Sardinian Babymoon! Installment II: Porto Alabe –> Dusseldorf

Crawled around in some witches' tombs "Necropolis of Chirisconis" outside Porto Alabe - which date back to the stone age
Crawled around in some witches’ tombs “Necropolis of Chirisconis” outside Porto Alabe
And checked out one of over 7,000 Nuraghe - 3,000 year old towers. Skill in design!
…and checked out one of over 7,000 Nuraghe (3,000 year old towers).
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Guy on the Nuraghe
Getting up close and personal with Cumpultittu Beach near Porto Alabe
Getting up close and personal with Cumpultittu Beach near Porto Alabe
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Beautiful renovated (in 17th century) cathedral in Cagliari, Sardinia’s largest city. Jaco lit a candle for our baby in a church we went to just before this one!
Flying back to Dusseldorf
Flying back to Dusseldorf from Cagliari
...via Rome (thanks for checking out my pictures!!)
…after twenty hours in Rome (just enough time to swing by the Vatican!)

Sardinian Babymoon! Installment I: Bonn –> Porto Alabe

Left Bonn at 4 am for our 10:30 flight to Pisa from Frankfurt. It wasn’t too bad getting up at 2:30 am but after lunching in Pisa and our train to Casciana (3 pm) we had about a 5 km uphill walk to our countryside B & B. It was worth it, though – stunning, quintessentially ‘Italian’ views, good lighting in the room. (There was other good stuff too but those were the highlights.) Worked for awhile and fell asleep to rain on the skylights.

Our first morning after cappucinnos and bruschetta we got a ride into Casciana where we were gonna soak in a thermal bath but were told pregnant women weren’t allowed! Had fun instead picking out stuff for Ted’s birthday and goind for lunch – I got a ‘bianca & verde’ pizza on crust Jaco correctly referred to as a big saltine (which incidentally I’ve wanted and haven’t been able to find.) Jaco had seafood calzone with octopus.

Feeling rested after our second night at the B & B outside Casciana, we left to go back to Pisa and then caught a train to Livorno – where we met our overnight (MOBY) ferry to Sardinia. Was happy we’d booked seats in advance – we were using it as our accommodation that night – as we were able to turn the lights down and stretch out in our own ‘zone’ – being halfway through my first trimester I took advantage of being able to sleep anytime, anywhere.

Our ferry to Olbia from Livorno, a short train ride from Pisa. Flew to Pisa from Frankfurt for 5 euros each!
Our ferry to Olbia from Livorno, a short train ride from Pisa. Flew to Pisa from Frankfurt for 5 euros each – tx Ryanair!

Left our second B & B after a nice Valentine’s Day full of sunshine, walking, gelato, and Cheers.  The next leg of travel entailed train from Olbia to Sassari and Sassari to Alghero, and a bus from Alghero to Bosa, with Bosa being the next destination.  For Valentine’s dinner I had clam spaghetti because it has been looking really good to me (I know preggo mamas aren’t supposed to eat shellfish but I was okay) and Jaco had a steak.

And just because I feel like it here are a few incidental Valentine’s Day deep thoughts by Jame: single life, while fun (albeit not mutually exclusive) ‘heart-lonely;’ something I miss – past (static) childhood; something I don’t miss; grandmother’s house now with pictures of me from 1996; miss people who are gone, don’t miss people who are still here but act gone.

 

Switching trains in Sassari en route to Alghero from Olbia. We didn't take this one, but it was almost 100 years old!
Switching trains in Sassari en route to Alghero from Olbia. We didn’t take this one, but it’s been chuggin’ since the ’30s.
Jacob near the seaside in Alghero. A very defensible city!
Jacob near the seaside in Alghero, a very defensible city.
Bosa was next, a bus ride down the coast from Alghero. The red building on the left is our guesthouse. Good artichoke pizza here...
The red building on the left is our guesthouse in Bosa, a ride down the coast from Alghero . Good artichoke pizza here…
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Bosa
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Bosa

Our guide Antonio picked us up after our stay at the Bosa B & B, took us to the supermarket, and then drove us to his house in Porto Alabe, which was so close to the ocean we could hear it when we were lying in bed at night even with the windows closed. Found a path which led to a four-hour seaside walk to a tower: the view from the top – and from the ‘pill-boxes’ along the way – quite spectacular.

Taken from a 'pill-box' in Porto Alabe outside Bosa, where we'd stay the longest (4 nights).
Taken from a ‘pill-box’ in Porto Alabe outside Bosa, where we’d stay the longest (4 nights).
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Porto Alabe
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Porto Alabe