Sardinia

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Geo: 41.8955, 12.4823

Today we are in Alghero in the north of Sardinia, Italy. It has turned cold and a little showery after several days of warm, sunny weather. We have walked out here to one of the beaches from town but there is an icy wind and its too cold sit at the beach.We have just made it to a supermarket to buy bread, cheese and salami before it closed at 1pm so we can have a relaxed lunch on our balcony. We are still coming to terms with the opening and closing hours here. We fail to see how any work gets done here as the locals seem to only work for a couple of hours a day. It seems to explain why there is so much construction (in the newer areas) and renovation (in the old quarters of towns) and why it seems to be taking so long. Its always a suprise to actually see somebody working on a construction site or up the scaffolding. Its a shame that every time we find a nice little town the most magnificent church and the prettiest square are construction sites! There are still lots of narrow cobbled streets to wander down and plenty of other intersting things to see though. It appears that the locals spend most of their time in coffee shops in the morning drinking coffee until about 11am and then they switch to beer or wine. In the afternoons they loiter in the squares or in parks, chatting or just watching, or eating ice cream. Then they drink more beer and wine and then they go and eat an enourmous four course dinner at about 9pm. We can't figure our how they can wait that long to eat dinner! Of course we have no choice but to do the same as nothing opens until about 8pm. So although we have perhaps not found Sardinia to be the jewel we expected it is certainly interesting. Alghero is a nice place with an extensive old quarter by the sea and marina. Lots of pretty little streets, a walled city area and even some shops that we found worth browsing, which is unusual for us. Many of the restaurants are in cellars so the rooves are round and brick. Last night we ate in a cosy spaghetteria / pizzeria with a woodfired oven. So nice and warm after the day had turned cold when the sun went down. Although Cagliari had some interesting areas, we found it very hot, dusty and industrial in parts. After a day of sightseeing we had to retreat to our hotel room for a cold shower and rest before we ventured out again later in the comparitve cool of the evening. We explored the old town, and the port, caught a bus to Poetto beach where we rested and hung out with the locals at a cafe drinking beer and eating toasted foccacia sandwiches. The beach was so close and lunch breaks so long that many of the locals business types stopped there for lunch. It defies logic how they could sit there in the heat in their suits and ties. After two nights in Cagliari we were ready for some cleaner air and cleaner streets. We caught the train to Oristano but got there at siesta time and the place seemed dead and abandoned. Couldn't find much in the way of hotels so dragged our bags from one side of town to the other until we found the bus station. Caught a bus to Bosa and dragged our bags around for a couple more hours until we finally found a hotel. They only had a room for one night but that was OK as the place was clearly lacking in restaurants and we had pretty much seen all there was to see after a few hours. There was a nice old town but again that refurbishing was ruining all the best bits. There was a nice river area but was not utilised for hotels or restaurants. Perhaps in a few years. The trip from Oristano to Bosa was fascinating, travelling thru many pretty towns along the coast and in the hills. It was pretty scary in the bus trying to make its way thru streets barely wide enough for a scooter. Many a parked car has lost a side mirror down those streets. The trip from Bosa to Alghero the next day was even more stunning with huge cliffs extending up from the sea. I think the bus driver must have driven that route for 20 years as he rarely slowed down for a corner. So quite an exhilarating ride. Puts the Great Ocean Road and the Cairns to Port Douglas coast road to shame. Needless to say there are lots of motorcycles in Alghero as the riding in this area would be awesome. Andrew is having a ball checking out all the bikes and watching them go by from our balcony.

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