Exploring Posada and Cala Gonone

Thursday morning I headed off to Posada (means acc. to the Spanish dictionary "gives shelter"). I had learned about Su Vrau, which is in Posada, on the agritursimo site, so for €50 I had reserved a very nice room, delicious dinner and breakfast.
To get any place takes much longer than it does in the States, so I really had no idea how long it would take to get there. The GPS said 2.5 hours, but I KNEW that it would take longer-even if I didn't see something that caught my eye along the way! Much of the initial route was the same as the one I drove when I went to Li Licci the other day.
However, as I drove through Calangianus, a sign caught my eye that read "Tomba dei Giganti di Pascaredda". I remembered reading about it, but only recognized the name-no clue of the significance....So I turned around and followed the signs down-and it was quite downhill-a little road that became a dirt road. Yes, I am once again thinking that I am crazy going down this "God forsaken road to where?!" But I kept going; my stubbornness or perserverance took me there....Then there was a sign to the Tomba. I still really had no idea what I was following, but, hey, it was another adventure! It was about a ten minute walk in to the actual site, which, by the way, the Lonely Planet guidebook had said "is among the best preserved in the area"! BUT best preserved WHAT? Wikepedia explains at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tomba_dei_Giganti
Actually they are mass graves, and there were rocks, and absolutely no signage to tell me anything. I saw no living soul on this little excursion, but I took some pictures; now I know should I follow any other Tomba signs!
I continued on to Posada; the roads after I left Olbia, were great by comparison, as it was all four lane highways! Driving into Posada I could see a tower/Castle keeping watch on the town and the area. So once I checked into Su Vrau, I went into the Old Town to visit that. (By the way, I had only emailed Su Vrau to make my reservation; they took no deposit, etc. VERY casual!)
It was an interesting walk up to the Old Town and the Castle (some pictures on Facebook). I also walked by a house that really looked like it could have been bombed during the war. I've seen nothing so far as to the impact of WWII here on Sardinia, except when they say that some places were rebuilt.
Su Vrau was so delightful! I picked it for the price and the fact that it had a pool. (I'm spoiled with the pool here, so I've been doing some fresh and salt water swimming here in Sardinia.) I took a swim when I got back from the Castle, but it was pretty windy, so I didn't swim long!
When I "checked in", the woman I'd found by the pool who spoke a little English(shortly she was heading back to Milan after ten days there "Bella! Bella!" she said about her stay) told me that dinner was at 8 or 8:30. So wanting to be sure NOT to miss dinner, I was there at 8; they let us in about 8:15. EVERYONE was speaking Italian! Luckily there was a couple from Cambridge,England, so I sat with them. He studies "flies' eyes", and she is retired. He made it sound like he is an expert in the field, but I've not yet found him on google. She is German and retired. They were very nice, and good to "practice" speaking English! (I can ask some basic questions in Italian, so I'm always delighted when someone understands what I'm asking!)
But I've not yet described dinner. The first course was grilled vegetables of eggplant, zucchini, and onions. There is a Sardinian bread which is nearly paper-thin, and this was served. The next course was pasta with chopped up tomatoes. The next course was pork cutlets with cucumber slices. Dessert was tiramisu. Drinks included a pitcher of red wine, an after dinner choice of grappa or mirt (which I chose as it is a Sardinian liquor, but I won't choose it again), and coffee!!! VERY tasty.
Breakfast, served at eight, was very nice, but not spectacular...cereal, yogurt, breads in the form of packaged Rusk type cracker, juice, and tea or coffee. (Speaking of juice, orange juice in Italy has sugar added and is red.)
So by 8:45 I was on my way down to Cala Gonone, where I wanted to take a boat trip into one of the caves. Lonely Planet said, "If you do nothing else in Sardinia, you should try to take an excursion along the 20 km southern stretch of Golf di Orosei by boat." I was aiming for the 11AM trip, and I got there in plenty of time. It was a 1.5 hour tour out to visit Grotta del Bue Marina (Blue Crescent). We went out in large rubber rafts (I wasn't too psyched!), and there were eight tourists on it. There was a Italian family with two children and three German young women who could speak English. It was a ten minute ride out to the cave, and alot of waiting, but it was fun, and I'm really glad that I went! I'd never been into something like that! It was pretty amazing! There were four different Halls, as they are called: Mirrors, Organ Pipes, Candles, and Sea Monk. We weren't supposed to take pictures, so I hope I can keep the pictures in my mind....(I got talking with a German man who works for Vodafone; he told me about different caves that he had visited in Thailand and S. Africa. He assumed falsely that I'd been in other caves like that.) When it was time to head back, the sea had gotten MUCH ROUGHER. And it was raining....So the "captain" drove like a crazy man (probably drives a car like that too!) to get us back to the port quickly cutting across the waves. I was "holding on for dear life" to the rope on the side of the raft. One of the German woman kept saying to me, "Are you okay?" Well, BARELY! But we got back to the port safely....DEFINITELY another adventure....
Today was a four hour beach day with lots of sunscreen and a Michael Connolly mystery.
Thanks for your comments!:))