Sardinia!

Well, maybe I lied on the fact that I wasn't going to post anything until I got home. But I have a good excuse! I forgot to write about Sardinia!

Basically this was one of the coolest trips I've ever been on in my life. Sardinia is an island off of the Western coast of Italy. We camped in bungalows in a little town called Alghero that was right on the beach. There still were not too many tourists since it is not quite summer. But the weather was still absolutely amazing! We did alot of laying out on the beach, letting our deprived bodies soak up the sun. The sand was white and super soft, and the water was so clear and blue.

On Saturday we rented bikes for the day for only €8, really good deal, and road up along the gorgeous coast for nearly 2 hours before getting to a more secluded beach called Porto Conte. We found a jetty that went out into the ocean and we took turns jumping off into the clear water, attempting to avoid rocks and little schools of fish. We then went out to a bay that was surrounded by the island on either side, but if you looked out straight ahead you could see nothing but ocean. We played among the rocks and just enjoyed the beauty. We explored an old light house and part of what I think was an old castle.

Finally we started the trip back so we could get the bikes back in time. On the way to Porto Conte the end of the ride was down a pretty steep hill. Going there that was nice, but coming back it was a little more difficult. Lets just say we definitely got our work out for the day! After the steep hill though we had a very gradual hill downwards. Enough to the point where we could just glide down and enjoy the gorgeous Italina scenery.

We had a few little bumpy moments on the ride. A chain coming off a bike, a scraped toe, riding with a brake permanently on. At one point we accidentally went on a round about. Round abouts are similar to what we call a traffic circle and are everywhere in Europe. They're scary enough going through in a car, let alone a bike! But we managed to make it through ok. Before we reached the more quiet areas we were also constanly honked at. Probably for a number of reasons. 1... sometimes we were probably in the way, or crossed a street when we weren't supposed to. But the main reason was probably our clothing. See the Italian women dress VERY conservatively. Even though it was a good 80 degrees outside they were all wearing jackets, shoes, and scarves. Seeing us in short sleeves and shorts, or even just flip flops, was something that they find very "slutty" I guess is the only word I can think of? Although I found it funny because on the beach they tan and walk around topless, in only bathing suit bottoms. Just one of those cultural things that is hard to understand I guess.

Anyway... the bike ride was one of the coolest things that I have ever done in my life. And the trip made me love Italy even more! It is definitely my favorite country!

Sardinia