Sardinia

Our ship docked in the industrial port of Porto Torres in the north west of the Italian island of Sardinia. This island is the second largest in the Mediterranean, after Sicily. Sam, Penelope and I were all fortunate enough to work as tour escorts on guest excursions around the island. My tour took us to the popular Catalan town of Alghera first.

The town was a lovely medieval walled town with the old part completely surrounded by Spanish ramparts. It reminded me a lot of Cadiz in the south of Spain.

Tour escort

Bumped into another tour escort

Though the official language is Italian, over six languages including Catalan and Sardinian (an ancient Latin tongue) are spoken.

Street signs in both Spanish and Italian

The island is very rich in culture, history and natural beauty. Around the perimeter of the island you can spot round Spanish towers built for defensive purposes.

Iconic spanish towers

The Coral Riviera

Another distinctive historic feature are the Nureghe, which are bronze age viilages, meaning pile of rocks with a room inside. I couldn’t get a good picture of these from the bus unfortunately, but they are an example of how incredible old the place is.

There are “newer” roman ruins to be found around the island also, from when Julius Caesar invaded it in approximately 100 BC. There are even Neolithic remains that can be found in the incredible caves under the cliffs.

Pasta making classes

Lunch