SarCorsiParis? Mais oui! Grazie!
Welcome to the first of several special installments of
TourAlongWithTodd. If you’re a past
reader, you know my blog comes to life when I’m on a music tour. This time
around I invite you to join Natalie and me as we make our way around the
islands of Sardinia, Corsica and Paris.
Yes, I know Paris
is not technically an island, but it sure looks like one on a map!
I’m writing this first edition from our room at Domus Yenne
in the heart of Cagliari, Sardinia—the
capital of this Italian island and located way down south. So how did we get
here? Natalie is on a well earned sabbatical from her work at the Idaho
Conservation League and this trip has been planned as a part of her time off
for quite a while—10 days on Sardinia, 10 days on Corsica and 10 in Paris…plus some transit
days.
Getting to Cagliari
has been an odyssey of sorts. It started a week ago in Boise
by flying to Frankfurt and then to Marseille.
After a quick view of a modern art exhibit featuring works by Picasso, Andy
Warhol, and Magritte (Picasso who? Andy who?), we picked up our Peugeot 200
rental car and hopped on the overnight ferry to Ajaccio,
Corsica. No time to waste, we drove to
Bonifacio at the southern tip of the island and made another quick ferry hop to
Sardinia. Then, just to top it off, we drove
down the western coast of the island for a two-night stay in Alghero.
During the travel push, we used my guaranteed “no jet lag”
method of trans-oceanic travel by staying awake from 8:00 a.m. Tuesday in Boise
until 10:00 p.m. Wednesday in Marseille… a total of 30 hours. Thursday was
great! Our internal clocks were pretty much on local time. What we didn’t
anticipate was the generally sleepless night on the 12-hour ferry trip to Corsica. When the floor is more comfortable than the seat
paid for, you know it’s going to be a long night.
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| Natalie and the Peugeot 200 in queue at the Marseille Port |
What we’ve seen of Corsica from the car has been wonderful:
snow-capped peaks near Ajaccio,
super green mountains everywhere else and magnificent coastlines. We’ll be back
there next week.
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| There's snow on that mountain way back there! - Corsica |
For now, Sardinia has been
the island du jour. It’s super as well. Maybe not as lush or as mountainous as Corsica, but it’s still beautiful in spring. Our two-night
stay in Alghero was highlighted by scrambling down steep seaside cliffs, seeing
the ancient (5,000 BC) Nuraghe Palmavera dwellings and taking in the old city
on a clear Saturday night. As a note, the old city on a Saturday night is something
like a quaint European village invaded by hoards of crazed smartphone toting
teenagers. Quite frightening at times. Beer helped.
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| Saturday evening along the outer wall of the old city - Alghero, Sardinia |
Sunday morning and we’re off to Cagliari in pouring rain. It’s at this point
in our trip that we are reminded how road maps of Italy and Italian road signs are
like beer and tequila. They do not mix! Maps show roads that don’t exist and
road signs indicate points that pop in and out of existence as quickly as subatomic
particles. Even the latest downloaded maps are of questionable value at times.
Case in point: Yesterday we made it to the Roman ruins at Nora with just one or
two wrong turns. With a false sense of confidence, we decided to venture farther
along the southwestern coast. On one occasion, we followed road signs that took
us from the town’s piazza and delivered us back to the same piazza. They
apparently were sincere in their desire for us to stop and enjoy a café latté. On another occasion we followed the map to take
us to the island’s southernmost point where rumor has it one can see Tunisia on a
clear day. It was perfect until the road ended abruptly without warning at a barb-wired
military installation. Apparently the Italian military wants to be the first to
see the inevitable Tunisian invasion. At another southern point, the map showed
a major road, but we found ourselves along a two-track dirt path with huge
prickly pear cacti threatening to decorate our car’s finish in a way that
Europcar may not fully appreciate! And just to cap the day off, we drove into
the center of the small town of Iglesias.
That’s “center.” As in streets so narrow that we had to fold in our side
mirrors and at times Natalie had to get out of the car to guide me between a stone
wall on one side and parked cars on the other… maybe four inches to spare on
each side… tops. Oh Italy!
You’re so funny sometimes!
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| A building wall mural near the coast in southern Sardinia |
After a day like that, today was a day away from the car,
and a perfect one too. Cagliari’s
fun to walk around, but more on that, our visit with Federico (our Sardinian
exchange student from 2012) and the rest of this island later.
Ciao!
