Indiana Williamses and the lost Nuraghe

 -Carys- assuming centre stage

Today was a but of an earlier start, but still nice and chilled. A similar breakfast to yesterday, which I'm really enjoying, as it feels very holiday-like, not necessarily something I'd have at home most mornings. I read my book for a while, which I've also been really enjoying - I'd been hoping to whizz through multiple books but it hasn't quite gone like that so far, but maybe I'll get through them a bit quicker in the next few days. Then we got ready - I found the sun cream task a little less stressful today luckily, and headed out in the car. With it being black on the inside and outside, it is absolute roasting in there, but the air-con is brilliant thank goodness. We had some stops and starts, little walks looking about. In all honesty, even though I love a good explore, the heat was really getting to me - It is just so warm, and sunny! We all commented on the way we felt like we were in Australia or South Africa, from the weather to the landscapes, it felt quite reminiscent. It was really pretty out in the hill type areas, and was half expecting to see some snakes or lizards but none of that today. I did spot a lizard/gecko type creature the other day but it skittered off before I got a good look at it. I hope we see some other exotic (but not dangerous of course) wildlife before we leave. 

We had some food and drink in a little cafe but weren't all that hungry so brought half of our sandwiches each home. Then we did supermarket sweep round 2, and picked up lots of different stuff, to make dinner one night, and to have as snacks around the house. I was desperate for chocolate despite knowing it would melt immediately, but I had to disregard this issue for the sake of my taste buds. And it was worth it too. We came on back to the house, and relaxed in the sun for a few hours (I read more of book and tried out the sun loungers which were very good, making sure they were in the shade) I'd managed to burn quite a bit yesterday, so today was abut avoiding that. Hence when mum and dad decided to head down to the beach for a bit, I decided to stay here and read more. There will be more chances to go in the sea I'm sure. SO I held down the fort, and got a head start on the blog. I even managed to spot mum and dad from the balcony, though they couldn't see me. I took a few photos, and although ant-sized, they were very much visible from up here. 

The rest of the evening has been spent mostly reading still, with some snacky bits and profiteroles too - very tasty. Now just to decide whether to walk up the mountain visible from our balcony tomorrow - sounds like a bit of a nightmare to me, but we'll see. 

(Lloyd)

Set my alarm a little earlier for my run, but still like a Swedish sauna as I added a few extra yards to the run this morning, and a little more gradient on my return up the hill.

Some breakfast, water melon, some exquisite pear juice, bananas to ensure the fruit and hydration was well in hand, and to give us fortification for expected adventures ahead.

Took the car out, De Niro or Sardine,not sure what the final name will be, and decided for a trip back in time. Sardinia famous for the many different cultures and inhabitants it has had over the years, as a critical location in the Med, but the early settlers in the bronze age left their mark. Specifically via a number of stone monuments, hundreds of which can be found across the Island, known as the Nuraghe.  Seemed a perfect moment to embrace the inner Indiana in us all, and the hat may have been waiting for this moment its whole life.

The nearest one to us only a few kilometres away, and apparently hard to find according to trip advisor, but we struck gold, up past the refuse site and into the wilds, we came across it very comfortably, and had a moment back in time.

We probably should have quit while we were ahead, but had a few others in our sights. First though wanted to check out the nearby capa ferrerro which is on the list to do a bit of hiking and climbing before the week is out. Think we have discovered an appropriate base camp/car park.

Our next Nuraghe was a few miles away, but it may as well have been galaxies. The Indiana myth fell quickly flat as we walked through the bush for a a number of kilometres but it turned out (later) we were in a very wrong bit of bush. And that's why Indiana was not seen using google maps.  We may look for 1-2 more before this is over, we needed to take our own trowels to unearth anything on our second look today.

Earned ourselves a smoothie and toastie in nearby pizzeria. Not the quality/price I would have expected, but the buzzing flies did add to the very Australian outback feel of the whole experience.  A supermarket next door allowed us to fill our boots with alternative sustenance. Very thirsty I must say. The tap water out here is apparently chlorinated and whilst we had a few water bottles for emergencies I think the odd sip was doing more harm than good.

Our next history lesson brought us to far closer times than the bronze age. The blog I have linked to below this had referenced a nearby prison no longer in use that cast a light back to late 19th century goings on in these parts. It was the centre piece of an almost deserted town called Castiadis, yet another place that had a western/outback feel,albeit with some slightly colonial decor and church.  We did not see a soul, the prison was derelict, with broken windows and chains across the gates. Chrissi remarked that the whole place had a very zombie apocalypse feel, there were a few parked cars around, but no people....

I think out work for the day was done, although as a postscript to the prison piece I later looked it up; it actually was set up as a bit of a rehabilitation centre for convicts to work on the nearby land and begin their transition back to normal life. This work also seemed to be the starting point of ridding the Island of malaria (draining those swamps to use modern parlance). Up until the middle of the last century this whole Island was rife with it, only been wiped out via a concerted project 1946 - 1950.  Good to hear as we are all covered in bites since our arrival.

That was the last real work of the day, I think we dipped our toes in enough history, so many other influences on this Island, will certainly try and pick out 1-2 more over the next few days.  We wound our way back to our own base, a few odd twists and turns, but rolling hills and barren landscape always fun to drive through as is so different to the world back home.

Quite nice to sit in the air con for a while and I might have even shut my eyes for a short while. But life is to be lived, and our proximity to the beach not to be ignored. Chrissi and I took our new 10 minute journey down to what is our new front room, the Montenai beach bar.  A cuba libre and G&T a well earned way to wind down, watching yachts, swimmers and enjoying some reflections and planning.

Never without incident, Chrissi managed to drop our credit card through the slits in the floor so some poor bugger had to get underneath the beach bar and crawl around to find it - a good tip was earned!  We slunk away and threw ourselves in the ocean,well you have to don't you!

It was then back to our lodgings for the rest of the night, cooked up a bit of pasta/pesto in our well appointed kitchen,  drank some local beer and listened to the Raiders of the Lost Ark soundtrack.  Apparently lots of non venomous snakes on this Island, maybe we'll see some tomorrow, none appeared so far, just geckos.  Will we have an Indiana style reaction if we do?