Day 20 to 28

Day 20: Sunday 10^th July

We spent the morning… well late morning, trying to pack and organise ourselves to go away. Eli, Katherine and I, plus two of Elisa’s friends (Anna and Natalie) were going to catch a ferry from Tuscany to Sardinia at 11pm. Natalie’s car isn’t that big and hence Katherine and I had to share a bag of Elisa’s and leave our huge backpacks at her house. Katherine and I managed to pack all our stuff into a small bag which in comparison to Eli’s bag was tiny and she still needed another bag for her shoes!!!!  Lunch was really yummy - Eli’s mum made some fresh tuna and tomato dish and cooked mussles in this really nice sauce. We also had melon and proscuitto.

Natalie and Anna then came to pick us up and we all squished (literally) into the car with all our bags. Elisa and Natalie were sharing the drive so every about hour we all got out, wondered around and then swapped seats.

Picture of Eli driving with the trees 

Photo of Anna, Eli and Katherine in the backseat 

What Katherine and I found amazing was that as common as maccas is in Italy, there are none along the high ways (autostrada). They have special café/convenient stores for the specific job of lining the autostrada. They have everything from ice creams, to chips to sandwiches and hot chips. Our route took us from Vicenza to Padova, past Bologna, past Florence and then we stopped off at Pisa and saw the Leaning Tower.

Katherine and I in front of the Leaning Tower of Pisa 

What we all found particularly amusing about the Leaning Tower was everyone around it. Everyone was pretending to either push it over, hold it up or something of the kind.

Everyone near the Tower  

Once at the port, we had dinner and then had to line up with all the other cars for about two hours. Everyone was completely delirious with tiredness. On lookers must have found our group hilarious as it was a mix of complete hysterical laughter, sleeping, singing, dancing and basically mucking about.

Photo of everyone in the car  

The ferry was pretty cool, it was like a smaller version of a cruise ship with cabins, bars, swimming pools even restaurants.

The Ferry 

All the cars were parked on the bottom decks and you could get a cabin for the night if you wanted to pay extra… but us all being poor students (or backpackers in mine and Katherine’s case) had to find somewhere on the ground to sleep. We found the kid’s room and we were going to sleep in the play equipment because the ground within it was padded (like gym mats) however we didn’t put anything in there to bags it so once when we’d returned from outside some other teenagers had taken it… needless to say we were very disappointed.

Our corner 

In the end, we slept on the ground and actually slept which I was amazed about.

Day 21: Monday 11^th July

We woke up at 6am when the boat turned on all their lights and the music and then got a croissant for breakfast. It took an hour to drive to Natalie’s house. It is this really cute beach condo thing, with two bedrooms, a loft, two bathrooms and then small kitchen/living area and then a really nice terrace out the front where we spend most of our time. We put on our swimmers, put on sunscreen and then went right to the beach. Unfortunately, the nice beaches aren’t within walking distance of the house, so we have to drive.

The beaches are gorgeous - Blue/turquoise water, white sands and amazing views. Instead of surfing here, the sport of choice is windsurfing. Holy moly…. We would recommend that all males take up the sport!! When it isn’t that windy, there is a wind surfing school, but when it gets really windy, the school closes as it is too dangerous and then they (they being the teaches and those who are good) are out on the water doing tricks and showing off. It’s fantastic to watch.

Windsurfing 

What still amazes me about the beaches over here is that mostly, they all have bars attached to the beach where you can get some food, alcohol and listen to music which is generally played loud enough so you can hear it on the beach. The one attached to our usual beach (Porto Pollo…. Chicken Bay!) is called “Rupi’s Chilling Out”.

Rupi’s 

So, after showering and eating dinner at home we went back to “Rupi’s Chilling Out” for Happy Hour (which is known as Aperitivo over here). Natalie (who’s family owns the house) comes over to Sardinia every summer and has done for four years. My impression so far is that she knows a lot of the locals and the bar tenders (bonus for us!). We can’t go anywhere on the beach without someone yelling out “NATALIE!!!”

As we were pretty exhausted, we watched the sun go down and then chilled at home before going to bed relatively early!

Day 22: Tuesday 12^th July

We went to a different beach today which was basically rocks and beautiful clear water. We were swimming around the bay when Elisa got stung by something and honestly it looked like she swam 50 metres in a flash. Natalie and Anna were too far out so they decided to stay at the beach and walk home whilst Katherine and I went with Elisa to find a pharmacy/doctor.

We found the Pharmacy first and then they directed us to a doctor. It was all pretty scary because the mark on Eli’s arm swelled up and she had a pain in her back and we weren’t sure what the cause was. But once we went to the doctor, and back to the pharmacy to pick up some tablets and stuff for the pain she was okay.

During the afternoon, Elisa, Katherine and I went into the town, Palau, for a bit of a shop.  What began as shopping for clothes ended up being shopping for food! We had some really nice gelato and then bought biscuits to share. At about 8ish we went to Aperitivo at Rupi’s and the bar tender gave us a 60 euro drink for free! Apparently, the bar thought we were all Australian (Natalie wasn’t there) and they seemed pretty confused when Anna thanked them in Italian. We then ate dinner on the beach consisting of a steak, a sausage and some chips. For what I expected them to taste like, they were actually really nice.

Photo of the Drink 

One guy then came to chat to the five of us (well three as Katherine and I don’t speak Italian) and spent the time trying to pick up one of the Italian girlies. Needless to say, Katherine and I found this to be highly entertaining. He wasn’t being exactly subtle and gave off an air of being incredibly desperate. We spent a lot of the night hanging on the beach between Rupi’s and another bar about 100 metres down the beach. We got an ice cream, danced to the music and just chatted to the locals. It was really good fun.

Me, Elisa, Katherine and Anna 

Katherine, Elisa and Anna Mucking around 

Day 23: Wednesday 13^th July

During the morning, the Italian ladies had a bit of a steamy conversation about whether or not to go to another island in the area (about an hour by the ferry). Elisa, Katherine and I ended up staying in the area whilst Natalie and Anna went to the Port. They ended up staying as well, as they missed the ferry but we didn’t find that out until much later.

Anna and Natalie dropped us at Porto Pollo and we hung around the beach for a couple of hours. The walk home was treacherous. Honestly, us walking in 35 degree heat for over an hour was awful!

View on the walk home 

Okay, so it wasn’t really that bad. We were walking on bush tracks then on beaches and it probably seemed worse because of the heat and how hungry we all were. To congratulate us on the walk home, we had a really delicious lunch. Definitely worth the walk home!

We then napped for a couple of hours before heading to Aperitivo for a cocktail each and then went into Palau for dinner. I love how European cities don’t die after 6pm. At 10:30 when we were wondering through the streets, there were stalls opening, music playing and all the shops were still open. It truly has a much better night life (not in terms of clubs) than we have in Sydney at the moment. We got a pizza slice each for dinner and then got a gelato. Katherine and I then bought some bracelets before we all climbed back into the car. We all then went to another bar where we met some of the Italian boys who then took us down some back street path to a beach where there was a party occurring!

Having a dance at the Beach Party 

The party was held at the Bar at the beach and it had a live band who were actually really good. We managed to get 3 free drinks throughout the night and we met heaps of people! When the dance floor got too hot and sticky, we made our own one on the sand and surprisingly people we didn’t know joined us.

Elisa, Lorenzo (new friend!) and Katherine 

The Italian girlies were tired so we got home at about 2:30ish.

Day 24: Thursday 14^th July

This morning, Katherine and I made pancakes for breakfast. It was nice to eat something from home. We then went to Porto Pollo where it was ridiculously windy. We ended up going to the beach on the other side to watch the windsurfers and the kite riders. Some of the most experienced windsurfers were even wearing helmets! So, that kind of gives you an idea of how dangerous the wind was at that time! The skill they have is incredible. I know idea what a cool sport it was before.

Windsurfers 

It ended up being too cold so we went back to the Rupi’s side of the beach which had the bar to act as a wind block.

Our Italian friend Lorenzo and the water 

We ended up going home at about 5 to sleep and chill out whilst the Italian girlies were still hanging at the beach. At about 8:30 when they got back, we had dinner and then at about 11:00ish we headed back to Rupi’s for another beach party!

This beach party had a white theme to it.. but unfortunately because it was so cold… I gave up on wearing my white dress due to the cold which was frustrating but I ended up warm in my jeans and jumper! Katherine ignored the cold and pushed forward in her white dress… although she was wearing a black jumper.  The party to start off being really dead… but as it got later, more and more people arrived and it ended up being a lot of fun although to be completely honest, the music was still pretty bad.

Katherine and I 

We managed to meet loads of new people who all thought being Australia was “exotic” as Elisa would put it. They all attempted to speak English which was really appreciated as our Italian… was a little worse for wear. We figured out that Lorenzo (who we met the night before) had been on exchange in Canada and Alex (who we had met at the beach) went on exchange at the Gold Coast and now goes to uni at Brighton in England. One of the Italians, Alberto… was hilarious. He always made the effort to introduce us to more people… however I think that his intention was a little less than innocent as afterwards he asked “Do you have a boyfriend?” To Elisa, Anna and I – Eli and I both replied with no which he said “good.” Whilst Anna said yes and he replied with “…. That’s a liiiiitle bit of a problem”.  

The five of us ended up dancing with some of the Italians for hours and then once the bar closed at 2am the party moved into the car park where someone put music on via their car.

We ended going to the beach with Alex and Nad (pronounced Nard). Nad thought it would be amusing by telling Katherine he didn’t speak much English and have her attempt to speak Italian to him. We found out on the last day, whilst he was speaking to an English client at the windsurf school, that he does in fact speak English. After leaving the boys on the beach, we all went home at about 3:30 am.

 Day 25: Friday 15^th July

So today, Katherine and I decided that we wanted to go and explore the main town of the area, Palau. The town is a port town, and so the centre backs onto the port.

The town itself is tiny but very cute. It has typical Italian architecture and a similar vibe to any other town we’ve come across so far. What was different is that everything closes (except a couple of bars and restaurants) between 1:00 and either 3:00 or 5:00.  When we wondered through it was lunch time, so we ended up stopping at some restaurant in a backstreet which surprisingly had amazing food for a good price.

Katherine and I 

When we finished lunch, most of the shops were still closed so we hung out in the play equipment for half an hour or so. It was frankly one of the coolest playgrounds I’ve seen in a long time!

Katherine in the Play Ground 

As people were still tired from the night before, during the night we just hung at some bar and played foosball. Which I officially announce I am no good at. Katherine smashed me! We were playing Australia vs. Italy but as I was so bad, Katherine deflected teams!

  

Day 26: Saturday 16^th July

Today we spent the day at two different beaches instead of our usual Porto Pollo.

The first beach reminded me of Sydney beaches because it had surf. Okay, well I’m pretty sure the surf was only there because it was really windy but it was there all the same.

The second beach was so gorgeous. It was hidden down this dirt road and you had to walk through the sand dunes… but it was oh so worth it. It had dazzling, blue, clear water. We hung around at this beach for at least a couple of hours.

As usual, we went to Aperitivo at Porto Pollo at about 8. Aperitivo was really fun, we were there for longer than usual as there were more people to chat to.

Anna and I 

In the bar, the guys (who we had made friends with at the white party) were playing a drinking game called “Salute to Captain Puff” which was a bunch of movements and drinking. Truthfully, it was one of the strangest games I have ever seen. They tried to get Katherine and I to play but neither of us really understood what was going on - so we just watched.

We also made friends with two little Italian girls and played with them for hours. A song played that Natalie really liked, so the 5 of us plus the little girls ended up dancing.

Afterwards, we ended up chilling at the beach with us girlies and Lorenzo which was nice.

Day 27: Sunday 17^th July

Natalie and Anna left early in the morning to go to another island near Sardinia for the day whilst Katherine, Elisa and I slept in and then hung around Sardinia. Katherine and Elisa went to the beach for a couple of hours in the early afternoon whilst I went for a walk and then hung around the house. We met back at 3:00 where we had yummy pesto pasta for lunch with Sardinian bread.

Katherine at the Beach 

We met Anna and Natalie at home and then we all went to Aperitivo where we saw the sun go down. We also saw Marco (not my host brother) and Lorenzo who we chatted with for a while. Compared to the other nights, the bar had really good music playing and free Paella (food). So, once again we hung around longer than expected!

Anna and Natalie wanted to go see Harry Potter, so we drove to the main town of the Island and they watched HP whilst we wondered through the main street which was lined with stalls. Katherine, Eli and I all ended up having our hair down with a plat and something attached to it which means you can attach dangly things to it. Really that’s the only way to describe it… even though it doesn’t make much sense.

Day 28: Monday 18^th July

Today was unfortunately our last day in Sardinia L

  

We were all rather devastated to be leaving but ready at the same time to move onto another place.

We spent the day at Porto Pollo tanning and chatting and once we got bored of that we moved onto annoying our friends whilst they worked at the windsurf school from the upstairs area above their storage place.

Us upstairs  

Unfortunately, we took it a liiiiittle too far. Katherine got a fright after seeing Lorenzo who pulled himself up to the ledge we were and pulled a face at her. Alex (our Italian who lives in Brighton) ended up stealing my camera after taking too many photos.

 Alex

Lorenzo 

  

We left the beach to go shower and finish packing and then at about 6:30 we left Natalie’s to go to the port where we were catching a 9 hour ferry and we are proud enough to say that we got the play equipment as our bed rather than the floor!

Day 29: Tuesday 19^th July

So, today was basically a traveling day – we caught four trains, a bus and a ferry and stopped in 5 towns to get from Sardinia to Munich in Germany.

It’s probably easier to understand our day if we list it.

1. Tuscany (where the port was)

We got to Tuscany at about 6:00am and then walked to find a bus stop and then caught a bus at 7:00 to the main station. We reserved our three train tickets from Tuscany to Verona where we discovered that the train we intended to take at 10:00 from Florence was full, so we had to wait until the 12:30 train.

Elisa and Anna agreed that it was probably safer to wait for a long period of time at Florence so we caught the 8:10 train and got to Florence at about 9:30.

2. Florence (where we stopped for 3 hours whilst we changed trains)

They were lovely enough to then mind the bags whilst Katherine and I explored Florence.

Florence is absolutely lovely and after those three hours, Katherine and I definitely agree that we are stopping there on the way home.

3. Padova (changed trains)

Our train to Padova was running 35 minutes late and so we had 5 minutes to rush to make sure we caught our train to Vicenza.

4. Vicenza (picked up our bags)

Here we said goodbye to Anna and Elisa, Picked up our huge bags and then got back onto the train.

5. Verona (stopped for an hour waiting for a train)

We were changing trains here to catch the train to Munich. There wasn’t much around the station so we just had to chill in the station for an hour.

So, that’s all for now – we are currently on a train going through Austria on our way to Munich, Germany to see Kate O’shea!

Ciao!

Cait and Katherine