Bandit country and beaches

This weekend has been a flurry of events. Our weekend adventures started early when we left early Friday morning on our long trek up north towards the center of the island. This part of the island has been my favorite thus far for a number of reasons, mainly the expansive mountains that rise up over the plains, the beach that is never too far off in the distance and the history.

The first stop on our trip this weekend was at a museum (the Istituto Etnografico Della Sardegna). This was a costume museum that showed all of the traditional styles of dress that were worn by the people of the island. The history behind some of the costumes that were worn by religious people or just during festival times were dark both in color and in lore; many of the costumes exemplified that the traditional clothing were part of rituals that dated back hundreds or thousands of years.

After our stop at the museum, we made our way up to the mountains in Orgosolo, towards the eastern coast of the island but not before stopping to have lunch with some shepherds. We spent probably an equal amount of time up on the mountains exploring and hiking up steep and rocky trails as we did eating. Our dinner at the hotel we stayed at consisted of pasta (very oddly shaped pasta, kind of like an extra fat spaghetti that was hollow) with a side or rabbit and goat; both of which were delicious.

Our last day of the weekend was spent boating around the eastern coast of the island. We started off by taking a boat from one of the small towns to a system of caves, about 15 minutes away. The caves we went to were millions of years old and carved out from a once rapidly flowing ancient river. They made for incredible views; we only were allowed in the first 900 meters of the tunnels but they stretched through the island for 80 kilometers. After the caves, we spent the rest of the day beach hopping by boat. These were no ordinary beaches, they are by no means accessible by car and can only be reached by boat or by hiking (and rock climbing for much of the final leg of the hike). The water was beyond clear and when facing the water, we were surrounded by cliffs that had to have been upwards of 300 feet high. Overall, perfect weather, amazing views and clear skies was a fitting end to the weekend.