We’re back on time for our stop in Cagliari, Sardinia. (For those who don’t know, it’s a city on the southern tip of the Italian island of Sardinia.) We don’t have an excursion planned so we figured we’d leave the boat a little after the groups do, to avoid the crowd. As we were getting dressed, I turned to button my pants (side button) and pulled a muscle in my back. I couldn’t move. I wasn’t happy. Bill managed to get me to the couch to sit down then he announced that I’d probably not be moving much from that spot for a good three days. No way. I did not come on this cruise to sit on this couch. It’s bad enough that we’re asleep by 11 and napping in the afternoon to boot! He brought me some Tylenol and after a few minutes I said we were going to breakfast. I figured the dining room wouldn’t be crowded and the hard chairs there would be better than the couch. Plus I needed some coffee. By the time I finished my eggs my back felt ok enough to leave the boat. Unless I couldn’t walk, I was not going to tell Bill it still hurt.
When we got off the boat there was a shuttle bus to take us to the edge of town. When we got off that, there was a guy handing out fliers about an open-air bus tour of the city… including a drive past the flocks of flamingos that live nearby. We found the bus, got on, and we were off. It was a little cold and poor Kaitlyn huddled in the corner trying to snuggle against me. She listened to the guide on the earphones and occasionally commented. flamingos! So I knew she was awake and paying attention. It was the perfect little tour of the city, which isn’t really that big. We saw the few monuments, we saw the flamingos (there weren’t tons of them, but it’s still neat to see a bird like that living in the wild. And, no, none tried to take anyone’s ice cream.), we saw the shopping district.
After the tour we wandered around a little bit. The stores were crazy expensive. I saw a lovely pair of flip flops for 300 Euros. 300! The loafers I liked were twice that. We didn’t even go past the windows of the stores. We climbed some stairs, then went back down and wandered toward lunch. I’d brought a small guidebook with me and we walked toward the street where its recommended restaurants all are. We found the restaurants but they were all fancy, over priced not what we were looking for places. So we wandered more, heading down tiny side roads, until we found a place that touted spaghetti and pizza. Perfect. We went in and no one else was in there. It was just noon, so we were a little early I think. The people running it had to have been a family. They didn’t speak English. They kept the Italian farm report on the tv. And that was the best meal! And inexpensive, too. I made Bill take a picture of the outside. I’d have asked for a menu to keep as a souvenir if I thought I could have explained it to them. (I keep menus from my favorite restaurants.)
Back on the boat we, naturally, laid down. Bill had a horrible allergy attack and needed to rest. Kaitlyn was, naturally, tired. I read a little bit before dozing off.
At dinner, Kaitlyn scarfed down her meal again so she could dash to Kids Club. After Bill and I finished at a more leisurely pace, we headed to the casino. I guess because you’re trapped there they figure they don’t need to pay out even as much as the casinos in Vegas or Atlantic City. It isn’t as much fun when you don’t even win a little bit. We managed to stretch our playing money for about an hour before we’d had enough of that.
When we picked Kaitlyn up she was wearing a medal. She’d won second place in a hula hoop contest. I didn’t even know she could hula hoop. You learn something new every day.
Bobby would have found consignment in Sardinia and those shoes would have been 10% the cost.