Windy Day in Cagliari Doesn’t Refresh Memory of 2011 Visit

Day 30, 2024 Ultimate Mediterranean

Sunday, Dec. 8, 2024; Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy.

I visited Cagliari on the Italian island of Sardinia in 2011 and can’t remember a thing about it. Mom and I were on a Mediterranean cruise with a similar itinerary to this one, and most of our port calls were memorable. Perhaps it was because Cagliari came near the end of the cruise, just after Sicily. I wasn’t blogging at the time and thus have nothing to refresh my memory.

So today I treated this as a new port and joined a five-hour Holland America excursion billed as a Taste of Sardinia. Now when I think of taste, I think of food, and somehow I expected a walking food tour. It wasn’t that, but it was an interesting overview of an old and fascinating city.

December has definitely arrived, and today delivered strong winds. The captain used all the dock lines to keep us in place on the pier and dropped an anchor as a backup. I bundled up in layers – silk undershirt, knit shirt, fleece jacket and all-weather coat, with a knit headband and gloves. As the weather front moved through, we didn’t get the forecasted rain.

We started at the top of the steep hill overlooking the city – thanks to the help of our bus that dropped us off – and slowly worked our way down. Along the way we saw damage still remaining from World War II bombing, a palace, lots of doors (I would call them gates) into the walled city and the cathedral, where parishioners were gathering for Sunday mass.

We passed great views and twisting narrow streets. Our guide had to repeatedly remind us to stay in a single file in order to allow cars to pass us by.

The final stretch was along a pedestrian shopping street, but we had no time to browse. Our bus awaited us for the second part of the tour – a drive through town, past a long sandy beach, salt flats and hundreds of flamingos in Molentargius Lagoon.

Our goal was billed as a farming community where we would meet Mr. Vincenzo, the owner of Casa Atzeri. I don’t recall meeting him, but perhaps overlooked it when the 150 of us – on five different buses — piled into the open courtyard to squeeze around long tables. We certainly had a great taste of Sardinia – as much wine as we wanted along with antipasti of salami, cheeses, olives and breads, finishing with sweet cookies. While we ate, a folkloric troupe in traditional costumes sang and danced.

The storm system causing the heavy winds isn’t going to abate tonight. In fact, the captain, in consultation with seemingly everyone from the weather gods, his bosses at corporate headquarters and perhaps the pope, decided to wait until midnight to leave Cagliari. Leaving earlier, he said we would encounter seas approaching 20 feet. As it was, they will be around 12 to 14 feet. I anticipate a rocking and rolling night, but should sleep well. We now will have nearly two days at sea, as our late departure will mean we won’t arrive in Gibraltar until 4 p.m. on Tuesday. Better safe – and comfortable – than sorry. By now we all should have our sea legs.