Castelsardo and Sassari

Well, it sounds like two outings in a row, but not really....Castlesardo, pop. 5700, is only about 25 minutes away. I came through on my arrival, and it looked interesting. Really, the castle is it! But it was fun to climb up to it and see the old town overlooking the sea. The town was built around the medieval castle, which now houses a museum for basket-weaving, for which the town is famous. Women are still making baskets; they sit in their doorways doing just that. The view is awesome, but other than that, there are two churches, and I was done!
I explored the Terme di Casteloria, but decided it didn't appeal, so I was back to the pool here. The Terme actually were supposed to be baths, but due to some political issues, the baths weren't completed. Meanwhile, people still go to the river where some 70C water meets the river and swim or rather soak in a very warm water....Maybe another day?
Today I went over to Sassari, pop.121,700, second largest city in Sardinia. It's a very busy place-except from between 1 and 4 or 5, when most everything closes for lunch and....It was another fun driving experience!
First stop was the Museo Nazionale Sanna, a comprehensive archaeological collection. Of course, I had to find a place to park, and then to figure out how to get a ticket for parking; luckily the "meter maid" helped show me how to do it. It turns out that you pay for time up to 13:00-16:00, when it is free. I thought that at that time there was NO parking there!
Museum WAS interesting, even though it was mostly all in Italian. Boy, my Italian-English dictionary is worth carrying around! I could take pictures with no flash, so I did...lots of pottery, nuraghe info, etc. I sat out in their yard and ate my-yep-peanut butter sandwich and apple! This was now at the time that most everything was closed....So I walked around a bit to check things out. Was the bookstore that might have some English books open? Nope. Ah, but the Gellateria was! So I succumbed to chocolate, tiramisu, and creme caramel....2€
I was sitting across from the Museo della Brigata Sassari, which was open and free. So I went over, in spite of the fact that it was mostly a military museum and about the Sassari Brigade in the WWI-all in Italian. This Brigade is still active in Iaq and Afghanistan....When I entered, they took my passport and locked up my backpack.
When I left it was about how much time did I have left on my present parking space....At 5:30, I was going to meet Angela, a couch surfer, at the Chiesa di Santa Maria di Bethlem. So I had to get over there........This is not a big city by any means. In the process of getting me there,the (NASTY) GPS took me into a more narrow street than the one I pictured before! BUT at least it took me to an internet place, which I needed, because I had to get my boarding passes printed for next week's flights. (How can I be leaving for Spain ALREADY?)
Well, I visited the Chiesa, and had a very nice visit with Angela, before I returned to Badesi, which I made in one hour's time! (Angela's 32 with a Masters working in research at the University in the morning and working in her mother's knitting/yarn shop afternoons.) My trip back was in spite of being behind an old car slower than mine! Actually a huge truck was RIGHT on my tail, so I pulled over so he could move on! I was back in time to have a cocktail hour with my British neighbors!

Well, before I fill you in on the latest activity in Badesi, I need to go back to Cala Gonone. Melissa noticed from my Facebook picture that I was low on gas as I was leaving....Absolutely! I really had no idea how low I was, because I didn't stop to look into the Lancia owners' manual. But once I left, getting gas was my #1 priority! Luckily the GPS can help me find a gas station, but once I'm going in the wrong direction, it then takes me to a station farther away! So I turned around and went where I was supposed to, and the station was very close. But often even the gas stations close for three hours, and it was about that time. Luckily the station I came to was a self-serve, so, with a little help from a motorcyclist eating his lunch there, I could pay and fill the car and be on my way home.
And even though I am here and not seeing any US papers (so if there is a crisis,let me know!); I knew that it was 9/11....
Yesterday I went to the little museum, Museo Archeologico, in the next little town of Viddalba. I learned more about the Tombas, etc. The museo actually goes back to the Pre-historic and Protohistoric periods. It was all in Italian, but there was a 70page booklet in English to help me understand all this information.
I went home for lunch and headed to the beach for two hours. It wasn't a perfect beach day, so there were not many people. However, I saw a 50 something couple I'd seen before with their chihuachua(sp. tough to correct on an Italian computer!) This dog comes to the beach in his/her Louis Vuitton dog carrier!
In the morning before I had left I met Carol and Patrick, the British couple, who arrived late last night and are staying next door. They are from Somerset, which is apparently quite rural, so she thinks the road traffic is loud!
Today I had a longer chat with Carol, as we are just separated by a small brick like fence. I told them I was headed over to Valledoria to check out the Bird Watching trip I'd learned about-in case they were interested.
Well, I signed up for the 5PM trip even though it was very windy and looked like rain! (Dejà vu all over again-oh, but it was not a rubber raft-aluminum flat bottomed boat!) So for the first time since I got here, I put on long pants and a sweater and went to Valledoria.www.focedelcoghinas.com. It was really a great trip, and I am not a "birder" by any means. There was a young German couple, Olaf and Bettina, from Frankfort and an Italian couple with 8 year old Gabriel. (Yes, the Germans did speak English!)It was a two hour trip going about twelve km. We saw coots, grey and purple herons, marsh harrier, mallards, cattle egrets, wooded crow, great white egrets, and kingfishers. The driver/guide did speak some English and had a DK bird book so he could tell me the birds in English. By the way, he went out ALL BUNDLED up, so Olaf and I thought it was going to be brutal. However, it turns out that he has some condition so he has to protect his neck! He had told me that the next few days would be windy, and then it will be better, but I'm delighted that I went today. I hear it raining right now....Buona sera!

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!:))

Miscellany on a "Chill-out" Day

There was one more thing about yesterday that I forget to include. On my way to Priatu I stopped at a rest stop, well, I actually turned around to go back to it, since the scene below was so interesting. I was sitting out enjoying the vista with my Coke Light. A big tour bus came along, and as everyone got off, I knew I better head for the bathroom before the whole bus did. A little while later, ANOTHER bus came. Now this was not a big parking area, so it turned out that the two buses had made it a challenge-actually pretty tough-for me to get out! I had to back out and turn around and HOPE that I’d not stall with all these people around. Luckily two men helped me, so I got back on the road with no problem but it was funny!
So today was a chill out day....I needed to do a wash but it looked like rain. So I checked on-line, where it said a 10% chance of rain. Well, I did the wash; no sooner had I hung it on the rack, and it did, in fact, start to rain! It probably rained for an hour, and the clothes did get dry, so that was the important thing. (I had asked Jane at Li Licci if it ever rained, and she said that it hadn't rained for about three months, but it had rained alot in the spring.)
Meanwhile, I read more of The Legend of Redenta Tiria by Salvatore Niffoi, who lives here on Sardinia. It is somewhat strange, as it tells of all the people in this small village who commit suicide by hanging themselves when they hear the Voice tell them it is time. It was here in the house, and apparently Piero knows the author. It gives a flavor of the island and the people who lived here, which is certainly interesting for me as I visit here!
Later this afternoon the sun did come out, so I went to the beach for three hours. The water was rough, and it was windy, so it was pretty empty. The ocean waves are just really one of nature’s kalidescopes (SP) ALWAYS changing and so intriguing to watch!
Tomorrow I’m heading over to Posada to visit another agriturismo, and to explore that area. The GPS says it should take two hours....Hmm, we’ll see!
Some totally miscellaneous facts about living here which you might find totally UNIMPORTANT!
-Keys. I forget if I ever really talked about the four keys we needed to get into Angela’s apartment? Well, both Dayle and I thought it was pretty intimidating. I finally got it or thought I did. I was supposed to lock the apartment from the outside when I left, but we had missed that, so it didn’t make sense, but it worked. Well, the door to this apartment only has one key, but you have to turn it four times, which was what we had to do at Angela’s also.
-Car radio, etc. Mallory had observed that most of the music we heard when we were in Rome was American. Similarly the rental car, which seems to get only one station, does play mostly American music with some Italian thrown in. However, since I still can’t understand most of what they are saying, I decided to see if I could find a CD. SLIM pickings! My best choice given the very limited selection was "100 Hits Country Greats" for 9.99euro. So now you can also visualize me driving and shifting all over Sardinia-oh, and SINGING with Willie and Waylon and Patsy and Johnny, etc.!
-Why would the dishwasher here have a label on it that says “Proud to be entirely conceived and made in Italy” in English?
Well, arriverderci!

MORE Celebrating Seventy....

Well, I'm REALLY glad to be here, as Alna says!!! I came to Sardinia on a whim; several years ago I had read about Corsica in the New York Times, but got no takers from my swap inquiries. (Well, actually I just remembered that I did communicate with a woman who had houses on both Corsica and in the south of France, but the swap never materialized.) The two islands are very close, you can see how they broke apart thousands of years ago. Corsica is French, while Sardinia is Italian with strong spanish influence, especially in their dialect, which, of course, I would have NO clue of! Luckily I had several Sardinians interested in coming to Weston.
I'm quite settled in; it seems to take me 5-7 days to settle in, to get the proverbial "lay of the land", and to feel really comfortable. So I decided to organize my time by one day staying local (read beach, pool, both), and the other day I go exploring....The geography is really unique...the interesting combination of high hills (or low mountains) at every turn, then coming upon a meadow that looks as though someone had dropped all these huge rocks into it.
Today I had made a reservation for lunch at Li Licci,an agritursimo about an hour away. This is a system whereby farms in Italy act as rural hotels and people can stay there. (I'd had lunch on the Orvieto, Assissi tour at an agritoursimo.) They vary totally; Li Licci(means oak trees in local dialect) was much more upscale-about a five course meal, and I couldn't eat it all! Needless to say, it was spectacular!
While I was there I learned about a small museum in Luras which is open by appointment, so when I got there, I was out of luck. The brochure said that as late as 1952, there were women (Sa Femmina Accabadora or Agabbadora) dressed in black who-in the middle of the night-would go to "put the terminally ill out of their misery"! They did this with a rudimentary hammer, called sa mazzola. The women were never paid, since it was a violation of religious and superstitious norms. Wonder how the women were selected or decided to do that?

Sunday P.S.

Luisella and Piero came over with their computer this evening, but after tonight I won't have internet access until Sept. 7th. They are really lovely people, but it is a challenge to communicate, so they didn't even try to explain why! (Their English is, OF COURSE, much better than my Italian!) Piero brought three different google maps of 56 River Rd. and area, and we discussed-or tried-the different ways they can get to Riverside and the market without a car. They will rent a car eventually, but maybe not at first! They can always eat at the Marriott!
Today after I left Internet Point, I headed over to Sassari. On my way over, I got flagged over by some uniformed guy. There are two kinds of police here, and I have no clue what they were. But after he was finished talking, and I said, "No parlo Italiano." He replied, "Prego" (don't mention it) and waved me on! WHEW! Maybe if I hadn't been a tourist, he'd have given me a ticket? I wasn't going that fast.
In Sassari there is a mall, and I really wanted to get a beach chair (spiaggina?), peanut butter, and a few other things....Mission accomplished! And while I was there, I did have a gelato-for lunch at the food court. I sat down with two guys who work at Brico (like Home Depot), since there were no other seats. It turns out that one of them had honeymooned in the US-San Francisco, LA, Las Vegas and Chicago.
Luckily the GPS IS working, although she does say "Recalculating" alot! You just don't get anywhere fast, as the roads are all two lanes, so you cannot pass easily! NOT I'll be passing anyone anytime soon! They can all pass me.
I came home to spend a few hours on the beach to try out the new piaggina-works fine!And the title of the books is The Girl Who Played with Fire! I expect I'll finish it before I go to sleep tonight.
So arrivederci until the 7th!

Leaving Nice and on to Badesi, Sardinia

Well, as anticipated, internet access is quite limited, so I'm at Internet Point in Valledoria. I had put the following on a card, and was able to copy it from that. I actually came over here yesterday, and wanted to use my computer, but he said it has no anti-virus, which is because I get it from Comcast. Anyhow...not sure when I'll be back!

August 31st

Well, I did have visions of sitting on the free, very rocky beach at Nice again, but Gloria suggested a museum. (Neither materialized.) Two Turkish students from her English class were coming to lunch. She did some packing first, and I went across the street to McDonald’s, since “trying” to get a signal to go on-line was getting old….After they left, we went to get a gelato, and enjoyed the famous Promenade des Anglais and the last walk along the beach. Gloria loves Nice, as she lives in a small town the rest of the year. She treated me to dinner at the Hippopotamus, which is the same place where Melissa and I had our first meal last year. (NOT great-sort of along the lines of the 99!) Service was dreadful. The plus is that we sat outside; there were two other tables of two alongside ours, so Gloria could talk with them, as they all spoke French. Getting salt and pepper and oil and vinegar at these restaurants is difficult sometimes. So we borrowed the salt and pepper from the next table, only to discover there was no salt in the shaker. (The waitresses were all overworked and NOT too happy to help any of us!) After we were through eating, I looked down on the ground and saw a pile of salt plus the stopper! Earlier I had seen our neighbor bang the salt shaker on the ground, and instead all the salt came out. OK! Guess you had to be there, but it was FUNNY!
September 1,2010
I didn’t sleep well, but I don’t usually sleep well, when I have to get up to leave…While my flight wasn’t until 11:10AM, I wanted to get to the airport in PLENTY OF TIME. Well, I was awake at 5:30, and off to the train station (ONLY across the street next to McDonalds) to catch the 6:25 bus to the Nice Airport, a mere 20 minute ride. OF COURSE, I couldn’t check in for my Air France flight back to Rome, until 2 hours (to the EXACT minute, as I tested). Arrived back to Fiumicino on schedule, and then I had decided to take an airport shuttle to Ciampino to fly to Alghero, Sardinia. This was really an extravagance at €45, since there were other ways to go from “A” to “B”, but I REALLY had no interest in missing the plane to the island! So once again, I had plenty of time to “enjoy” hanging around an airport?!
I had written earlier about HOW CHEAP Ryanair flights are….Ah, the proverbial “you get what you pay for! First of all, checked bag-ONE only-is supposed to weigh less than 15kg (33 lbs.), and the ONE carry-on (to include purse, etc.) is supposed to weigh less than 10kg (22 lbs.) I knew this, so I was prepared. (This sure does insure you buy nothing extra or throw things out along the way!) My checked bag weighed a few ounces over 15, and she didn’t charge me. I’d read that it was £10 (maybe $7.50?) for every kg over! I had a big salad with tuna and large water for lunch (€9.10). I still had lots of time, but went over to the gate, where they weighed my carry-on at 8.6kg. (Whew! Sure it felt heavier than 18.92 lbs!)
Second point is that Ryanair assigns no seats, so it is “first come, first serve”! I wondered how many people would be flying to Alghero, one of the three bigger airports on the island. Well, there looked to be a full plane when everyone lined up to take the shuttle bus out to the plane. Plane was clean; trip was uneventful-one hour plus. ALL food was sold, including €3 for bottle of water. Luckily I opted for €1.50 Snickers bar, as that was pretty close to what consisted of dinner….
Rented a two door Lancer from Hertz, and I was off…I hoped. (Of course, the car has a manual shift, as automatic shifts are WAY more expensive over here. As I was leaving, I couldn’t shift it into reverse, so I had go BACK in and ask for help! You have to push the handle down when you want to put it into reverse.) UNFORTUNATELY the directions were poor, so it took me three hours. (In Rome, I had tried to use the Garmin GPS I’d bought, but it wouldn’t pick up the satellite. Many emails to Garmin plus Gloria called Milan, and it still didn’t work. So I didn’t even try it-didn’t even think to.... ) I ended up going into Sassari, a city of sorts, so getting out was the trick. Anyhow, I arrived fifteen minutes after Luisella had sent me an email saying they were worried about me.(The road is quite hilly and narrow.) It didn’t seem to make sense to call until I got to where they were supposed to meet me. So about 9:10 I pulled into the SISA supermercato parking lot. They were here in seconds, and the irony of it-for those of you who know that I do like grocery stores-is that the apartment is just above the SISA parking lot! The exchangers are Luisella, a schoolteacher, and Piero, an engineer; they were very nice! (They usually rent this apartment and have some Brits coming to one nearby on the 11th.) They had bought some fruit, milk, juice, and bread, so I didn’t starve last night!

September 2, 2010
I woke at 9:10, which was amazing….I’ve been grappling with a cold, so it was good to sleep. Of course, after I had tea and some of the cookies(Papassinos Glassati-probably a kind of biscotti with frosting) that Luisella had brought. TASTY!!!
My first project was to do some washing. Experienced as a I am now after Rome and Joan’s in Paris and last summer, it wouldn’t work! I knew that Luisella and Piero were going off today for a few days, so I got them just in time. (They are due in Weston on September 9th.) The problem was that the door wasn’t closed tight enough. DUH! When they were here, Piero said, “Don’t be surprised if you hear a sound outside in the night, it is a wild boar!” (There are actually not a lot of windows to the outside, as there is only one bedroom, and there is air-conditioning. I’ll never hear it, unless I’m sitting outside at night, and we know what happened the last time I sat outside having a glass of wine on a house swap!)
So today was grocery shopping, laundry, and some exploring. There is a lovely beach here which I will go to another day. This is really beautiful country, albeit a bit desolate. I could see the farmlands from the plane….It is quite hilly; I’m not sure how high the hills are, but sometimes I feel like I’m driving in the canyons of California. (What is the difference between a mountain and a hill?)
I went into the pool a few times; there are very few people here in this small complex-maybe twenty units, and , of course, they all speak Italian. I drove over to Valledoria, where I was told they have internet cafes, but I didn't try too hard to find. (Again I reflect on the bards of old who had NO internet, etc. to follow their travels!) On my way over-it is about 7 km-I had noticed several little “farm stands”. So on the way back, I stopped at several. At the first one a little Italian man-maybe 5’-came out; he hugged me and kissed me; LUCKILY another customer came who did speak some Inglese-used to work for Sears in the states-and he rescued me. I bought an onion, a clove of garlic, and two small zucchinis for €1. He added some fresh basil and parsley! He tried to sell me a jar of artichokes in oil for €10, but I passed. At the second stand I bought two red peppers for .63; there was a little girl there that I tried to talk to, but guess she’s not working too hard on her Inglese!
I did want to have a gelato-guess it is good I had all that I did in Rome and Nice-as I found none. I really not only wanted the gelato, but also I had found in Rome that the little plastic cups make GREAT ice cube trays. I was also looking for peanut butter…well, there was no room in my suitcase! No Luck. However, when I left the supermercato parking lot-another one-I took the wrong turn, so I was on my way to St. Theresa di Gallura. DEFINITELY not where I wanted to go. So I had to go up to Isola Rossa JUST to turn around!
I did figure out how to turn the TV on, but can only get one talk show, so I’m CERTAINLY enjoying my Kindle! I actually am now reading Around the World in 80 Days ,which I had never read! It was a freee download, so I have plenty to read. I also bought a Barbara Taylor Bradford book in Nice, as I don’t want to take the Kindle to the beach or pool. Ciao and Bonna sera!

September 3rd

I was off to the wonderful sandy beach, which was not crowded by 11. You pay an attendant .50 per hour you plan to stay, then you scratch off the ticket the year, month, date, and time you arrived-like a lottery ticket. I paid for three hours, but only stayed for 2 1/2 hours, since it got windier and windier. I went intot the water when I arrived sans "lovely" beach shoes, as it is nice sand-not black like Ostia had been-or rough like Nice. Looking out at the water, it really was like a greenish blue. There weren't many people left on the beach when I left!
I found a Larsson paperbook (about Lisbeth Salander), whose title I cannot remember, and that kept me entertained until after midnight.

Today....up early to iron and come here...will go to Sassari to see what can find there! I'll see Luisella and Piero on Sunday before they leave for 02493.
Well, I just tried to download some pictures with no luck. IF Luisella does bring her computer tomorrow, maybe I'll have luck then. CIAO!:))