It seems so long ago

It's been more than 3 weeks since we left Sardegna, and my tan is almost completely faded away. Back in Brussels with the gray skies and sweatshirt worthy temperatures, it almost seems like I dreamed the whole month-long island vacation.

I realized that I'm not good at photo documenting my vacations. I never take enough pictures and the pictures I did take in Sardegna don't do the island or the people of the island justice. So, you'll have to trust me when I say that Sardegna really is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen, and the people are some of the most friendly and hospitable that I have ever encountered. Here are a few snippets from our stay...


Here's the boat we took to get there. It's about a 10 hour ride, so we take the overnight ferry. Luckily this year the sea was calm, and nobody got sick!

The lights of the port city Genova, as we set sail.

The first week that we were there, we decided to take a trip to the other side of the island to visit our friends Marta and Giorgio. They took us to a beautiful beach, that is completely different from the ones we are used to seeing on the east coast of the island. It was somewhat cloudy when we went, and this picture doesn't do it justice, but the sand of the beach shimmers an amazing shade of gold.

Many of our nights were spent down at the river being entertained by Leonardo as he played the bongo or guitar. Leonardo (right) is a full-time resident of Ballao, the small village (pop. 800) where Alberto's mom grew up. Fabio (left) lives near Milan and like Alberto and Claudio (Alberto's brother, center) visits Ballao every chance he gets.

This was before dinner on my birthday. It was incredibly HOT that night. In fact, it was a very, very hot summer in general. Typically, the temperature would drop in the evening, to probably about 75 F, but the days were all well above 100 degrees F. However, the night of my birthday, the evening didn't cool off at all. hence, a bunch of shirtless guys at the dinner table.

The last men "standing", Alberto snapped this pic of Fabio, Emilio, Leo and Claudio at 4am looking a little worse for wear. I had long since succumbed to the combination of the heat and the very strong home made wine, and was already sleeping like baby.

Our usual hang-out.

I wish I had a better picture of this beach. It's called mari pintau (although I may have messed up the spelling) which means "painted sea" in dialect. It was without a doubt one of the most beautiful beaches I have ever seen.

I was hoping to snap a nice sunset pic at Mari Pintau, but somebody, nobody we know thankfully, in a speedo (bottom right) is quite distracting.

Alberto and Claudio with their gorgeous Mediterranean beauty of a cousin, Carla.

Who's the ass?

This is one of our favorite beaches, Torre Salinas (salty tower). Although the sand isn't gold or pure white like some of the other beaches in Sardegna, we love it because it's close to home and, even in the height of tourist season, there's hardly anybody there.

The crazy German neighbor! This guy was a riot. Apparently he bought a house in Ballao 13 years ago, just because he liked the town. He spends about 3 months per year there, and brings a different woman with him almost every time.  On this occasion, he had made Mojitos for us and brought them over to our place. When those were finished, he ran home, and came back with a jug full of Sardinian grappa (ewww). He's an extremely friendly guy... you just have to hope to fall asleep before he does, because even though he lives in the house next door, his snoring will keep you up at night!

The woman in the hills greats us every time we head back to Ballao from the beach.

Alberto and I, wishing this vacation would never end. We actually had tickets to catch the ferry back to Genova on the 27th but ended up extending them until the 30th, just to have a few more days in the sun. It was money well spent!