Day 58 ~ Cagliari, Sardinia--An Island that belongs to Italy...for now

 March 8, 2022

58 degrees and sunny!

NAUTICAL TERM OF THE DAY ~ Three Sheets to the Wind

A sheet is a rope line which controls the tension on the downwind side of a square sail. If, on a three-masted ship, the sheets are loose, the sails will flap and flutter, leaving the ship to stagger and wander aimlessly, much like a drunken person. ~ From the Viking Daily

Bet you thought I was going to say "three sheets to the wind" is how the Viking bar staff aims to keep its guests! Since pretty much everyone on board has received the Silver Spirits package as part of the World Cruise perks, almost every drink on board is free. There are a few spirits and vintages that are  "premium" and incur an additional cost, but no matter how often I hear recordings of Uncle Torstein say "This is a thinking man's cruise, not a drinking man's cruise," there's ample opportunity for it to be both! 

Sardinia is a pretty mountainous island with very little arable land.

Today we called at Cagliari. As nearly as I can tell, it's pronounced "KAH-lyar-ee" with the accent on the first syl-LA-ble! It sort of sounds like Calgary but without the "g". Like all the Mediterranean islands we've called on, Sardinia has checkered past. First, it was inhabited by a Bronze age tribe, followed by the Phoenicians,  the Romans, the Vandals, the maritime city-state of Pisa, and then in the middles ages, the island was "given" to the Spanish kingdom of Aragon, who wrestled it from Pisa in a war that lasted 20 years. Eventually, it came to be part of Italy in 1861 under the House of Savoy who consolidated all the Italian principalities into the modern Italian nation state. Who knows who will control Sardinia in the future?

Behind that handsome fellow there--what's that? You can't see his face so you can't tell if he's handsome? You'll have to take my word for it.--anyway behind the DH, you can see the salt marsh and the Devil's Saddle rock formation in the distance. Since Phoenician times, sea salt reclamation has been important in Sardinia, but now it's no longer profitable enough to continue to work. Instead, the Sardinians keep the salt marsh water flowing for the benefit of over 200 species of birds that call those shallow pools home. 

Most spectacular are the many flocks of flamingos whose feathers pick up their pink tinge from the brine shrimp they eat. Our guide Laura (pronounced LOW--as in Ow! that hurts--ruh) told us the pink is found mostly on the underside of their wings so it's most visible in flight. We didn't see them flying this time, but did in Cadiz in 2018. They look like those flying lizards in Avatar, long necks stretched out, legs dangling behind.

   

After a drive around the city, our bus drove us up to the top of the hill where the walled Old Town of Castello is perched. Fortunately, our walking tour started from the top and worked its way down. Our guide was quick to point out the occasional empty lot in the area. In Medieval times, there was no unbuilt up areas, but in 1943, we Americans bombed Cagliari to draw Italian troops away from Sicily and spread thin Mussolini's army.  It was disconcerting to think we bombed civilian areas just like the Russians are doing in Ukraine right now.

One building is still completely missing while damage to its neighbor is still visible. It's amazing to me that the space has been vacant for 7 decades without someone trying to rebuild there. 

 Of course, Laura failed to mention that Italy had allied itself with Hitler at that time. As horrendous as war is, some things are worse.   

The small dome is St. Efisio's chapel. Not the biggest place of worship for the island's patron saint. 

The patron saint of Sardinia is San Efisio, a former Roman soldier who earned the favor of the emperor Diocletian and was rewarded with governorship of the island. He converted to Christianity and was beheaded in 303 AD by the same Roman Emperor during his crackdown on Christians. In 1656, the island was ravaged by plague, but was delivered after the church encouraged its parishioners to pray for the saint's intervention. The plague ended and every year, even during times of war and covid pestilence, the populace has a 37K parade in Efisio's honor.

Here's the DH's photo montage of the morning:               

In the afternoon, the DH got a haircut. His barber at home uses scissors, but the one on the Star used electric shears on the back and sides and only trimmed the top with scissors. He looks pretty good. I'll have to get a picture of him without his mask, sunglasses and hat so you can see for yourself!

More soon...