Sardinia round up.

I must admit I have enjoyed Sardinia. It definitely has not been what I expected from my first experience when sailing from Portisco but the coast is just perfect in most places and inland is sparsely populated and very natural but the people are so welcoming - not that you could tell that initially from the look on their faces but engage them in conversation and everything changes, I suppose it is the same everywhere really. Just stay away from the glam tourist centres and it is brill.
Cagliari is quite a large city but the centre is very compact if you want to people watch Piazza Yenne is the place to go and you can eat and drink in the six venues there or travel another 100 metres and there are at least another dozen places with different menus.
Panic tanning tomorrow so this will probably by my last blog for a while, my next booked trip is not until mid October.

South West Sardinia

Moving West from the salt marsh around Cagliari and also past the pretentious and unpretty Chia there is an area of coastline with far more character, small bays, hidden beaches and many secure anchorages terminating in the new marina at Porto di Teulada, after that it is back down to the plain again. However, there are still anchorages and other port facilities available in San'Antioco and Portoscuso so the circumnavigation could be a pleasantly feasible idea.

Back to the hills.

My plan today was to visit a Roman/Carthaginian site on the southwest coast but it is close to a popular beach and being Sunday 90% of the population of Sardinia decided to go to that beach, after half an hour of travelling less than 200 metres I gave up and headed back to the hills to do what I missed yesterday. Despite being turned away from my first call at a medieval castle I remained optimistic and booked that for later in the day but I did take the advice of the castle ticket seller and go for lunch in a restaurant in the local park. I have supposedly had porcini mushrooms before, they were nothing like the meltingly tasty fungi I had with my tagliatelle today. Well fed and wined I went up to the plateau to try to find the horses, no such luck but the guy who sold me my admission ticket told me I was the only punter he had seen today (everyone else was at the beach) so I had the whole reserve to myself and what a brilliant experience it was, like being the only man left on earth, no outside noise just the sound of the wind in the aspens and birdsong, God I am getting to be quite the romantic.
I did keep my appointment at the castle and again I had the place to myself, wonderful.
Well only two more days of pizza and pasta, I will see if I can hit the Roman sites tomorrow.

Nuraghes and more.

Breakfast at Saperdabianca is colossal (photo to follow next week)
The explorations started immediately after breakfast by taking the back roads towards Barumini, the first stop was in Sanluri. There was a market going on and because this is inland away from the posh Costa Smeralda and the tourist resorts of the south coast the prices where amazingly cheap especially for all the lovely fruit and veg, just when I have stopped self catering ah well I can still enjoy the cherries and peaches.
From Sanluri I picked up signs for the nuraghe trail and went to the Su Mulinu nuraghe at Villanovafranca. An informative introduction by a one on one guide but his halitosis could slay you at 20 metres. Su Nuraxi at Barumini is a World Heritage Site and the ticket gives guided access to the nuraghe and also an interpretation centre and the Casa Zapata museum in Barumini itself, this was a really interesting experience enlivened by an hour-long thunderstorm which had the locals out taking videos with their phones. My original plan for the day had been to go up to the Giara di Gesturi, an upland plateau area claimed to have the only wild horses left in Europe, maybe I will get there another day.
I tried a different cafe in the same area as last night for dinner. I ordered steak but Italians idea of medium rare is a little different from most places I have been, I think the nearest it had been to the grill was as the waitress passed through the kitchen on the way to my table. The grilled vegetables were a revelation especially the aubergine which I am not mad on at home, this one actually had taste.

On to Cagliari.

Breakfast this morning was cherries and apricots from yesterday's market and also Brie and sesame crisp bread that was left from my self catering, cherries were £3.50 a kilo.

I also called to say goodbye to Posh and Princess. Princess seemed to be manoeuvring for a hug or even a goodbye kiss so I preempted her with a manly handshake.

The journey to Cagliari was supposed to take 3.5 hours but I went the scenic route down the southern part of the East cost and it took me over eight hours, I am sure there was a lot of cursing going on behind me when I was driving at 20 mph or suddenly pulling over to look at the views but I am now convinced that Sardinia has one of the most awesome coasts I have ever seen, it may be helped by the blue sea and sky and the high 20s temperature doesn't hurt but for consistent jaw dropping views this takes some beating.

My landlady recommended a restaurant for my evening meal, it is number one on trip advisor and only seats 25 so that wasn't  going to happen, I ended up in a pavement restaurant which was good, great cabaret from the locals, reasonable food but I made a basic wine mistake, I did an Adamson and asked the waiter what he recommended. You guessed it, I ended up with a very average over priced wine but my plan is to wind them up tomorrow have a beer or even water in their place and then just slip over one row into the next restaurant for my meal, petty I know but fun for me.

My landlady also told me that the town centre was only accessible by car or bus but I had a look on Google maps and it is only two and a half miles so I walked it and the good news is the knee is fine so far but what a different perspective I got of all the locals going about the everyday lives.

More exploring tomorrow.

The Invalid

Two days of not doing too much has driven me mad and also to drink but the wonky knee has stopped giving me agro so here's hoping.
I had a look on Trip Advisor to see what people thought of Olbia and I tend to agree with the contributor who said the best things were the tunnel under the town and the ring road though I did find a very pleasant spot today, the Golfo Aranci the gulf itself is beautiful and the town is clean and tastefully renovated with a mainly local presence there are also secluded beaches all around the gulf.
Tuesday's visit to the market was a non-event due to the hotel entertainment manager's confusion between Tuesday and Thursday so we are of to the market tomorrow now, then it will be laundry day before travelling down to Cagliari on Friday morning for five days.

Secrets.

Everything is such a secret in Sardinia, there are very few signs directing you to what you want to see, I got fed up looking for the well known (not) route to the beach so I just took a random turn and when the road ran out started walking. It was a great one and a half hour walk down to the beach and a little longer coming back, all uphill. The sand was that really course stuff and it made my feet tickle all the way to the root of my tounge so I kept the shoes on. My knee started playing up when I got back so I am now on Brufen and praying that it settles down, I have too many walks planned.
The mountain part of the SS125 was a twisting turning pleasure to drive at lunch time but for the rest of the time it was full of German motorcyclists, cows, goats, Italian idiots and Lycra loonies all getting in the way. I think this stretch of road must have been reviewed in the German motorcycle press because I estimate there were over 300 German registered bikes per hour passing my coffee stop at 11ish.
I am taking Posh and Princess to a market tomorrow before dropping them off at Porto Rodondo, while I retire to the pool to rest my poor knee.
Did I say the average daytime temperature is 25C? Just about right for me.