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Published: October 11th 2009
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Hello,
after ages I finally managed to sit down and write a travel journal again. At least something like it. After a lot of things happened previously it was great to go travelling on my own again and getting a break. I flew into germany as my dearest and very much loved granddad passed away on 9/9/09. What a date it was. I received the call while I was at work. However during the day I knew he was going to leave. Actually work has been a great therapy and distraction so since the day he deterioated I threw myself into work working mad hours. My soul needed it, my bank account as well did... So I went to germany for a few days for the funeral which tore the heart out of my chest but I was desperate for a few days on my own so I decided not to cancel the trip to Sardinia.
My flight left rather early in the morning and 2,5 hours after the take off I set my first step on italian grounds. Spent 1,5 hours waiting in a queue at the car rental place as half of all arriving tourists had pre-booked their
car at the same place. Right side traffic as used from home. Great stuff. I'm kind of used to both right and left side driving at the moment and after a passed shock-driving-test in amman downtown without any crash or bump I think I'm a not too bad driver 😉 On the first day the weather turned really bad. Spent a few hours in Alghero eating some of italies famous GELATO (=ice cream) and wandering around the beautiful old city until I took the car towards the south tip of the island. Sardinian driving is a kind of its own. Not as bad as Beiruti or Indonesian driving but it can turn out rather adventurous especially driving through serpentine mountain roads where drivers usually add 30-40km/h extra to the allowed speed. Fair enough. I survived driving in Syria (from the times when people would ignore red traffic lights still) hehe The further I drove towards the south coast the blacker the sky would get until roads were flooded. Locals had quite grumpy faces and seemed not very amused. German tourists would give each other advices where to buy most economical umbrellas and probably asian vendors made business of the year
with umbrella sale.
In the evening I arrived in Villasimius, a touristic town right at the seaside with a stunning caribean-like beach. It seems italians don't speak any english or german with a few exceptions which is good if you like to learn languages. My italian knowledge didn't exceed the vocabulary you would lean at starbucks cafe but with every day I have been learning 20 new words so at least by now I get along in every day situations. It is a mixture between spanish and french so my basic spanish helped me out as well and whenever you cannot think of a way to express yourself you can as well use your hands and feet.
Sardinia is soooo amazingly beautiful. It is said to have the most stunning beaches from all over the mediterranean and I absolutely loved the food and the wine (i usually hardly ever drink) On my first night I went to have a gorgeous italian meal, a crab cocktail, a piza calzone and some lovely wine. The waiter did not ask for the amount of wine I wanted to have and brought me half a litre (i thought it would be a
glass only) which caused a slightly problematic situation for me as I underestimated the effect of the wine and I had to drive the car back to the hotel... fortunately it was not too far but walking was not an option either as the road was very dark and a bit eerie. The evenings were usually the most special times. I usually sat for 2 hours reading my book, drinking wine and observing people (usually german or durch tourists) The next day I went to swim in the crystal clear mediterranean waters and drove along the coast. Climbed up a mountain to be rewarded with a beautiful view over the bay. The following day I drove up to Orosei, which was a trip of about 150km over mountain serpentines. UNfortunately the weather turned very bad once more. Whenever I liked a place a stopped by and tried out different italian pastries and desserts in cafes.
The next day i spent almost the entire day in the car parked at the beach facing the sea and reading my book. It was raining cats and dogs and the sea was truly angry.
Even though the weather was bad a lot of the
times it was still nice to have some time out from everything. Today I'm flying back to Dublin and in few more weeks i'm finally off to Africa!! I so much cant wait!!
So long...
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Hostels Valencia Nest
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Nice, nice, nice report indeed! Greetings from hostels valencia nest Have great trips!