[2016]
[Monday 25 July 2016]
Sardinia
Le Palme Hotel & Resort, Porto Cervo, Sardinia
Alghero
Janet was weary when she got up ca.7.25am, because she’d had a long, sleepless night: not confident, therefore, of her ability to last a full day’s travelling! We had breakfast,
etc. We were down in the hotel lobby for 8.45am, as advised last night, but at 9 o’clock nobody had shown up. However, someone from reception gave us a message from Luca that the minibus was delayed in traffic. It was an hour after the scheduled time when it finally showed up. The driver was a young woman called Anna. There were six passengers already aboard: four in the back and two in the front. One of the two in the front needed to be there, she said, because of a problem with her knee; this was a woman about our age, Irish but living in London, Esther. I can’t remember which of them the other one was, but she got out and sat in the back, and I took her place between Esther and Anna in the front.
Janet sat with the others in the back. Our journey of nearly 120 miles to Alghero took us via San Pantaleo, where Anna pointed out the Granite Peaks of San Pantaleo, calling them “the Sardinian Dolomites”. I’d already seen the resemblance from afar previously. We went through Olbia. I think Esther was staying there. She didn’t seem to have a clear idea of where we were going, or of what our itinerary was. I’ve forgotten exactly, but I have the impression that she was disappointed that we weren’t going to be shopping in Olbia. Perhaps I’ve got that wrong. A little over halfway to Alghero we stopped for a refreshment and toilet break at a café/shop
(“Centro Ristoro Mesu e Rios,… Ozieri” on the till receipts). It was before entering that
Janet and I asked Anna about paying her, and she got her receipt book out.
Janet, having been sitting in the back, was by now acquainted with who her fellow passengers were, but it was at this stage that I found out. As well as Esther there were: a Hungarian couple perhaps in their late 30s (it was they with whom
Janet sat); their two teen-aged daughters; and a Russian young woman called Irina. In the café
Janet had two Coca Cola Zero (€2.50 each) and I a caffè espresso (a mere €1!). The procedure was, as in similar such places in Italy that we’ve been to, to state at the till what one intended to buy and pay for it, then go to the counter and ask for what had been paid for.
Janet took two cans from the fridge, however, and sat down with them, while I went to the till, paid for them and for an
espresso (10:57). I then went to the counter and asked for my espresso. I drank it while standing there — thinking that doing this looked very Italian! — then asked for another one, which I drank there, going to the till afterwards to pay for it (11:05). I can’t remember at what point on the journey the knobbly, craggy granite landscape gave way to limestone. Anna pointed out the change of scenery, anyway. When we passed some hilltop wind turbines, Esther expressed her dislike of them. She asked my opinion, and I said that on the contrary I loved them. I thought they were elegant; and because they supplied essential energy needs without harm to resources or environment, I opined that there ought to be more of them. On the subject of energy, we passed many examples of electricity sub-stations looking like antique towers, like the one at the top of the hill opposite
Hotel Le Palme. And on the subject of what Esther disliked, she didn’t like washing hanging from apartment balconies either. For part of the journey we passed through a broad valley, where wheat grew in soil fertile from old volcanic activity. Anna’s information, that in the days of the Roman Empire Sardinian wheat helped to supply the near-insatiable needs of Rome, was a familiar notion from what we’d been told in Morocco, and what I’d seen about north Africa generally on a TV archaeology programme. To the right in that valley was a long ridge, which made me think of the Þingvellir rift valley in Iceland. Anna’s commentary en route was all in English, because that was the language that she as a Sardinian, the four Hungarians, one Russian and we two Brits mutually understood. At one point she used the word “camion”, so a bit later I told her that:
“camion”[i] wouldn’t be generally understood in English; that the British English word was “lorry”, and the American English “truck”; and that “truck” would be understood by all speakers of English, British or American. When we passed fields with “sheeps” in
them[ii] Esther wanted me to correct that too, but I was more interested in intelligibility than inerrancy. We also passed many cork oak trees with stripped trunks, done about a month ago and coloured mid-brown. Our route skirted by Sassari, Anna’s home town. Alghero, Anna told us, is very much Catalan-influenced. When we arrived there, we passed bastions and towers near the harbour, and were dropped off by an old tower (known in Italian as Torre di
Sulis[iii] and in Catalan as Torre de l'Esperó Reial) in front of the sea at the south of the “centro storico” — with free time to get some lunch and do some shopping. The latter had no appeal for us. We went off in search of the former. It was just before 12.30pm, and we were to meet back at the same location at 2.15pm. We crossed the wide street, Bastioni Cristoforo Colombo, just by the tower and went more or less northwards along the narrow street or streets before us. After a couple of hundred yards or so, we came to a square, where there were tables under umbrellas, and decided that this was as good a place as any. I had a “Pizza Diavola” and two glasses of local red wine
Cagnulari Cherchi. “Cagnulari”, I have since found, is an indigenous variety of grape; “Cherchi” is the winery of Giovanni Cherchi, just south of
Sassari. Janet had a Coca Cola Light. I finished with a caffè
americano.
- [i] I have since found in New Shorter Oxford English
Dictionary that there is an English word camion (“a large dray; a lorry; a bus.”
[ii] Were they the first sheep we’d seen?
[iii] Named after Vincenzo Sulis, a patriot of Cagliari, who was charged with conspiracy in 1799 and imprisoned there, remaining there for twenty-one years till he was pardoned by Carlo Felice, the King of Sardinia from 1821 to 1831.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 13:09:22
Alghero: lunch at a restaurant in Piazza Sventramento
Across the square on the street contiguous to it was a souvenir shop, so we went in there, looking for a little memento to go on our cabinet at the top of the stairs. We chose a little cup with a blindfolded-Moors-facing-left Sardinian flag on it. We’d been led to believe that the original form of the flag was with Moors blindfolded not head-bandaged. “I couldn’t resist buying a rather beautiful gemstone,”
Janet’s journal adds. “Pretty, and tactile.”
Souvenir bought at a shop in Via Carlo Alberto
We made our way back, though not directly, for the façade of the Chiesa San Michele, with its very distinctive polychrome tiled dome, is to the south of where we had lunch on the street where we bought the souvenir, but on the photo below it is shown as we approach from the west.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 13:45:18
Alghero: Chiesa San Michele seen from Via Misericordia
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 13:45:56
Alghero: Chiesa San Michele seen from Piazza Ginnasio
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 13:46:50
Alghero: Graffiti in Piazza Ginnasio
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 13:49:16
Alghero: Torre di Sulis/Torre de l'Esperó Reial, across Bastioni Cristoforo Colombo
We got back to Bastioni Cristoforo Colombo, ca.1.50pm, and from the row of bars and restaurants lining the street and square we chose
Chez Michel in Piazza Sulis opposite the tower, for its provision of a loo as well as for refreshments.
Janet had a couple of Coca Cola Zero; I had a caffè espresso. When I went to the counter to pay, I asked if they had grappa and had a glass of an island-produced one. The till receipt (14:11) had four items: “€1,00”, which I assume to be the
espresso; 2 x “€3,00”, which I assume to be Coca Cola; and “€1,50”, which I assume to be the grappa. So coloured water was twice as dear as alcoholic liquor!
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:00:12
Alghero: Chez Michel, Piazza Sulis
We got back to the rendezvous point at 2.15pm, but only Esther was there, sitting in the shade of one of the tall, leafy trees. (Had she been there the whole while?)
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:20:02
Alghero: view eastwards: (right:) part of the Christopher Columbus Bastions
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:20:20
Alghero: view southwards: Lungomare Dante
The others didn’t arrive till 2.30pm. We set off for a walking tour of the “centro storico”. Esther didn’t join us. Why did she come on this trip? She seemed completely unaware that this would happen. We went first to look at the façade of the Chiesa della Misericordia.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:37:00
Alghero: looking north from Via Misericordia along Via Principe Umberto, with the Cathedral at the end
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:39:16
Alghero: Chiesa della Misericordia on the opposite side of Via Misericordia to “14:37:00”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:39:16 (detail 1)
Anna, Janet, and the Hungarians
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:39:16 (detail 2)
Irina
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:39:16 (re-edited)
Alghero: Chiesa della Misericordia on the south side of Via Misericordia
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:39:32
Alghero: Chiesa della Misericordia on the south side of Via Misericordia: peak pediment above the door, and inscription below it:
“Hail Mary
“Mother of mercy
“pray for us”
Then we walked up the street opposite the church, Via Principe Umberto. We saw the Teatro Civico on the right of Via Principe Umberto, then just beyond that on the left, we stopped to look at the sixteenth century Gothic-Catalan style Palazzo
Machin.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:43:56
Alghero: Teatro Civico in Piazza del Teatro on the east side of Via Principe Umberto
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:44:18
Alghero: tourist train in Via Principe Umberto, passing Piazza del Teatro
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:45:40
Alghero: Palazzo Machin on the west side of Via Principe Umberto
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:45:52
Alghero: Palazzo Machin on the west side of Via Principe Umberto
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:47:08
Alghero: Palazzo Machin on the west side of Via Principe Umberto
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:47:34
Alghero: Palazzo Machin on the west side of Via Principe Umberto
At the end of Via Principe Umberto was the bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:48:28
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: original 16th century Gothic portal
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:48:36
Alghero: bell tower of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate
We turned left here into Via Roma, then first right. Just on the corner was a little church, the Greek Orthodox Chiesa Santa Barbara.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:52:14
Alghero: Chiesa Santa Barbara
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:52:14 (detail)
“Ecumenical Patriarchate
“Holy Orthodox Archdiocese of Italy and Malta
“Orthodox Church [of] St. Barbara”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:52:54
Alghero: Chiesa Santa Barbara: lunette above the door
We turned right into Piazza Duomo. On the corner was a well.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:54:32
Alghero: Piazza Duomo: well and (background) narthex of the Cathedral
Then we proceeded to the Cathedral, which was built, Anna told the party, over three separate periods, as illustrated by the 16th century Gothic portal we’d seen already, the late renaissance nave we were about to see, and the 19th century neo-classical narthex where they were standing. (“They”: I was some diatance away, taking a photograph.)
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:55:10
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:56:06
Alghero: 19th century neo-classical narthex of the Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:56:06 (detail)
Anna, Janet, and three of the Hungarians in the Cathedral doorway
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:57:38
Alghero: Entering the Cathedral
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:58:36
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate, looking forward: late renaissance nave
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 14:59:26
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate, looking behind: late renaissance nave
The stained glass window in the above photo is so bright, compared with the lighting in the rest of the image, that it appears saturated white. Zooming in on the window revealed the colours.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:00:02 (cropped)
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: stained glass window
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:00:02 (re-edited)
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: stained glass window
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:00:50
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: main altar
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:01:34
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: dome above the main altar
The appearance of the side chapels reminded me somewhat of churches seen in Catalonia (Barcelona) and in former Spanish New World territories. (Indeed,
Wikipedia says, “The church was originally in Catalan-Gothic style, as can be seen in the five chapels and ambulatory of the presbytery, which also includes the octagonal base of the bell tower.” But
Janet pointed out to me that there were also side chapels in St. John’s Co-Cathedral in Valetta.)
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:02:22
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: looking in one of the Catalan-Gothic chapels behind the main altar
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:02:22 (detail)
Our party
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:03:18
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: one of the Catalan-Gothic chapels
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:03:42
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate
I think this is the other side of the 16th century Gothic portal shown in “14:48:28”.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:06:22
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: one of the Catalan-Gothic chapels
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:06:32
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: one of the Catalan-Gothic chapels
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:07:42
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: late renaissance side chapel
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:08:08
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: another late renaissance side chapel
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:08:20
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: and another late renaissance side chapel
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:08:20 (re-edited)
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: and another late renaissance side chapel
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:10:40
Alghero: Cathedral of St. Mary the Immaculate: view from the east end of Piazza Duomo
We turned right when we left the Cathedral, then ca.100 yards farther along turned left, passing under an arch through the buildings. Anna had already pointed out places,
e.g. streets and squares, having two different names, one in Italian, one in Catalan —
DIFFERENT names, not just the same one in two languages — and this was one of them: “Porta a Mare” and “Port Salve”.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:13:36
Alghero: Porta a Mare
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:13:36 (detail)
The Hungarians
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:14:20
Alghero: “Port Salve”/“Porta a Mare”
On the other side of Porta a Mare, which was by the harbour, we turned right and walked to the corner of the Fort of the Maddalena.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:15:46
Alghero: the other side of “Port Salve”/“Porta a Mare” (in the pink building, centre)
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:15:52
Alghero: Fort of the Maddalena, with the round Tower of the Maddalena
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:16:36
Alghero: Tower of the Maddalena
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:18:04
Alghero: bastion of the Fort of the Maddalena, and (right) Tower of the Maddalena
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:18:14
Alghero: Fort of the Maddalena
Here Anna suggested that if anyone needed a toilet they should avail themselves of one. So
Janet and I crossed the road in front of us, Via Giuseppe Garibaldi, and went to the
Perbacco Café there. I had a caffè espresso and Janet used the loo. We all boarded the minibus. Where it was parked in the mean time, and where Esther was all the while, I’m not sure. Esther once or twice during the trip said she wanted to take me home with her; I was at a loss to reply, humorously or otherwise. We headed north along the coast road, which curved around the Bay of Alghero to the west. There was a lagoon, Stagno di Calich, to the right, and where it opened to the sea at a place called Fertilia we crossed it over a bridge. There Anna risked stopping to allow us out briefly, for stretching into the lagoon were the remains of a Roman bridge.
Janet was taken aback: “People were fishing off it. What a travesty!”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:52:46
Fertilia: Roman bridge
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 15:52:58
Fertilia: Roman bridge
We continued westwards, and the road took us across a peninsula between the Gulf of Alghero and the next bay Baia di Porto Conte. Here we turned right to go around the bay, and shortly after we did so Anna said that there were the remains of a Roman villa and of a nuraghe to the left. Unfortunately the whole area was covered with trees and I could see nothing. We continued around to the other side of the bay where there was a narrow headland (called “the peninsula of Capo
Caccia”[iv] on the roadside sign, shown below). We stopped at a viewpoint where one could look out eastwards over the Baia di Porto Conte or westwards over the Mediterranean Sea. There was a rocky island, Isola Foradada, a few hundred yards out in that direction.
- [iv] Anna told us that it was so named — “caccia” means “hunting” — because of hunts that used to be organised by the nobility in boats around the cape.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:14:46
Sign beside the road
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:14:46 (re-edited)
Sign beside the road
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:14:46 (re-edited, detail 1)
“The Regional National Park of Porto Conte”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:14:46 (re-edited, detail 2)
“The peninsula of Capo Caccia”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:15:42
Panorama of views, north to east to south, of Baia di Porto Conte
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:15:52
Panorama of views, north to east to south, of Baia di Porto Conte
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:06
Panorama of views, north to east to south, of Baia di Porto Conte
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:16
Panorama of views, north to east to south, of Baia di Porto Conte
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:30
Panorama of views, north to east to south, of Baia di Porto Conte
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:44
Panorama of views, south to west to north, in the direction of the Mediterranean
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:50
Panorama of views, south to west to north, in the direction of the Mediterranean
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:16:58
Panorama of views, south to west to north, in the direction of the Mediterranean
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:17:06
Panorama of views, south to west to north, in the direction of the Mediterranean
I walked to the gap between the rocks to get a better view over the Mediterranean.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:18:40
View west-northwest towards Isola Foradada
I scrambled up the rocks to the cliff edge to get an even better view.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:21:42
Panorama of views over the Mediterranean
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:21:56
Panorama of views over the Mediterranean: Isola Foradada
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:22:30
Panorama of views over the Mediterranean
Then we went in the minibus ca.½-mile to as near the southern end of Capo Caccia as we were allowed. Entry to the high promontory on which stands a lighthouse, operated by the Italian Navy, was forbidden. Over to the right, as one faced that, were over 650 steps leading down to Neptune’s Grotto, but we didn’t have time to go down there.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:33:02
Steps down to Neptune’s Grotto
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:33:12
Steps down to Neptune’s Grotto
In the Snack Bar Grotte di Nettuno one had to buy a drink in order to use the loo. They wouldn’t accept a payment for anything other than a drink, either, so we bought a couple of bottles of water at €1.50 apiece (16:35 on the till receipt).
Bastardi! What’s more, the “donne” was out of order, so while I kept watch
Janet had to use the “uomini”, which was just a porcelain hole in the floor. “A hole!”
Janet wrote. “I’d not used one since China so was somewhat put out. They are not easy to use. Especially if you have sciatica! But if you need to go…!”
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:53:10
Capo Caccia and lighthouse
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 16:53:30
Capo Caccia Lighthouse
This was supposed to be a quick comfort stop, but Irina went down to see Neptune’s Grotto, and her consequent late boarding of the minibus delayed us for a quarter of an hour or more.
Tuesday 26 July 2016 — 17:02:40
View from the minibus: old watchtower overlooking Baia di Porto Conte
Our route at first took us back the way we’d come, for Anna pointed out again, to the right now, the site of the Roman villa and of the nuraghe. I thought I caught a glimpse of some stones among the trees, but nothing I could have said remotely resembled a “villa” or a “nuraghe”. Later we turned left, perhaps at Fertilia, and headed across country for 20-odd miles to the north coast. For the last 90-odd miles, from Porto Torres all the way to our destination, we went along the coast road. Anna pointed out features of the landscape: “granite” when we got to craggy, knobbly terrain, and “porphyry” where the outcrops had a pinkish hue. At the northernmost part of the drive she pointed out Corsica, just visible in the haze. The journey back was
ca. 125 miles in all and took some 3¾ hours. We dropped the Hungarians off at their hotel in or near Baja Sardinia, and Anna obtained permission for us to use the toilets there. “I was really pissed off by this time and ‘lost the plot’,”
Janet wrote. “I wept — couldn’t hold it in. I had the packing to cope with tomorrow and I had no sleep last night — and dinner would be very late.” This was privately, with only me, and only a brief episode. On balance, we both enjoyed the day. I sat in the back then, and was pleased that I’d been in the front for most of the trip because the visibility from the small windows was quite limited. Irina was next out, elsewhere in the environs of Baja Sardinia. Esther was continuing to Olbia. At
Hotel Le Palme there were hugs with Anna before she got back in the minibus.
Janet had done very well: after a long, sleepless night she’d doubted her ability to last a full day’s travelling, but she coped well; and what’s more, there was no travel sickness, to which she’s prone, and no symptoms of sciatica.… We still had time for dinner, but skipped the menu and just helped ourselves from the buffet. Transferred 70 photos from my camera to the
WD Elements HDD (21:58–22:00). Looked through them using Windows Photo Viewer and rotated 30 that needed it (22:02–22:09). We were both in bed
ca.10.20pm.
[Wednesday 27 July 2016]
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