John Edward Cooper’s Notes
Saturday 23 July 2016
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[2016] [Friday 22 July 2016] Sardinia Le Palme Hotel & Resort, Porto Cervo, Sardinia “Green Train” from Arzachena to Tempio Pausania We got up ca.7.15am. Janet recalls that we had “breakfast. It had rained earlier, and although it was quite breezy it wasn’t cold. However, we ate indoors.” When the weather was inclement, the tables would be brought inside from under the porticoed part of the terrace to the room adjacent to the buffet. Back in the room, I took a couple of photos from the “Juliet balcony” (which was towards the far left corner as you faced the main balcony at the far end of the room).  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 08:44:12 View from the “Juliet balcony” in our hotel room  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 08:45:12 View from the “Juliet balcony” in our hotel room We went down to reception just before 9.15am, and were met by a young woman, Silvia, who led us to a minibus. There were just the three of us in the party. There were a couple of heavy rain showers en route. She drove us 11–12 miles or so to Arzachena railway station, perhaps ½-mile to the west of the town itself. We wanted to pay her up front, not afterwards; so that’s what we did, and she gave us a receipt for €80.00. (It was €50 apiece, less the €20 deposit we paid yesterday evening.)  She also gave us an A4-size sheet, which was the ticket for the train, and two tickets for the bus back.   She wrote on my notes “Davanti Scuola Elementare”; there were two stops in Arzachena, and this was the one where she’d be waiting for us at “16:50”.  “Davanti Scuola Elementare” Before Janet and I waited on the platform for the train, Silvia obtained the key and unlocked the door to the “donne” in the little outhouse beyond the station-house, and I decided also to visit the “uomini” at the far end of the same.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 09:37:12 Railway station house of the Green Train, Arzachena  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 09:37:12 (re-edit) Detail of the side wall: ”Museum-Laboratory of the Nuragic era” By now it was bright, sunny, and warm. Looking at the track, I wondered “Is it metre-gauge or a yard?” (Later, back home, I found in the Italian Wikipedia article about it, that it’s in fact 950mm, so 1 3/8 inches more than a yard. The Circumvesuviana, which we travelled on from Sorrento is also 950mm.) My considering that it might be “a yard” in a country using metric units would have been unthinkable, had I not already travelled on the Ferrocarril de Sóller in Mallorca and the Ferrocarril Santa Ana to Aguas Calientes in Perú, both of which are 3ft gauge. “9.50am” my notes said, but it was just after 10am when the two-coach train, pulled by a double-ended diesel locomotive, approached. And it waited at the station for several minutes. Janet thought it was like a “Wild West train”. The interior was constructed of wooden planks, with seats of wooden slats. Although Janet is largely recovered from sciatica, she nevertheless said that she was pleased the journey back was by bus, because she wouldn’t have been able to stand another journey on those seats. There were only about half a dozen of us riding in the second carriage. One was a rather strange man about fifty years old. Indeed, before we reached our destination, he changed out of his long trousers into light-coloured stripy breeches while in his seat. Janet missed that, because she was seated opposite me, facing me. And as we approached Tempio station he stood at the window rattling a tambourine. I saw him later in one of the streets of the old city, busking. It was the tambourine that had gained my notice, not his guitar-case. There was also a thirty-something woman travelling with a young boy and a somewhat older girl.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:02:02 Arrival of the Green Train at Arzachena station  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:04:14 Green Train carriage  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:05:08 Waiting to depart from Arzachena railway station The door marked “Donne” is visible in the outhouse.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:22:00 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: vineyard  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:24:26 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:28:30 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:30:32 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: craggy mountains, typical of what we’d seen of Sardinia  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:32:54 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania On our right, we passed a large lake, called “reservoir” in my photo-captions, for at its outlet I saw that it was dammed. (Indeed, Wikipedia states that “Lake Liscia… is an artificial lake… With a capacity of 105 million cubic metres of water, it is the principal reservoir in north eastern Sardinia.” There was a little boat crossing it.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:39:20 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: reservoir  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:41:46 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: reservoir  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:41:52 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: reservoir Two creeks met together to our left then joined the lake to our right. Here the railway curved in an arc rightwards over a concrete viaduct. And here the guard passed along the train, pointing to the left. I heard him say “vecchia” and “traccia” among other words which I didn’t understand, which I took to mean “old track”; and indeed there were two stone viaducts, one over each creek, to the left.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:46:46 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: crossing a new bridge At the far end of the viaduct, the train stopped for “cinque minuti”, for people to get off and take photos.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:48:24 Photo stop: the new bridge Despite the sign “PERICOLO” at the end of the viaduct, I walked onto it along the track to get a view of the old viaducts. I figured that the sign was to warn walkers of danger, who came across it in the absence of a train; a train could hardly be expected to come when there was one already there!  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:49:52 Photo stop: part of the old track seen from the new bridge  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:50:00 Photo stop: another part of the old track seen from the new bridge  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:50:44 Photo stop: the Green Train  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:51:32 Photo stop: the reservoir  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:52:34 Photo stop: carriages of the Green Train  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:52:52 Photo stop: locomotive of the Green Train Nevertheless, I thought this photo of the little boy skipping along the line and the girl balancing on it behind the “PERICOLO” sign was quite evocative.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 10:56:48 Photo stop: “Danger”  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:04:30 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:10:38 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: another typically craggy landscape  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:13:24 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: another typically craggy landscape  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:17:54 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: another typically craggy landscape The guard passed along the train again, this time pointing to the right. I couldn’t understand a word, though. There was a rock formation, and the topmost rock had masonry covering a hollow in it.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:19:48 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: rock formation pointed out by the train guard  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:19:48 (detail) Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: rock formation pointed out by the train guard  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:37:02 Views from the Green Train en route to Tempio Pausania: another typically craggy landscape We passed an industrial estate, and in a factory yard I saw standing together many semi-cylinders of cork-bark. In fact, I think I saw this more than once, but failed to get a photo both times. My notes said “11:30 Tempio”, but it was nearly midday before our leisurely meander along valley-sides and two or three tunnels and broader dales ended at Tempio Pausania railway station.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 11:59:00 Tempio Pausania railway station  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:00:12 Tempio Pausania railway station: old steam locomotives, almost rusted away  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:00:12 (detail) Tempio Pausania railway station: old steam locomotives, almost rusted away  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:00:28 Tempio Pausania railway station Silvia had told us to “go through the park” to get to the town centre, but I could see no obvious park immediately on our arrival; so leaving the station by way of its drive I led us to the right along a main road going uphill. This did lead to a long grove of trees with a sign, “Parco delle Rimembranze”, and with a walkway through it. Was this “the park” she’d referred to? It was hot in the bright sunshine, so the shade was refreshing.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:05:56 Tempio Pausania: Parco delle Rimembranze First order of business was to get a drink, but just across the road to the left at the end of the park was a bar called “Central Park”. Janet had two Coca Cola Light and I a small Ichnusa beer on tap.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:17:36 Tempio Pausania: Central Park bar, Corso Matteotti, 52 I made the mistake of leading us in the direction in which we had been walking. These historic towns tend to be built on the tops of hills, but I was leading us downwards. So we asked someone for directions. I said, “Centro storico”, so I must have seen that on a sign earlier. The man pointed us back the way we’d come. At the corner where the “Central Park” bar was situated, we turned right — somewhere along there I saw our strange fellow passenger busking — then at the end of that street (Corso Giacomo Matteotti) we turned right again (Via Roma).  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:34:36 Tempio Pausania: Via Roma We were looking for a suitable place for me to have lunch. Nothing came to view on Via Roma, so we turned back and went in the first bar/café we came to in Corso Matteotti: “Living Club”. This had Erdinger weissbier on tap, so I had one, and Janet had a Coca Cola Light. In the glass display case were panini, so I had one, quite sizeable and therefore suitably filling, cheese and thick ham, served hot.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 12:42:26 Tempio Pausania: Living Club, Corso Matteotti, 11 Then we resumed our walk along Via Roma, stopping to look at the façade of the Cathedral, disappointed that it was closed to visitors.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:11:34 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:11:44 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:12:06 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:12:50 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:12:50 (detail) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce We continued along Via Roma, till we came to a piazza. There, Janet noticed a small supermarket, so we went in and bought two large bottles of water.  We turned left at the piazza (along Via Nicolò Ferracciu), where we found an ATM and withdrew €350, then left again to go along a back alley (Via Parrocchia), which brought us back to the Cathedral.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:24:34 Tempio Pausania: Municipal Building in Piazza Gallura  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:24:34 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Municipal Building in Piazza Gallura  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:31:04 Tempio Pausania: Via Parrocchia  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:31:04 (detail) Tempio Pausania: Via Parrocchia — small balcony with wrought-iron balustrade  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:31:34 Tempio Pausania: steps and arch leading to the Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:02 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:02 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:14 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — one of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:14 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — one of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:20 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — another of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:20 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — another of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:32 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — and another of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:32 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — and another of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:46 Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — and still another of four mosaics  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:33:46 (re-edited) Tempio Pausania: Cathedral of St. Peter and Oratory of Santa Croce — and still another of four mosaics Then we made our way back. Outside the door of one establishment, one on each side, were leaning pieces of cork-bark, one clearly, as removed from the tree, in the form of a semi-cylinder such as I’d seen earlier.  Saturday 23 July 2016 — 13:35:16 Tempio Pausania: doorway, with cuttings of evergreen oak bark either side We’d already seen the flag of Sardinia, a St. George’s cross with a Moor’s head in each quarter. We’d been told that originally they had been blindfolded, but the modern flag had them not blindfolded but with the forehead bandaged. However, back home, I found that Wikipedia had it the other way round:
A hearing-aid shop that we passed had an interesting take on the flag! |
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