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Published: September 18th 2007
Hey! Here I am down in sunny Cagliari. I guess this is like the capital of Sardinia. It's really wierd having travelled down through Sardinia seeing just small villages in vast areas of open country, to come across a real big city! Spent 5 hours on a bus today and I'm pretty glad to be back on dry land! Winding mountain passes in a coach that kinda rolls you, & your stomach, around the corners at breakneck speed, is enough to make you feel like you've had a bad day at Thorpe park! Happy to say, I've recovered enough to have a beer while I update you guys!
The countryside on the journey was amazing though. Dorgali area (where Cala Galone is) was stunning- very mountainous and green, with beaches to die for. As you get further south towards Cagliari, the landscape gets flatter and more barren. The open landscape is vast, just dotted with small villages perched on the edge of a hill here and there. This is pretty much what I expected the Italian Mainland to be like. That's not to say it's not beautiful over there too, but it's full of highrises in most areas which kind of ruins the view. That said, I've only seen a tiny bit of it, and I'm limited to the public transport system, so I sure there's a lot more beautiful places yet to see.
To update from my last entry, the following day the clouds cleared early and it was a gorgeous sunny day. Decided to go on the beach cruise and then catch the bus out of town afterwards - the hotel I stayed in was really cheap, but 2 nights was enough! Checked out and went to the Tourist info to get the bus timetables. There were only two busses I could catch to get to Cagliari, the last one being at 12 something, and the boat didn't get back until 6ish - bugger! I was pretty set on the beach cruise, so I decided to go anyway and think about what to do when I got back. That was the best decision I'd ever made! Wow, I cannot really put into words just how lovely these beaches are. To be honest, I've not been spoilt with beautiful beaches in my life, so I'm sure anyone who's been somewhere really exotic would be less enthusiastic, but to me, this was like paradise! A lot of them, you can only get to by boat, hence the cruises. Basically, I was supposed to spend an hour on 3 beaches, but I ended up stopping at 2. The guys on the boat only spoke italian & I'm pretty sure I got off when I was supposed to stay on to go to the 3rd one! I have to say, I was quite glad to chill out for the afternoon though rather than being rushed off to the next beach, and the one I was on was gorgeous. I will put the photos onto facebook asap so you can see them, but beachlovers beware, you may have to book a holiday once you've checked these out!
At the end of the day, we got dropped off at Cala Luna for the last hour. This was the first beach of the day too, and my favourite! It was much busier by 5 though - the morning was much more peaceful!
Back to the marina, by which time I'd decided I couldn't face another night in the same hotel. Walked around a few and found one right on the marina front where the guy dropped the price from 65 euro to 45 euro. That's not bad by home standards, and here, it's really cheap (Sardinia is really expensive!), but on a travellers budget it's pretty extravagant! Needless to say the budget went out the window and I went and got my bag from the other hotel. Have to say, I don't regret spending the extra. It was fab. Double bed, silent aircon, tv, nice bathroom (the light even came on automatically when you went in!) fab shower, and I even had my own verranda! (reminiscent of bulgaria!) I know I'm a bit over enthusiastic, but having spent the majority of the 4 wks sharing a room, this really was luxury! Had the best nights sleep I've had in ages! Was quite sad to leave the room behind the next day. Had a broken conversation with the guy who ran the hotel at breakfast. He seemed like a nice old guy. Its so cool when people understand you too! Have to say, it was one of the few conversations I'd had in the couple of days I'd been there - no-one speaks english there and it's all very much couples. Needless to say I was ok about moving on this morning!
Took the bus to the next town Nuoro, where I needed to wait a couple hours for the connection to Cagliari. There was a lady there trying to find out the time of a bus in English n having no luck whatsoever! Really reminded me of the previous day on the boat trip - language barriers are so frustrating! I went over and managed to help her out, which felt really good, and I guess that's a bit of good kalma in that department!
Spent the rest of the day on the bus down here. I'm sure the tourist info said it would be 3 hours, but 5 hours later here I am! It looks pretty cool so far, & both the hotel guy and the internet cafe guy spoke english! As much as I want to speak Italian, conversation is pretty limited, so it's nice to have a fall back! Hopefully one day I'll be a bit more fluent, but I think that's a while away yet!
Anyhow, will keep you all posted! Would love to hear your news back home. Take it easy. Ciao xxx
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Di
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God you have moved quickly since i last logged on!! Sounds like you are having a lovely time, glad to c u r getting in the sunbathing, got to be done!! (compensation for the bus journeys by the sound of it) Jenny said she will contact you soon and catch up. A lady called Joyce is in your seat now but she is leaving soon so i will b home alone again, there is no-one to catch up with on the rubbish we used to watch on the tv now u r gone! Donald has gone, of his own accord i think and Bridget has replaced him, not much else has changed really other than a few new temp faces. I am being evicted again! They want everyone else out who is not part of central functions, me, caroline, gaile, janice and adam, not sure where they are going to put us, some cupboard somewhere i expect. Anyway catch u l8r take care Di x