Sardinia

The last entry was our daily diary for Sardinia.

We want to say something about it generally. First, it was very tranquil, green (though we have been told that it gets very dry and hot in summer) and covered in the most beautiful wildflowers. Second, the people are friendly, relaxed, positive and very proud of their 'molto bella' island.

An example of the first two - it is hard to get loaded bikes into the bike areas of trains because there is a 2-3 feet step up. We decided to catch the train for the last 40k into Cagliari to avoid the rush hour traffic. When it arrived we were dismayed to find we were at the wrong end of the train. The conductor came up and said, "Don't hurry, the train is not leaving immediately." The reason it was not leaving in a hurry however, was because it was waiting until the four cyclists had been courteously escorted to the right end, and their bikes hauled aboard and safely stowed! We had a pleasant chat to the conductor, a genial, well educated man who told us that he liked to practise English for his own sake, to "maintain contact". Gail asked him where he studied English, and he said in his rather elegant and precise accent: "I learned English from the songs of Bob Dylan". He helped us lift the bikes down as well, and we left him with a koala clinging to the lapel of his jacket. We need you to post us some more koalas Will!

As we've mentioned, the sheep and cows all wear bells around their necks, and in the country their melodious tinkling fills the air. When we free camped above the beautiful village of Busachi, we heard church bells toll the hour, and launch into special (9pm) "It's time to clean your teeth for bed," and (7am) "It's time to get up now", tunes.

There are almost no motor-bikes or vespas on the roads any more. Instead, small and tiny cars (and even tinier vans)are everywhere, nonchalantly squeezing down impossibly narrow cobbled lanes. The drivers on Sardegna's quiet and immaculately paved roads have been wonderful. They waited, tooted appreciatively as we climbed hills and gave us a wide, respectful berth.

Here and there we saw roadies off on their jaunts. Also met some cheery young cyclists from Rome. They were going back to the campground we had just left for "a party" and had a box of wine, a box of fish, and - wait for it - a BBQ strapped to the backs of their bikes!

Cagliari was a complete surprise. The city is in a river valley with imposing mountain ranges to the east and west. The old town in the port area was lively and cosmopolitan, with narrow winding streets, piazzas, both flash and homely shops and beautiful large buildings. The cathedral was lovely, with a soaring and exuberant interior. The old fortifications appeared and disappeared as we walked around. Some apartments merged with the castle walls.

We were staying in a little B&B in the heart of the port area where all the windows of the internal rooms looked across a light-well at each other, and the inhabitants of the rooms were visible unless curtains were drawn. After he had finished serving the breakfasts our friendly host walked us to the laundromat, then stepped us through the complicated electronic options board and got the machine working for us. We hung our washing as everyone else does, from the balcony (ours was on the second floor) where it flapped merrily in the breeze above the pot plants. We take our space, our privacy and our washing lines for granted in Australia!

We were sorry to leave Sardegna and this elegant and friendly city. We wondered how Sicilia was going to compare.

On a personal note:
We are expecting that this blog will be mainly accessed by friends and family, who are also able to leave us notes.
Nafisa, we see you are a member. Fantastic! I hope the post-card I sent has arrived and you are able to read this. I know some of the words will be a bit hard for you!
Special love to Mummy, Daddy, Aisha, Nasteha and Ilyas. We loved getting your voice message.

Thanks Jacob for getting Cecily and Helen on line. It was lovely to hear from you both. We're so glad everything is going well and you're enjoying the company of our lovely neighbours Helen. I sent you a postcard today in which I commented on how extremely well-behaved the dogs are here. Most of them are apartment dogs. On their walks they're used to being amongst crowds and other dogs and you rarely ever hear them bark. Thanks for giving Finn and naughty Charlie lots of love!

Love to our boys who are keeping the home fires burning, and those of you who log in to see how we're going. We've been writing this together!
Gail and Phil