After the McKays became settled on the boat dinner on board was pan-cooked veal slices with sauce of lemon juice/butter/parsley plus ratatouille and potatoes, followed by a cheese selection, all accompanied by Sardinian vino rosso.
As the forthcoming weather is going to be just OK for a couple of days and then extremely wild for a couple of days, we decided to continue to use Porto Rotondo as a touring base. This is giving us a chance to see more of the normal Sardinia, away from the Costa Smeralda.
Thursday Oct 2 we firstly drove to San Pantaleo for a short stop at the market followed by midday drinks at Caffe Nina. We then drove to Santa Teresa di Gallura on the north coast, where the ferries run to and from Bonifacio in Corsica. It's apparently abuzz in the summer but was just a windy almost deserted town at the beginning of October so we were lucky to find anywhere open for lunch, let alone a great place obviously popular with the locals because of the authentic cuisine. The guys' grilled sardines, Anne's octopus salad and my paparadelle (wide ribbon pasta) with vignoles (clams) were all excellent with our Sardinian rose. Our circuitous route home took us down the west very different coast where we saw many kite surfing before driving inland along an extremely picturesque road to the hillside town of Aglientu and then further up to Aggius, which is set among huge granite boulders with many cork trees in the surrounding area and a valley with so many strange boulders everywhere that it's called Valle de Luna.
(The cork trees are only able to be stripped of cork every 10 years and this is only done a little way up the tree. This may account for cork souvenirs being so expensive. As Sardinia produces about 90% of Italy's cork for wine bottles it's a very important industry here and the for the sake of the ailing Sardinian economy Italy's wine makers are not likely to soon change to another type of top.)
As dark approached we drove through Tempio Pausiana, a university town with interesting narrow lanes and granite housing and shops. It would have been better to have time to wander around but it was late enough to head for home. The roads in Sardinia are well made and we were able to travel back on a major road, passing many vineyards where the white vermentino is mainly grown and several cork factories. We were extremely impressed with the variety of countryside we had seen, making it worthwhile leaving the Costa Smeralda area for a while.
I made corn chowder for dinner as we were not very hungry and were also ready for an early night.
Very strong winds and rain were predicted for Friday Oct 3 but we walked around most of the village of Porto Rotondo before the rain began. Most of the shops and cafes have now closed or are packing up which is such a pity, but understandable as there are not many people about. I wonder if people would continue to come to the area if the services remained open.
We mostly just filled in the day until we drove into Olbia for dinner in the evening. Dinner at the restaurant at the tiny Hotel Gallura was quite an experience as it is renowned as one of Sardinia's best restaurants and the dining room is lorded over by the 70 year-old Rita d'Enza who is the chef. At the entrance and in the centre of the restaurant there were various tables with crocks of the soups of the day and about 40 other dishes of antipasti and vegetables, plus fresh fish displayed on platters and a side table of desserts. On our table to start with were a soft cheese with local honey plus a fig mustard, to be eaten with the crunchy Sardinian wafer bread called pane carasau (which was developed to last a long time because it was for shepherds to eat with cheese and wine while on their travels). With the main food focus at this time of the year being seafood the waiters (who should be called signori or they are insulted) and Rita brought us several antipasti such as creamy mussels with saffron and coriander, tiny sea creatures with a sublime subtle flavor fried in a batter even lighter than tempura, prawns on skewers, calamari with an onion marinade and octopus in a different sauce. The chef is described as someone who uses daring and unusual flavor combinations so that because of our lack of understanding Italian it didn't help us much when the signori described our food. Greg, Anne and Richard selected small red mullet to be grilled and I had home made paparadelle (wide ribbon pasta) with tiny clams for our main course and we had desserts of meringue with hot chocolate sauce for me and lemon sorbet for Greg and Anne. Richard decided to be a little different and tasted the yellow gerbera decorating the table to check if it was real! Yes, he did get into trouble for being naughty.
Our wine was another of the Cannonaus and we concurred that we had not yet tried a Sardinian wine that we didn't enjoy. In typical style the head signori left a bottle of Limoncello and a bottle of Myrto on our table for us to have as much "digestive" as we desired. The whole night was a wonderful experience and something we would never have found in a marina.
Saturday was as wild as expected, with 40 knot winds, but the boat was protected in the marina so it was a suitable day to drive. Our plan was to go inland to an area called Logudoro where there are a series of Romanesque churches of note and some supposedly picturesque small towns. Nostra Signora di Castro was built in the 12th C with pilgrims' houses around it and a delightful little man proudly showed us around. The town of Oschiri was supposed to be our site for lunch, but even though we drove up and down every narrow lane there was not one place open. We are amazed at just how much the towns become deserted during the 3- 4 hours of siesta, with houses almost boarded up. Goodness only know what's going on behind all of the locked doors. We finally found a little bar/cafe where we could have a coffee, a Snicker bar, 2 sandwiches and an ice cream - not quite our usual gourmet fare but we were very hungry by then. On our way home we stopped at Pattada to look at an artisan's knives as the handmade knives of Pattada are world famous. That particular artisan has world-wide orders now for knives he will not be finished until 2012!
We travelled east through beautiful valleys beneath wooded mountains to visit the coastal town of Posada where a 12th C castle is perched high over the flat plains along the coast. A drink a pleasant bar gave us the boost to get home for a delicious dinner of premade Chicken Cacciatore.
Although Sunday was a better day it was still not suitable for heading off to sea and there were some mountain villages we did want to see before we left Sardinia. These are in the area around Nuoro where they have autumn activities to highlight their local crafts, food. And customs.
We headed down the coast to Porto San Paolo first of all where you can easily see the magnificent Isola Tavolara with its sheer northern cliffs reaching a height of 560 metres. Then to San Teodoro, a popular holiday venue for young Italians because of its beaches, before driving inland to Oliena where we had decided to have lunch at Ristorante Masiloghi because of the recommendation in Lonely Planet. We checked to make sure they were open! LP was spot-on again as we had superbly sweet loin of lamb cooked with olives and lemon plus roasted pork, both served with roasted sliced potatoes. Many of the nearby vineyards are planted with Cannoneau grapes and the Nepente Oliena Reserve 2004 is one of the best reds we have had so far. We were certainly not among tourists and it was great to feel we were getting to the heart of the Sardinian inland villages.
Later we visited Orgosolo, the mountain village famous for the political murals painted on the walls of the buildings since the 1970's. It was fascinating but I must say that the people in Sardinian towns we have seen do not take care to have pretty pots of plants along the streets and lanes and many have ugly plain architecture for their newer buildings, so they are not appealing like mainland villages.
Sunday night we returned for our last Sardinian meal to Da Giovanini in Porto Rotondo, leaving us with very pleasant memories of the food and family who run the restaurant. It would be lovely to return to Porto Rotondo one day, especially to dine at that restaurant.
Monday was to be a day on the sea at last and we were all looking forward to that.
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