sailing away in sardegna

Ciao, amici--
I'm ending my first week in Italia and have dutifully been recording experiences in an actual paper diary, so will post along with photos when I return. In case all of you were worried, my trip is turning out well despite my change in plans. I've been in the small village of Stintino for the past four days, hiking around and mostly spending time at an incredibly beautiful beach and having some of the best meals I've had in Italy--local lobster, which was sweet and wonderful, spaghetti with bottarga, which is tuna or mullet roe (like caviar) and may not sound appetizing, but was incredible, unbelievable desserts, most filled with ricotta cheese and topped with local honey and of course lots of the local red and white wines. I'm staying at a fantastic family run hotel, il Silvestrino, where they are treating me wonderfully and where I have a terrace that is much, much larger than my entire place in New York City. Yesterday, spent an amazing day at the beach and even got to go in the water, which is this amazingly clear, azure color that I have never seen anywhere else. Today, spent the day on a catamaran on a day trip to Assinara, a national park on an island that used to be the site of a maximum security prison. Now, the only things there are turtles, white burros, wild pigs and birds. I was the only english speaker on the boat; everyone else was sardinian and after they literally asked me about 20 times if I was alone, and why was I traveling alone (they repeated in shocked voices, sola?! sola?! in Italy, the women don't seem to travel or do much on their own, especially 44 year old women. But after they got over their shock, they adopted me and we had a great pasta lunch on the boat, went on a hike, and generally had a great time. Tomorrow, I'm off to the Catalan-influenced city of Alghero via Sassari, where I'll look around a bit before changing busses. Will troll around there for a while and take a day trip or two, then my friend Wes will come meet me and we will go to Cagliari for a festival where the locals dress in traditional costumes and parade in the streets. Then, one night in the small village of Cuglieri where my friend Wes has gotten a place, then back to Rome for two final days.

So far, so good. Lots of solitude, but broken up nicely with company. And I'm tearing through all my novels! And studying Italian.

Ciao belli!
Paola
Stay tuned for photos when I return!