We had planned to eat somewhere on the way. We had asked Phillipe the concierge where we could eat on the way but he couldn’t think of anything. We asked if the airport restaurant was adequate "like eating at my mother-in-law" he says. After a very painless check in we do have a quite acceptable dinner and board our 40 seater prop plane landing an hour later in Cagliari. Taxi to the hotel which is lovely but in a strange area about 5kms from the city proper and a very sound night's sleep as the driving and touring catches up on me.
Typical Italian breakfast - 15th day of rolls, ham, cheese, yogurt, etc. and we head into town by taxi. We struggle to find the tourist train and get there 10 minutes after it left and 50 minutes before the next one. We try to 'employ' a cab driver for one and a half hours to take us around the sights but he would not move from his asking price of E80 so I placed a curse on him that he should not get a fare for the next one and a half hours and we did some touring by foot.
We got a taxi to the airport - note to self, one needs to call for cabs in Cagliari as they are rarely seen vacant on the street - and collect our car. I have delayed the car collection until today to save one day's rental as the car here is quite expensive. We head towards Pula, a lovely coastal beachside town where the sand is white and pure where we have one of the better lunches of our travels - well prepared with the addition of garlic, something which was lacking in much of the food to date.
Nora is a historical Phoenician Temple and Mosaic and now to be known as the place where Katja sprained her ankle. As we waited for the 15:00 tour she tripped over a small step and quite fortunately didn’t do too much damage but it did prevent us from seeing the temple/mosaics. We decided to drive to Iglesias which was a nice town about 80kms away and then back to the hotel.
That evening we decided on our fourth fine dining experience and it turned out to be our best so far the Dal Corsair. The room was elegantly and tastefully decorated in every sense with some antique (?) furniture and books, paintings, wine bottles etc. all placed so beautifully. My meal was a Foi Gras Terrine - perhaps the Corsican French influence followed by a beautiful Seafood Tempura. Katja's grilled octopus was so tender and tasty not to mention the two desserts we shared. One does need to be a little careful with desserts - as I mentioned before there is no fresh milk anywhere here just longlife so when you have anything with milk it is possible that it has longlife or condensed milk. Anyway simply outstanding.
Things are really bad when I am looking forward to getting to London so I can have a good cappuccino!!!!!
Next morning same old same old Italian breakfast and we head off towards Oristano. On the way are the Nuraghe Funerials. The Nuraghe people are from 2700 years ago during the bronze age. The structures have no foundations and stand only by virtue of the weight of its stones, which may weigh as much as several tons. Some Nuraghes are more than 20 metres in height. Today, there are more than 8,000 Nuraghes still extant in Sardinia, although it has been estimated that they once numbered more than 30,000. Nuraghes are most prevalent in the northwest and south-central parts of the island.[
We then stumble across Sardinia en Miniature, a vast garden with the whole of Sardinia and its interesting points represented in miniature. Without going into details, within Stern family lore France en Miniature stands for how determined Danielle is when she wants to be. Anyway it was a great way to get a perspective of the place. I must say at this point we are a little churched and ruined out so things that may have been interesting two weeks ago get a cursory glance. Just after we leave there are road workers who are grading the unpaved road clearly not wanting to let us past. One of them suggested we should Kangaroo over the grader after he learns we are Australian. He says Luigi is Nervous about letting us pass but after making us wait for a few minutes he moves over to let us pass and as we wave to thank him he waves something less gracious back to us.
We drive through some pretty small towns arriving at Oristano. I grab my iPad and look for a hotel and we stumble on the Hotel Duomo. We see lots of signs, they indicate a four star establishment and after much looking we stumble on a simple door for the Albergo (Italian for Hotel) Duomo. Well, any claims to four stars is absurd. The light in the bathroom is a bulb on the ceiling, I wait ten minutes for the hot water to dribble out of the shower, the two foot six inch single bed slopes towards the wall and the room is so small that I stub my two twice on the bed leg. Anyway one night no problem.
It was mid-afternoon where we walk the main streets finding everything shut till 17:00 as per usual but opening while we walk around. Back to the hotel and we agree to meet at 20:30 for dinner. I go out around 19:45 and walk around the open shops and street fair which was good fun and we meet at the restaurant. The owner/chef was very accommodating if not overly cheerful. He came to each table in his chef's whites discussing the menu and taking the orders. His sister and wife helped run the restaurant. The three entrees were great but the mixed grill (sin Phar Lap) was expectedly plain and desserts 7/10. They generously give us miniatures of the local liqueur of blackberries - only one grade above grappa for me and we give them to the receptionist who recommended the restaurant who was MOST grateful.
Word of the day – Transhumance - local seasonal movement of people and livestock.
OK in Italy we do not repeat do not abuse the parking police. For some reason I can only imagine the parking police and the officers of the department of finance all wear guns. I am not sure what answers I would give the Tax Office if they sent people around wearing guns.
Next morning we decide to head to Olbia, the Northern main city and gateway to the Costa Smeralda, the Aga Khan's playground. We stop at an ordinary town called Noura - and hour of my life I will never get back after which we stumble on a holiday apartment complex with three outdoor restaurants where we have lunch overlooking the most beautifully blue seas with backdrops of rocky cliffs, green coastlines and sandy beaches.
In booking hotels it seemed that almost all were away from the beach except those which cost E1000 to E8000 a night. I opted for the new Hilton Doubletree which turned out to be an excellent hotel, lovely rooms, balconies and pools but set in a strange part of the city. A car and GPS makes it mildly irrelevant.
Sardinia seems quite different from Sicily. The houses are better maintained, the people seem more engaging, the roads wider and the drivers more respectful. I check on the per capital GDP in Italy - interestingly the north of Italy is around E30,000 with Sardinia E20,000 Sicily E16,000 similar to Southern Italy. Of note is that Sardinia is the only place in Italy that produces more electricity than it uses.
OK so....Sicily is a fascinating place and entirely different from any pre-conceptions that I had. First and foremost it is relatively safe provided one uses common sense. There aren’t people on every corner waiting to rob you of your possessions.
I had no idea of the history of Sicily – the Greeks, Romans, Germans, French, Spanish and others who have influenced Sicily. And through all of this they seem to have maintained so much evidence of all the past societies. Greek and Roman ruins, medieval churches and buildings, influence on foods and architecture. And then through to the 19th and 20th centuries with Garibaldi and Mussolini and their influences.
I certainly strongly recommend anyone to consider a visit to this wonderful part of the world. While I doubt I will get back here and certainly not for three weeks it has been a memorable holiday so far.
More Soon
XXXD
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