Sardinia - Italy

It had been raining constantly when we left so our colleagues were all jealous we were escaping a cold wet London for the sun and sand of Sardinia.
We arrived at our hotel at 10pm – quite a bit later than expected due to 1 hr delay on the flight and a strike on Alghero airport buses which meant every man and his dog were queuing for a taxi.
So the first port of call was the nearby Ristorante/Pizzaria where we ordered a spaghetti bolgonese and pizza. Both of which were very tasty. The restaurant was full of Italians but somehow the waiter knew we weren’t local and spoke some English to us when we walked in. We managed to order by pointing at the names on the menu after consulting the Italian book for a few unknown items. When we got the bill we were somewhat confused as to what the cover charge was and whether we were supposed to tip so we tried to see what the couple at the other table were doing but they just ordered more drinks so weren’t leaving in any hurry. So we left a couple of euro and headed off to bed.
We started the next day with the traditional European breakfast of bread rolls, ham, cheese, yoghurt and cakes. We then headed off to Alghero city for some exploring. Our hotel was across the road from the beach and about 20 mins walk from the city. The city is steeped in culture and history and is surrounded by an old wall due to it’s defensive position in centuries gone by. The centurion strenfico (old town) was the most interesting. Full of narrow, cobbled streets it was just like you see on the movies – like Italian job. Laundry hung on lines between buildings and people would open their shutters and talk to their friends in the street below. We spent most of Saturday wondering through the maze of these cobbled streets and walking along the waterfront. The cars here are very small and a lot of people motor around on little scooters- which makes sense because trying to drive through the streets in a Ford would be impossible. The shops of the old town were mostly expensive designer stores, jewellery shops, restaurants and there was a gelato/creamier on every corner. I had a lemon gelato which was the best I’ve ever tasted and fortunately did not end in the same disastrous way as my Cornwall Ice Cream experience!
Being the end of summer there weren’t many tourists around so it felt like we got a taste of the true Italian culture. Although they do say that Sardinia has a culture all of it’s own. We saw a few weddings in progress where it became apparent that it is traditional for a convoy of wedding cars, guests included, to drive through the streets with horns blaring so that you can hear them from a mile off and think there is some sort of emergency going on.
Apart from the horns of wedding ceremonies, it was surprising how quiet the place was- though it probably bustles to overflowing in summer. There were alleyways in the old town where we were the only people and the only sound was distant hums of scooters. Adding to the sense of quiet was the fact that none of the shops or restaurants have music in them.
My impression of Italians was of ‘out-there’ quite bold, bolshy people but this didn’t seem to be the case. They are definitely very stylish people though, being all dressed up in heels and designer sunglasses just to walk through town. Even the parents pushing prams had style – so I was feeling a little inadequate in shorts and tshirt. They all take a great deal of pride in their appearance and are definitely good looking people.
We took a look around the new city but all the stores were closed so we headed back towards the beach. That night we headed back into the city to find a restaurant for dinner. Loving Italian food we were spoilt for choice but they were all pretty expensive. Warren chose a spaghetti restaurant where he ordered a seafood dish that came with shellfish in it and I ordered a tomato and basil spaghetti. Thinking that I had ordered something healthy from the menu I was somewhat disappointed to see it came doused in a sauce of olive oil.
Before dinner we had wondered the streets some more and were surprised to see that the shops that were previously closed were now open. It was 9pm and town was busier than during the day. I guess they also live by the Spanish siesta philosophy of closing over lunch time then reopening later on. It was quite strange to see families with little kids and babies out at 10 o clock.
After dinner we wondered through the streets some more and see what the night life offered, but just like during the day, it was quiet everywhere. Our 2 attempts to walk towards the noise led us to an ice cream store and a private party where couples were dancing the tango on a balcony. We came across the cuba st/garden place equivalent of Alghero where crowds of teenagers were just hanging around with all their scooters parked up on the side of the street. But they all seemed well behaved, none of them appeared drunk. In fact you didn’t really see any people drinking, at least not in the parks and beach like you don in the UK – and even when it got really hot, the Italian men still kept their shirts on, so the tourists became easy to spot.

Like Saturday, we started Sunday with ham and cheese rolls and 6 pieces of cake (no prizes for guessing who ate all the cake!) We had done all the exploring of the city yesterday so the only touristy thing to do was to catch a bus and visit the caves. But looking at the brochures, I was pretty satisfied that these caves didn’t look any better than what we had seen in Niue. The sun was shining so instead we opted for hanging out on the beach. Before leaving London I checked the Alghero weather forecast which said overcast and a high of 24. Trying to pack lightly, I was now regretting the decision not to pack any shorts, skirts or togs. This was the hottest 24 degrees I had ever experienced! I tried to buy some shorts but most of the shops were shut and those that were open were only selling winter clothes. We went to the beach anyway and lucky for me there was a guy selling handbags and things on the beachfront. He didn’t speak much English but when I got the point across that I wanted a pair of shorts I was not too impressed when he looked me over then handed me a size extra large! We barted with another street vendor for a beach towel then headed for the soft white sand. It was so nice just to relax in the sun and sand, I can’t even remember the last time we had done that… probably in Gisborne in January. Warren went for a quick dip in the water then after drying off we walked back to the city for some dinner.
I went to some pizzeria and ordered a folded pizza thing with tomato sauce and cheese by pointing at it and holding up 2 fingers. That was very tasty but I was still a bit hungry so we went to another pizzeria where the guy obviously saw us coming as he charged us more for 2 slices of take-out pizza than what we paid for a whole pizza at the dine-in restarant on Friday night. It was very tasty but like a lot of the food, it was doused in olive oil. So as we sat outside munching on our pizza it was with some surprise that we watched another couple come out of the pizzeria with a bottle of olive oil and pour more of it over the top of their pizza. And yet you didn’t see very many fat Italians.
On the plane, I had flicked through the Italian phrasebook and had 2 opportunities to recite my memorised phrase ‘No parlo Italiano (I don’t speak Italian). I also said ‘gracie’ as I think it’s good manners to try and at least attempt to communicate in the language of the country but Warren thought my Italian attempts were quite humorous and he stuck purely to English which most people spoke anyway.
To end our perfect day there was a beautiful orange sunset over the marina. But travelling isn’t all smooth sailing as we had another delayed Ryan air flight home which meant tubes weren’t running so we were traipsing around the streets of London with suitcases in tow searching for night buses. Needless to say that Monday was a long day.