Getting to Know You, Sardinia

Wow, nearly two weeks have passed since our last post - where does the time go??!! Guess we are still having fun :-)

When we last wrote, it was just before Easter, and we were just getting settled in our digs outside of La Caletta, a sleepy (in the off-season) beach town and fishing port. Since then, we've been able to explore our immediate environs quite a bit more, and to also branch out to some nearby areas.  We've also acted a tour guides for two sets of friends visiting from Torino.

Meanwhile La Caletta, Santa Lucia (just down the road - here's a picture of its seaside Moorish tower) and other nearby beach towns have started to come to life since the Easter weekend, which seems to mark the very beginning of the tourist season. No crowds yet - really, almost nobody! - and the weather is too cool for swimming or sunning, but many of the shops and restaurants that were previously shuttered for the winter are now tentatively opening up.

So, almost every day we discover something new in La Caletta and Santa Lucia, and some places are really first class. For example, there is a wonderful pastry, wine, and olive oil shop in La Caletta called 'Sos Pipitos,' tucked back behind the old port, which has local and homemade products as good or better than any we've sampled farther afield. Turns out they have already won a Slow Food award - who knew! Close by is an excellent fish restaurant, 'Meloni e Fresu,' which would probably qualify for its own award, and has the added advantages of a lovely courtyard and a view over the beach (see photo above of our friends Kiki and Dario at Meloni, and also be sure to check out their own very cool bed and breakfast near Turin).

In Santa Lucia, we dined with our old friends from Ivrea - Diego, Gessica, and their lovely daughters Chiara and Simona - at a very traditional Sardinian agriturismo, 'Sa Corte', just steps from the beach. This also turned out to be a birthday lunch for Michael - can you believe how old he's getting :-). Anyway, we feasted on their home-raised lamb, homemade Sardinian flatbread, and homegrown artichokes - heaven!

As we mentioned before, we are also quite near two small cities, Posada and Siniscola, both quite ancient and atmospheric, but each quite different. Posada is the more blatantly picturesque, with a soaring iconic castle - Castello della Fava - overlooking the sea, backed by mountains, perched in the middle of a small but beautifully restored and very quaint medieval hilltown. After lunch, we took Diego and family there for a climb to the top (see pictures directly below).




Much larger Siniscola lacks any truly iconic monuments, but makes up for this with a rabbit-warren of winding streets, ancient stone buildings, and a much more active commercial center. Here we buy our luscious sheeps-milk ricotta and scrumptious aged pecorino cheese.

In the next post, we'll tell you about some cities and sights in the Barbagia, far from the beach, and right in the center of traditional Sardinian culture.