sardinian bear, Capo d'Orso a over 300 million years old granite rock.,
Capo d' Orso - Cape Bear
Cape Bear owes its name to the huge bear shaped rock overlooks the surrounding landscape from the top of 120 metres high granitic relief. Modeled through the millennia by the erodent action of wind and other atmospheric elements, the rock, dating back to late Paleozoic, has finaly assumed the outline of a bear intent on keeping guard over the strait of sea between the shore of Palau and the Island of La Maddalena.
The rock of Bear from prehistoric times
The rock has been visited since prehistoric times and was so wel known to the first seafarer who approached Sardinia, that it has been identified as one of the essential points of ancient navigation in the Mediterranean.
Evidence of its presence can be found in the writings of the first geographers who studied Sardinia. The first graphic illustration of the rock appeared in the book "Itinerary of the Island of Sardinia", who dates the "peculiar resemblance" back to two thousand years ago because Ptolemy refers to this place withthe name Arcti Promomtorium in his geography.
In 1993 the region of Sardinia declared the rock of the Bear natural monument for its geological characteristics as well as its representattiveness and specifity. The image of the bear has become Palau's symbol and it appears on the city banner.
Explore surrounding of Capo d Orso
From the top of hill, at the bears's feet, you can enjoy an amazing and unique view, grasping a wide stretch of the northern coast, the Archipelago of la Maddalena and the mountains of Corsica. Near the rock, in the middle of a big area of lush Mediterranean maquis, there is the big and suggestive fort Capo d'Orso, an impressive granitic military battery from the beginning of the century, which was part of the complex system of fortifications in defense of the military basis of La Maddalena.
