This morning, the first full day of our tour, we were picked up by a little road train which chugged and clattered us to the top of one of its seven steep hills - well the one we tackled was steep! Next morning, the first day of our tour, we were picked up by a little road train which chugged and clattered us to the top of one of its seven steep hills - well the one we tackled was steep! Led by a local historian guide, we had a stimulating tour of the National Archaeological Museum but there was simply not enough time to do it justice - this small island’s history dates back over 8000 years. When we finally emerged into the sunlight, we picked our way back down the hill on foot. Our first taste of ancient Cagliari was marvellous - we strolled through the old walled city which spills down the side of this steep bastion to an imposing cathedral and on to the Bastione di Saint Remy with its expansive views over the bays and distant mountains.
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| Giant stone men origins of which are unknown |
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| Cathedral of Santa Maria di Castello |
Inside opulence leapt off every wall and out of every grotto. The marble was magnificent
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| One of the gates to the old city |
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| Caper bushes cascaded down the city walls |
That evening we ventured back up the hill for dinner - from where we are staying if you don’t dine in (and we did that the first night) it’s either uphill then down or downhill then back up! We stopped at a little osteria for a scrumptious pizza topped with
Sfilacci di cavallo – shredded horse meat something we hadn’t tasted since being in Uzbekistan. Delicious! Horse meat is very popular in many parts of Italy including Sardinia. Here, horse meat is given to the young and people convalescing - it’s lean and high in iron and they believe it has health benefits. A bottle of Sardinian wine and a couple of glasses of grappa with sweet raviolini and we were very happy.
Tomorrow we head towards the mountains and more delicious food - suckling pig for dinner I believe.
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