That’s it, Pandora is on the hard for the summer, we are in Rome waiting for our next flight that will take us to JFK and home. It’s going to be a long day and with seven hours between our arrival from Sardinia and departure for JFK, lots of time to just hang out and finish this post. Airports are bad enough when you are pressed to catch a connection but this… Well, lots of time, no rush. I’d rather rush…
The day before we departed Bosa we had lunch at a particularly charming spot on the river. The “kitchen” was actually a sort of food truck and the food was terrific pasta. What a spot.
The view down the river, fabulous.
So, to get the most out of our last day in Sardinia, we decided to book a room in the historic area of Alghero, near the airport for our flight to Rome, and took a one hour bus ride north. We booked in a very charming neighborhood but I will admit that lugging our heavy “boat stuff” loaded bags over the very uneven cobble stone streets was a challenge. I actually had to finally give up lugging the 50lb bags, two at a time so did a sort of relay with Brenda. It took a while but we survived. A taxi wasn’t practical as the roads are too narrow.
When the streets were paved with river stones hundreds (thousands?) of years ago I doubt that they anticipated wheelie bags with tiny wheels. It was a very long 10 minute walk. Besides, there is no way that a taxi could get close to the place as the “roads” were built for narrow donkey drawn carts, not cars.
But we made it. Brenda at the front door. The room was very modern in every way. After all the back and forth over rough cobbles, I was very sweaty, Brenda just a slight glow.
And speaking of doors. Well, at least Brenda in front of doors. How about a door that matches her outfit?
We thought that a day Alghero, yet another historic city would be a fun way to end our first visit to the Med and it was. We had a lovely lunch overlooking the city marina, huge with space for over 800 boats. The restaurant was on top of the fortress wall that secured the city from attack. And, of course, there was a reproduction of a trebuchet. What Medieval fort would be complete without one?
Back in the day these weapons were designed to repel invaders, now they are to attract cruise ship tourists. If you look closely, there is a cruise ship anchored in the line of fire.
We did a bit of shopping, or should I say Brenda did a bit of shopping. We also visited a weaving shop and it was fun to watch Brenda talk to the weaver. He has been weaving for 18 years, Brenda 50.
And, of course wine to celebrate the last day.
The idea of heading to yet Alghero was to cap the trip off in the best way that we could and yet by pure coincidence it turned out to be even better.
We stumbled on a wedding taking place in a historic church and so enjoyed watching the festivities.
The church was just around the corner from our room and earlier in the day we had seen a massive amount of flowers being delivered and set up on the church steps. And, as luck would have it, we found our way back just as the wedding was finishing up with everyone congregating outside the church, waiting for the bride and groom to make an appearance.
First the flower girls came running out. So cute.
There was quite a crowd of family, friends and a bunch of “hangers on”, like us, crowding the street. It was very festive.
Then, after a while, a long while actually, out came the happy couple.
Eventually, after lots of hugs and photos, they found their way into the back of an old VW Beetle, The bride had to work hard to squeeze herself and her dress into the back seat.
Watching a wedding in such an amazing place was great but by pure accident, later that evening there happened to be a choral concert in the very same church and we went in. We had great seats and stayed for the entire performance. Brenda, a long time lover of choral music was particularly entranced by the experience having been in a semi-professional choir for many years when we lived in New Jersey.
Having that “Brenda perfect” experience to cap off our first two months in the Med seemed like a good omen for things to come. I could not imagine a better way to finish off our time aboard Pandora.
But here we are in Rome waiting for our flight that will take us winging across the Atlantic. I will admit that after all of the “technical” issues that we faced, too numerous to mention, since arriving in Almerimar in late March, that I am ready to turn over some of the most vexing repairs to the yard here in Bosa and just head home.
Following the long delays and so many breakages it was nice to end things literally on a “high note” at a wonderful concert and we look forward to the next chapter with Pandora when we return to Sardinia in September.
As we look back on our time since arriving in Almerimar in late March, we have covered a lot of ground. The red line is our path since then. Pandora is now on the hard where the blue dot is. The blue line is what we plan to do once we return in September for “leg two” as we continue to work our way toward Sicily where Pandora will stay for the winter. Our stop in Tunis, outside of the EU, will be to reset the clock to avoid paying the 21% VAT on the value of Pandora, a substantial cost.
Our goal, over the next few seasons, will be to head to Greece and Croatia where we have heard that there are so many places to explore. Hopefully the unrest in the Middle East won’t spread any farther west by the time we get closer. Fingers crossed.
So, that’s it. On our way home on a high note. Perfect.
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