Even now you can get a sense of just how reassuring it would
have been to a ship out from Genoa or Catalonia.
I have gazed at its southern side for most of the holiday. Beyond the harbour are the walls and behind
these are the tall buildings which like the defences stare out to sea. But what strike you most are the church
steeples. Dominating the skyline is the
tall tower of the Cathedral and a little to the left is the cupola of the
Chiesa di S. Michele which has a wonderfully patterned roof of different coloured
tiles.
Looking at them I am reminded of the impact which our own Cathedrals must have had on travellers heading towards medieval Canterbury, York of Durham.
Long before they saw the city walls they would have caught a
glimpse of the towers and spires of the great cathedrals and no doubt felt relieved
that their journey was at an end. And I
suppose for the traveller in medieval England or his Catalan counterpart spires
signified safety,
I have no idea how dangerous the countryside around Alghero
might have been back when it was a trading port first for Genoa and then
Catalonia. But I do know that I would have been pretty pleased to
arrive inside the walls of medieval York. There might have been many people on the road but those roads were
little more than dirt tracks. In winter
they were a sea of mud where horses and the wheels of carts might sink in the oozy
gunge while in summer when they had dried out they presented a fresh hazard from
the deep ruts.
And of course the priority was to reach the city before the
gates closed and our traveller faced a night alone in the open.
Of course such considerations are no longer the case, but as
you wander through the narrow streets I can see how our Catalan sailors as much
as the merchant travelling the open countryside might regard the church spires
of Alghero as the first hint of comfort and the safety to come.
Pictures; from the collection of Andrew Simpson
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