Sardinia-Ancient Ruins, Stilettos and Weird Rituals

View of Cagliari

Sardinia!  Where to begin? Coming into Porta Kalisi in Cagliari, the capital of Sardinia,  I was fearful that spending time in a big city would be a major downer. I was wrong, my friends!  This place has it all and then some.   The people are fabulous, there are restaurants galore and it oozes with history.  My kind of place!

First thing I noticed was that  women were quite fashionable and were not challenged by walking in stilettos on the cobblestone streets.  I always felt woefully underdressed no matter what I wore.  My best outfit is a linen shift with little sail boats on it.  Totally cool for hanging with my Cape Cod crowd but not high fashion enough to fit in with the Sardinians. Skinny jeans with pant legs that taper off above the ankle are raging here for the young men, complimented by a pair white sneakers. Fred is raging nylon shorts with faded t-shirts and old man sandals. We make the perfect pair.   

Cagliari is old as dirt with artifacts found in and around the city that date back to Neolithic times. It has been the home to the Phoenician, Carthaginians, Romans, Pisans and the Spanish. We went on a historical tour with our guide Francisca, who informed us that much of Caligari was leveled during WWII by American and English air strikes.  She brought us to a few sites where many civilians perished due to these attacks.  I found myself muttering my apologizes everytime she mentioned the bombings and loss of life.  Francisca said that after the war, American troops stayed on for a while.  Looking for redemption, I asked her if we treated the civilians well.  She assured me that we did. TG! 

One of the most interesting places we visited on our tour was to the Saint Eulalia Archaeological Site and Treasury Museum, in the Marina district in Cagliari. This is an ancient church that the Aragonese dedicated to their martyred Saint Eulalia in 1365.  In June 2000, work was being done on the church due to a mold issue that was making the church smelly and damp.  Digging down through the church floors, ancient relics were discovered dating back to 3rd century AD.  Remains from crypts (no bones, just religious objects), marble columns, a Roman street, sewage system and a stone toilet were a few of the interesting items we were able to view. This took 20 years of excavating and truly confirms that Cagliari has been a hot place to live for a long time. Just think 1000 years from now when they dig up those stilettos and skinny jeans!

Cripta di Santa Restituta

We also visited this cool underground church dating back to the 5th century which was originally a crypt called Cripta di Santa Restituta. Francisco showed us this four foot high cylinder shaped stone encased in this large block of limestone.  The stone was thought to have magical fertility powers which locals would straddle naked in hopes of getting some of its fertility mojoe. The priests were appalled by the sight of this and decided to encase the magical stone in a block of limestone so this nasty stuff would stop.  It did but then locals started to chisel the limestone and rub the dust on their naked bodies because it was thought to ward off smallpox.  I think folks just like to go naked in this underground church because it was nice and cool and provided shelter from the blazing sun outside!

Our last night in Cagliari was spent dining with our friends that we met in Croatia who were sailing back from Ibiza.  Fred was torn between ordering the donkey or horse steak- common items we found on Sardinian restaurant menus.  Images of Winnie- the- Pooh’s donkey friend, Eeyore, and Mister Ed, the talking horse from 60’s American sitcom, Mister Ed, came to mind right away for me which steered me to the seafood pasta dish which, when placed in front of me, conjured up images of all the talking sea creatures from Finding Nemo! I left the seafood and just ate the pasta while Fred enjoyed Mister Ed.  

We were happy that we were able to view the soccer match between Italy and England on our last night here. Even happier to see Italy win the Eurocup! I woke up at 3am on our boat still hearing car horns honking and people cheering on the streets. Congrats Italy!  

Next stop Islas Baleares, Spain.