Sardinia - the first few days

It’s hot and sunny here.

Still.

Sigh.

We have a nice little apartment just a few blocks from a prison in the small city of Alghero on the northwest coast of Sardinia. There are, strangley enough, at least two wines of the appelation Monica di Sardegna. (See attached picture of Le Monica di Canada.) All pefectly drinkable, I can report.

We’re taking Italian lessons three hours a day (9-noon) from a school called Centro Mediterraneo Pintadera. There are people from all over Europe (and us) learning Italian there. It’s a small school with just a few teachers, right in the old town of Alghero.

Then in the afternoon we maybe go shopping or go to the beach or do somework or find an internet café to do some writing and answer some emails.

There is a strong Spanish architectural influence (Catalan) in Alghero, as the Catalans used to run the place and controlled the neighbouring sea coast because of its importance to trade routes in the Mediterranean.

There is a fair size modern port for all the private boats and yachts right in downtown Alghero. I was going to say on the waterfront, but I guess that’s obvious.

There are many beautiful bays and a deeper port on the coast just outside Alghero. These are protected areas, so they are not commercialized. Just beautiful. Don’t ever let anyone tell you a park is bad for business. The people here do a great trade doing tours of ther protected areas by sailboat and yacht, and taking people out to learn scuba diving, wind-surfing, etc. And the beaches are busy, even during the week, with locals and with people from all over Europe.

In the first week of the Italian lessons, I took a sailboat tour with a fellow name Marco and six beautiful women, as well as my wife...(hah-hah). These were people from our Italian course. It was such a beautiful trip, with wine and food and swimming in the ocean. It was my birthday and I felt like the luckiest person alive.

There’s a great series of waterfront footpaths and bike trails that go along the length of the city, passing by the old Spanish fortification walls and towers. I posted some “tourist” shots we took so you can see what the town looks like during the evening “passagiata.”