Thursday, August 20, 2026
, Sardinia
Arrivederci Oristano, Buongiorno to Cagliari and Llew:
The week had gone by in a flash—far quicker than I had expected. I found the Writers Workshop very useful, overall, for galvanizing my desire to get back to my Creative Writing with a vengeance. But, I know that once I return to my life in Bombay, routine will get the better of me again and I will need to fight to carve out the time to devote to getting my Fulbright book completed and moving on to new projects.
So, when I awoke this morning, I was aware that I had only a few hours before my cab would come to pick me up and take me to Oristano train station (at 10.00 am). Most of my packing had been done, the previous evening. I had only night clothes and last-minute things to stash away. When I went down to the restaurant on the ground floor, I took pictures of the breakfast buffet because I strongly doubted I’d see anything quite so satisfying again. As this was my last day, I returned to scrambled eggs and bacon, enjoyed muesli with apricot yogurt and tried something Ifeona had suggested yesterday: ricotta cheese with honey and walnuts. Gosh! They were really good. Wish I had tried them earlier. I also put a few churns of crushed black pepper over it and the taste was superb.
Ifeona joined me downstairs for breakfast (she was leaving about an hour before me) and in a little while, Tim joined me too. We had a chance to spend about a half hour chatting together before Peter joined us. He too was on his way out—we bade him goodbye and then finished up our breakfast before taking our leave of each other and parting. I took my last looks around my room and bathroom and took a few pictures in the lobby of the lovely Mistral 2 Hotel which had been my home for the past one week, before I stepped outside to wait for my cab. It arrived, like clockwork at 10.00 am and with my little carry-on suitcase in the trunk and my backpack on my back, off I went. It cost me 15 euros to be dropped to Oristano station where I was well in time to buy myself a one-way ticket to Cagliari. No sooner did my buy my ticket than Anastasia arrived—also taking the same train to head to the same place. Naturally, we rode on the train together. I got off at Almas Airport while she rode the train for one more station because the hotel at which she would be spending the night was closer to the second station. I, on the other hand, would be meeting Llew at Cagliari airport at the same time that his flight from Paris would touch down. We had coordinated our mutual arrival well and as soon as I arrived at the airport, I saw that Llew’s flight had just landed. It would not be long before we would have our fond reunion.
However, as they say…the best-laid plans of mice and men…go awry. Llew did not come out quickly as his bag too had been left behind in Paris by Air France and was not loaded on to his Cagliari flight—it was like deja-vu all over again! The same thing had happened to me exactly a week ago. Luckily, I had prepared Llew for the terrible possibility—so he knew exactly what to do. He went to the Lost and Found inside, filled out the forms and told them to deliver his baggage to Palermo as we would only be in Cagliari for one night. However, in the event that his bag would reach on tomorrow’s flight, it would be at the airport by 2.00 pm and as we were taking our flight to Palermo from the same airport at 10.00pm, we’d be able to pick it up ourselves. Naturally, we hoped that this would be the case.
Taking a Cab to our Digs in Cagliari:
Since we’d be spending one night in Cagliari, we actually had a day and a half to explore the city. This is all Llew would see of Sardinia before we pushed off for Sicily. Hence, there was no time to waste. The cab we took from right outside the airport dropped us off to our B and B within half an hour. But Denise, who owned and ran the place, told us that we had informed her that our check-in time would be 4.00 pm. Well, I had no idea that we’d reach so much earlier…but she obliged us by agreeing to allow us to check in early. Since she lived about 20 minutes away, she told us to wait until she arrived to open the door to us.
True to her word, she arrived 20 minutes later. Her place was in Old Town Cagliari, i.e on the topmost rung of this mountainous settlement where, to get from one rung to the next, you had to climb up and down flights of stairs—not a prospect I savored! Still, our room was very spacious and well-furnished. It had a spotlessly clean en suite bathroom, good security arrangements and a kitchenette outside our room that offered us basic amenities. She did not offer breakfast but there was a coffee machine and kettle in case we wanted a cuppa before going out in search of food in the morning.
Exploring Cagliari Together:
We lost no time in going out to explore the city. We realized pretty quickly that Cagliari has two major tiers—the Upper or Old Town (called Castello) and the Lower or more Modern Part (made up mostly of an area called Stampache). I had my ‘Lonely Planet’ notes which informedus that Cagliari, a port city (the fourth biggest in Italy), is the capital of Sardinia. It is the gateway through which thousands of sun-seekers arrive to laze on the island’s astounding beaches and frolic in its crystal-clear azure waters. The Phoenicians, the Byzantines and subsequently the Spanish through Aragon, arrived here, over the centuries, each leaving their mark on its architecture and culture. Allied Forces rained bombs down on the city in 1943 reducing much of it to rubble—much of its Baroque uniqueness was lost to World War II and, although efforts to rehabilitate it are immense, they are not always picturesque. It’s also a contemporary city—with many glittering designer stores selling enticing merchandise and a university dating back to 1628 that has thousands of fashion-conscious students who keep the fashion industry alive in these parts. Llew had a taste of the fashion world when he went out to buy a few clothes as his bag had not been delivered. He ended up going to a designer store called ‘Gianni Lupo’ to buy two lovey linen shirts and a snazzy pair of mustard shorts.
For our afternoon of sightseeing, we made a bee-line for the Cathedral of Santa Maria di Castello (Castello being the name given to the entire hilltop on which Old Town is constructed) which stands proudly on Piazza Pallazo. This was less than a ten minute walk from our lodgings along atmospherically quaint streets the color of honeyed sandstone. Old-fashioned gas lights added to the ambience of a warren of streets whose wrought-iron balconies seemed to touch each other. Each door to the lodgings was humongous, a great wooden affair that had old-fashioned keys.
The cathedral dates back to the Gothic 13th century but the Romanesque marble façade is more recent—built between 1933 and 1938. Inside, one is astounded by the exuberance of it all. This is Baroque ecclesiastical design at its most splendid. Yes, there is a striking altar set up on a series of four steps each of which is crowned with a lion, There is a regal look to everything because royalty would have worshipped here in the distance past. Pietra Dura is lavishly applied over every visible surface from ceiling and walls to the floors you walk on—seems almost sacrilegious to walk on so ornate a marble carpet. Every side chapel has an elaborate oil painting depicting one of the saints to whom the shrine is dedicated. Most intriguing of all is the crypt to which you descend via a few steps. Inside, there are 179 niches, each containing the relics of various martyrs whose remains were found during the excavations in the 1700s near the Church of San Saturnino. The walls are so elaborately covered with marble pietra dura that my camera simply could not stop clicking. And when we came back to the surface again there was a large silver reliquary containing the remains of other saints. The pulpit, extravagantly carved in marble is said to have been brought here from Pisa in the 1300s. Suffice it to say that the makers of the new monument to Christendom went overboard in filling it with details that crowd the eye in every direction.
A Short Walking Tour of Castello:
Once we had seen the Cathedral, we emerged into the sunshine and began a short walking tour of Castello. This walk took us through narrow streets that opened out into larger squares or piazzas. Everywhere, we saw souvenir shops and stores selling cool drinks as it was really exceedingly hot—uncomfortably so. As the clock crept towards 5.00 pm. however, the ferocity of the sun would decrease and being outside would get more bearable. I have to say that it was wonderful to see a town filled with human beings again—after the ghostly emptiness of Oristano which had made me feel as if Armageddon was upon us.
We passed by the two thick twin towers that comprise what is called ‘Elephant Gate’ built in 1307, and going through them, found ourselves in a large piazza, completely clad in marble, where there was a lot of construction going on. This square, called Piazza Carlo Alberto, was the official square, surrounded by official buildings, each flying the national flag. We were lucky to spot an elevator and realized that it took people way down—for when we stooped over the parapets on this square, we saw that the lower level was really far below us. Imagine having to go up and down stairs to reach that level, I thought, with horror (for we were at least ten storeys high).It was not long before we took the elevator to the ground floor and found ourselves in a delightful, geometric garden filled with sculpture. This is the Pinochia Sciola Garden—named after the sculptor Pinochia Sciola. We strolled around this space with the towering ramparts of Castello just above us, as we took in three important sculptural works by Sciola in this space. Then, we left the garden and, following a map, made a right to arrive at the monumental Bastion of San Remy which is a massive marble gateway that forms a sort of demarcation between Old Cagliari and the modern part. In fact, it was in one of the modern lanes that Llew stepped in to buy a few clothes. The Bastion faces the large Piazza Constitutione and resting there for a few minutes, we then began walking along Via Garibaldi to take in the shopping area, still hoping to find clothes for Llew. I was able to find some pretty reasonably priced silk scarves in a lovely exclusive boutique that was closing and offering 50% off some of its merchandise. I had a couple of good buys there. Then, we carried on walking until we made a right about turn and got back to Piazza Constitutione. Once we arrived there, we took Via Manno which was a steep downhill walk to get to Piazza Yenne, a happening square filled with shops, restaurants, etc. We sat ourselves down at a monument placed in a rotary as this was a busy intersection. It was about 7.00 pm by this time and we thought it would be good to find a lovey place to eat dinner. We wanted to return to our B&B before we felt completely wiped out.
So, I sat and used my phone and ‘Lonely Planet’ gave me some suggestions for places in the Stampache area (where we were) to find a good traditional Sardinian meal. It led us to a place called ‘Sa Domu Sarda’—a rather modest-looking place on Via Sasari that was renowned for serving traditional Sicilian food. But we were lucky we arrived there when we did. Had we come half an hour later, we’d have had to join a queue for the eatery’s reputation definitely did precede it.
Sardinian Dinner at ‘Sa Domu Sarda’:
Well, we were soon seated inside as I did want an AC-ed atmosphere in which to enjoy our meal. In fact, everywhere we went, while the locals preferred to eat outside on the pavement, I wanted to avoid the heavy mugginess of the season’s humidity and sit in a cooler atmosphere. Inside, we found the place to be charming: classy but not exceedingly stuffy. There were tourists but there were also a load of local families that had arrived in three generations with children feeling quite at home in their surroundings. We started with a glass of red wine for Llew and white sparkling wine (Prosecco) for me. While we sipped, we enjoyed the lovely crusty bread that is provided on every Italian table together with superb-quality extra virgin olive oil and good balsamic vinegar for dipping and snacking. For our meal, we chose the gnocchi in tomato sauce which was basic but very delicious. For our Main, we chose the filet of horse (yes, horse is a popular meat in Sardinia) in red wine sauce—it was done succulently medium rare as we had ordered and was very delicious. For dessert we shared the Seada—a famous Sardinian sweet which is a puffed pastry round pocket filled with a subtle mixture of ricotta cheese and lemon zest. When served, it has warm honey poured over it. This gives the dish a sweet, salt, sour combination of flavors that is very easy on the tongue. Overall, Llew enjoyed his first real Sardinian meal very much.
And on that happy note, with our exit from the restaurant and our noting of the line that had formed outside, we went out into the night life of this sizzling city. Every restaurant had crowds of people eating in the pavement cafes, clubs were buzzing and streets were full of visitors. There was a lovely holiday energy everywhere and we enjoyed it. Walking very slowly uphill (as it was about 9.30 pm by this stage and we’d had an eventful, busy day), we arrived at Bastion St. Remy from where we took the elevator up to Castello and then walked along the quiet, winding streets of Old Town to arrive at our B and B.
All we did then was wash and get ready for bed as we were well and truly exhausted and ready to crash. We had accomplished a great deal of sightseeing for a single afternoon and whatever was still required to be covered, we would finish up on the morrow.
Until tomorrow, ciao…