Sardinia - Cagliari

We chose Cagliari as our start and end point for our visit to Sardinia; it is meant to be much more interesting than the alternative of Olbia, a more industrial town, and is located far from the Costa Smerelda; the much hyped and much visited tourist capital of Sardinia.

We weren't going to spend much time in Cagliari - our focus was to get out of the towns and onto the coast for sun and seafood. We took the time to wander around the town a while, especially to visit the archeological museum which holds a lot of artifacts from the Nuraghe people of Sardinia.

We also visited the Cathedral, which we found the Pope would be visiting the day of our departure, and climbed the elephant tower to take in the view over the town. Most importantly, of course, we had coffee, gelato and pastries, enjoying being back in a country where food is such a priority.

When we came back into Cagliari on our departure, the town was quite locked down in preparation for the Pope's visit and we passed a lot of the preparations still in progress. I was surprised that they hadn't put a lick of paint on a lot of the houses along the route he would be traveling - some of them still with stripped back concrete and bare wires hanging out.

The apartment we stayed in had a terrace with a view towards the Duomo - and our host was please to tell us he would have a sniper on his roof for the Pope's visit.