Oct 14.2009 - Sardegna, Italy

SS : Fabio has another full day planned for Donna and me before we depart his beloved Sardinia. We’re all packed and off and running before 10am to see some of the most gorgeous coastline in the world. Aqua blue waters meet the coastal desert hills and stunning vegetation. This island has everything it needs to sustain itself… It really is paradise. I imagine coming back in the warmer months and bonding with a scooter for a week or two!

We ended up concluding the day with a visit to Barumini “Su Nuraxi” an amazing zona archeologica, where we literally entered and climbed around in a castle structure dating back some 5,000 years! Fabio has been coming to this site his entire life and as he leapt about inside the steep steps and caverns, it was obvious that he knew his way around. What an amazing opportunity to see such a world wonder with such an experienced guide! For information on Su Nuraxi, visit comune.barumini.ca.it

And now, it’s time to make a mad dash to the Port where we are going to catch the anti-Dream for a 16-hour cruise to Civitavecchia… and what a fun boarding it is as we lugged our own luggage up a steep ramp and toppled over it on the “escalator” (as you’ll recall from the Ryanair ranting, it’s HEAVY). The Italian ship workers looked on in amusement and maybe even a little amazement. We’re not just pretty girls…
Look, it’s a scuzz bucket… but at least the BUNK beds are clean and we’re avoiding another Ryanair flight, overage fees and excessive costs associated with traveling to the Roman Empire where Euros are demanded as much as conquest was back in their day.

Tomorrow we DREAM… Ciao!

Sad Note: We heard from Loris this morning, Ugo has passed… Donna and I were honored to meet you Ugo, you were graceful and giving to the end!

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DKP : Driving with Fabio is a lesson in gravity... it's all relative in how fast you hit the bumps and curves of the Sardegnian Coastline. Caribbean blue waters kiss cool sand beaches at every turn. Sardegna is a European vacationer's dream. Private cove beaches, beauganvilla and juniper along the roadside with Baja-style cactus peppering the rocky hillsides that ascend straight up from the always inviting Mediterrannean. If not for TIME and the lack of it, one of those beaches would have suited our tired minds just fine this, our 5th day let loose in the world.

It continually amazes us how much of California we see in the Med or the other way around... it's all relative. Due to a new hotel, a new pillow and the insistence of jet lag to screw up my sleep patterns, I am in a derlious warm haze this fine morning. Fabio's constantly swerving back seat suits me just fine as he proudly shows us his home.

Bright and smiling colors paint the houses tucked into the hillsides... it leaves you imagining what those folks feel every morning when they wake up and look out from their perch above the teal blue sea... hmmm?? The thrill ride continues through lighthouse points, old ruins of fortified pirate lookouts points which lead Fabio to tell us the history of Sardegna... a people that were not always "Italian." This is a history I never may have learned had we not come to meet Fabio.

We toured a recent Archeological discovery (1980s) of a massive fortified walled village and castle, all built around a well - yes, a simple water source. We learned that the structure was built by the native Sardegnians sometime around 1500 AD. Fabio interpreted for us but I was surprised at how much I could already understand having been immersed only 4 days so far in Italy.

I love languages and have been learning a couple lately... it seems to work a different part of the brain than the part that designs or manages a business. It actually relaxes and fascinates me how languages borrow from each other especially on the borders - a gradation of ideas in a way.

So tomorrow we begin to gradate our way through Europe on the Carnival's brand new ship. We decided to skip the 3rd leg of the Ryan Air "Circus of Torture", especially since our new score of the entire Pala Wine catalog would cost us a cool 600 Euro to take across :-). So tonight I write this blog from a rusty old ferry, called Terrania, that appears not to have ever seen the likes of a cleaning service in it's entire 29 years.

We could have opted to rent a deck chair for the entire 16 hr journey (not kidding) but instead went with the "deluxe" outside Cabin (I am laughing myself silly as I write this). Thank goodness we have the cabin because we have stolen the bedsheets from two of our four berths to drape over the chairs where we sit... because even my travel stained jeans don't deserve to come into contact with what is lurking in the fabric of this chair - LOL!

Sandy managed to find dinner at a market by the Pier for 6 Euro and now we can relax and blog and sleep for the 16 hrs instead of running for our lives from the airport to Rome to Civitavecchia.

So thanks anyway Jackie for the transport option, but I guess we'll pull up beside our new ride at 10:30 am tomorrow. Oh, if our crew friends, in their Carnival Comfort Beds, could see us skulking our way off the back of this rust bucket as they peer down at our poor road weary souls from atop Carnival's new floating skyscraper - The Dream... and lord, PLEASE let it be just that.

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PS - Loris called us this afternoon to tell us that the end had come for his buddy Ugo. He passed on in his Poppa's arms peacefully. Our hearts are with Loris, Michelle, Gizmo and Maggie as they let go of little Ugo.