End of My Explorations in Sardinia

Well, this will be last entry in Italy, as I fly to Madrid tomorrow, and then Friday morning, I will fly to Alicante to pick up the rental car and drive to Aguilas.
Yesterday, as you may have seen on Facebook, I did a “church” tour. It was a gray, overcast day that threatened rain, which never materialized. The churches were all very old; some were totally abandoned. The only one that was actually open was the Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia, built in 1116, and still used today. The legend has it that it was built by a couple who had the “revelation” that they were going to have their first “longed-for child” while camping at that location. In my wanderings I came across a petrified forest in Carracuna, which was interesting! I saw nothing about it in any guidebook I saw.


Some Italian Trivia-As I wrap up the Sardinia portion of the blog, I wanted to share some miscellaneous observations I’ve made during my time in Italy.

Change or Cambio
Well, I’m not sure why, but every single cashier in every single supermercato in Italy insists on getting –or trying to get- the EXACT CHANGE FOR EVERY TRANSACTION! To the penny or .01euro. On occasion they get somewhat indignant if you have only a big bill with NO change.

Ice
How did Americans get into the habit of putting ices into drinks? What is the history of the ice cube? (Even though my new refrigerator does have an automatic ice maker, I don’t use a lot of ice at home.) However, there is definitely something about ice-especially in the summer-that makes a cold drink tastier with ice in it! However, it is very uncommon to get ice in a drink in Italy. When we asked for it in Rome, we would get one ice cube. There are no ice trays here, although yesterday I saw them in a market for the first time.
So I needed to get a bit creative to have ice for water or soda. In Rome I used the little plastic gelato cups like an ice cube tray. Here in Badesi, I cut off the big 1.5 liter water bottles and filled them with water, so when I filled it with water or iced tea, the “ice cube” was already in the “glasss”. Ah, the proverbial “necessity is the mother of invention”….
Then I found in the drawer where plastic bags, tinfoil, etc. are stored, two boxes of "Sachetti Trasparenti Cubetti Ghiaccio con alette di chiusure” made by the Cuki Company. This is a box of individual plastic bags that you pour water into and each sachetti-bag makes twenty-eight SMALL ice cubes. I tried it once, but I really didn’t do it quite right-little tricky. And, of course,when all else failed, we’d fill the water bottles the night before to have some ice in the bottom….
Shop Hours
Everyone knows that most shops in Europe close for lunch. In Italy, most of them seem to close from 1:30-4:30-even some of the gas stations. SISA, “my” neighbour market here stayed open all day on Sunday until two weeks ago, when apparently summer ended. Some markets even close mid-day during the week.

Dish draining system
There is a small rack up over the sink where you put the dishes which you have washed to drain and dry. (I posted a picture of this on Facebook.) Gloria had this in Nice, but I’d never seen it before then.

So I’m changing languages and dictionaries and am off to Spain for four weeks.
Hasta luego!