Sicily, Sardinia and the Sistine chapel (Part 2)

24 Sep Out of the petrol station after a night of torrential rain and high winds in my memory and a cappuccino and croissant in my belly. It was great being all snuggled up in the sleeping bag with the wind rocking the van and the rain pelting it from all sides in the full knowledge that I was warm and dry and there was nothing nature was going to do to change all that. I arrived in Pula (about 20km outside Calgiari) and met up with Mum and Dad. I had been driving around and around Pula looking for the hotel with no luck. I asked a gardener and he waved me onward and then I asked this auld lad on a bike (which happened to be my father) where it was and he was kind enough to have me follow him to the hotel. It was great to see them both again and we got on the hotel bicycles and headed into town. It rained very heavily for the whole afternoon and after a look at the wedding hotel and a bite to eat we retired to the hotel to read and have a siesta (well, I went to the van). That evening we went to a restaurant for dinner and dad was looking up his dictionary for the word for ‘sauce’. I told him it was ‘Formosa’ which actually means ‘Buxom’. Not letting him embarrass himself I told him its real meaning and ‘salsa’ was the correct word for sauce. After a great laugh at that Dad though it would be really funny and called over the waitress and while pointing at me said ‘He thinks you are really Formosa!’ how embarrassing. I guess she spat in my Pizza. After dinner I drove to the airport to pick up my sister Dearbhla who arrived in at midnight. I retired to the car park in my van for the night.

25 Sep Out of the van this morning and had a bit of discreet brekkie in the back and into Dearbhlas room for a shower. Later that morning the 4 of us drove into Cagliari with Mum and Dearbhla up front with me and Dad lying on the bed in the back. We had a look around the town for a couple of hours and due to Louises late arrival into Cagliari on a delayed flight we went to pick her up from the airport instead of Thelma. We got times mixed up due to the time difference so we sat out on the little park in front of arrivals and had a little picnic as we basked in the sunshine. Louise finally arrived and we all were there to greet her. We all piled into the van liked the Travellers with more passengers than seats and drove 40mins to Pula. We sat by the pool drinking beer for the afternoon and went into town for dinner that night.

26 Sept Up and out this morning and having decided on a family day out, we all headed down to the supermarket in the van to get our bits and pieces for our picnic. We headed of to a town called Chia 15kms away and drove right down onto the local beach with the van. We walked around the area and afterwards made up a fine picnic with all the trimmings complete with table and chairs all laid out. Afterwards we walked across the headland to one of the postcard beaches and we all went swimming. It was like being back on a family holiday again. That afternoon we met up with Mgt and Bryan Flannery in their hotel apartment for drinks and a chat before a quick shower and change and off then to a drinks reception in Sean & Miriam’s hotel apartment. After that we went down to a local restaurant where 60 of the brides guests were fed and watered (too much watering) After a lot of shouting, roaring and singing we fell home after 12 having had particularly good craic with the Ballyburkers and Sheila McManus.

27 Sept After breakfast and elevenses at Bryan and Margarets, me and Dad cycled into town to see a museum. I have to say I don’t know much about it but it was a bunch of auld pots from an ancient civilisation that existed on the island thousands of years ago. I wish I found it more interesting but I don’t and was out of there in 10 minutes. Off down the town on my own I saw a procession of bulls outside the church and they were the biggest bulls I ever seen They were as wide as I’m tall and about 7ft in height. They were marched around the town in ceremonial gear but I didn’t catch what the whole thing represented. Later on myself and Dearbhla went swimming from a nearby beach before heading back to the hotel to get ready for the wedding. At 3.50pm, I piled the whole family into the van and the Geraghty tinkers went to ‘Da Weddin boss’ I pulled up outside the church and they all piled out much to the delight of the Irish contingent. Thelma arrived and looked lovely in her white wedding dress and the mass was all in Italian. Everybody commented how lovely the service was but I wouldn’t have known as I didn’t understand a word. At the end, the congregation poured out before the bride and groom and we were all armed with rice and things to throw at them as they came out. The mothers broke plates in front of them and was very nice and ritualistic at the same time. We headed to the reception via Bryan and Margarets (for tea) and were entertained by musicians during our 7 course dinner. It was a good night and different and interesting. At 2 am we went home.

28 Sept I headed off today from the family and the wedding party on my tour of the island. Going was slow and tight narrow mountain roads of the southwest corner of Sardinia didn’t pass fast enough. In my loop of the area I was longer doing it than I expected and as light started to fade I found myself within 30kms of where I started. I decided than instead of trying to find a place for the night I would go back to Pula and rejoin the wedding party for one more night. I explained to them all many times the reason for my return but Sean McManus preferred his version that I got lost and ended back where I started. We had a great night tonight in Sean and Miriams apartment for drinks and snacks before heading down to the hotel restaurant for a lovely 4 course dinner with Fionnuala and Brian. I said my last goodbyes to a very nice bunch of people and was a great end to an enjoyable stay at Pula with family and freinds.

29 Sept I finally hit the road once and for all this morning bound for my friend Tino up North in Mamoiada. I was on the road for over 4 hours and finally got there about 90 minutes later than expected. I drove to his girlfriends museum and she arrived to meet me. Unfortunately he could not and was caught up at work. She gave me a personal tour of her Museum (Museo Delle Maschere Mediterranee) a museum of ceremonial masks used in the Mediterranean region over the last thousand of years. There were some amazing masks and costumes (including one from Enniskillen in Northern Ireland) and was very interesting. She decided to bring me up to the workshop where a lot of the ceremonial masks are made and I met the craftsman who was telling me that his brother lives outside Galway and is married to an Irish girl. After that I headed on towards the port, Olida, 160km further North to get the ferry to Genoa in Northern Italy. The ferry journey is 10 hours so I decided to get a couch and kip there for the night. Unfortunately a staff member said I wasn’t allowed sleep there so I thought maybe I could sneek down into the van a kip there. I did that and the heat down there would knock a horse so had to come back into the main area again.

30 Sept Off the ferry in Genoa this morning and into the Italian morning rush hour. Genoa has more tunnels, flyovers, bridges and underpasses to confuse the best motorists and sat navs and Im afraid me and Mary were no match. Completely lost I managed to get out and onto the motorway. I saw a bit of Genoa from the van but unfortunately that was that. On then towards Nice, I pulled in for a rest along the way and was in Nice that afternoon. Nice is a beautiful city on the sea with a fabulous coastline. I desperately had to do laundry and after that walked down the main street, looked at the cathedral and walked part of the promenade. Lined with swanky hotels and casinos, I feel it is very representative of the French Riviera or the Cote D’Azur as they say locally. After a half day in Nice I started making my way to Saint Tropez.