Uta, Sardegna

On Saturday, June 8th, we took a cab to the Rome/Fiumicino airport.   We had met the cab driver the night before at the Spanish Steps.  He lived up to his word and was on time to pick us up for our early morning flight.

We arrived at the airport early, had an espresso and some pastries and boarded the plane to Cagliari, Sardegna.  It only took one hour to fly from Rome to Cagliari.

Bruno (my uncle), Marco (my cousin, Bruno's son) and Enrico (my cousin, Leopoldo's son) met us at the airport.  We rented a car from Enterprise.   On the way to pick up our "machina" Enrico pointed out Francesa, his son Daniele's girlfriend, who was working at a different car rental agency.

I rode in Marco's car along with Enrico and Bruno, while Ed, Betty and Karen followed us in the rental car to Uta.

Marco had arranged a house for us to stay in on the outskirts of town.  It was owned by Dante, and it was very comfortable!  It had two bedrooms, one bathroom with a modern shower, a small kitchen, nice refrigerator, washer machine and an outdoor clothesline.  It was everything we needed.  It also featured a mini-split that provided air conditioning!

After getting settled, we went over to Enrico and Simona's house for lunch.  As you might expect was delicious! We had pasta, salsiccia (sausage), bread, beer and wine.  We even tried some of Enrico's home made Limoncello, which was outstanding!

While in Uta, our cousins made us feel so welcome.  Spending time with them was the highlight of our trip!

While we were in Uta we:

• Enjoyed our time together with our cousins, we spent every day together and ate almost every meal together
• Ate some delicious pizza at a local pizzaria
• Learned how to make pasta with Daniele (Enrico's son) and his girlfriend Francesca
• Roasted a baby pig that was cooked on a rotisserie outside at Enrico's house – we started cooking it at 8:30pm and ate dinner around 10:30pm
• Had two beach days, one spent at three different beaches on the island of Sant'Antioco, the other day at a beautiful beach in Chia (pronounced Kia)
• Witnessed a huge heard of sheep that blocked traffic for several minutes on the way back from Sant'Antioco. They blocked traffic and passed all around our vehicles that were stopped in the middle of the road
• Went to Mass at the small local Catholic church
• Visited and were allowed inside Santa Maria di Uta church, which was built in the 1500s.
• Visited my cousin Elisabeta and her boyfriend Roberto at their house
• Visited Auzelia, the widow of my dad's cousin Antonio Frau, Auzelia was accompanied by her daughter Sandra
• Went to the big city, Cagliari, for an evening, explored and took in the views of this wonderful city
• Bought groceries two or three times at the local grocery store, the very first time we ran into Bruno there and he loaded up our cart with Mirto, wine and other local items then wouldn't let us pay for it
• Ate an amazing seafood lunch at a restaurant on Sant'Antioco called Ristorante Da Silvana.  We ate eel, muscles, clams, squid, octopus, a white fish, pasta and so much more!
• Went to Barumini and took a tour of the Nuraghi, ancient ruins that were built around 1,500 B.C.  We climbed through narrow passageways inside the Nuraghi. It was quite interesting.
• Ate dinner at Jimmy Radder's restaurant, Slim Pickins.  Jimmy is an American chef from Wyoming who married a local gal named Milena Roche, whom we met on a previous visit to Uta.  Jimmy now speaks fluent Italian and fluent Sardinian dialect.

For Karen and I, our most memorable day was the very last day that we spent at the beach in Chia.  We left about 9am and drove about an hour to get there.

The weather was perfect, about 85º, the water was about 75º and you could lay on your back and float in the Mediterranean without having to move a muscle.  The water was chrystal clear and you could see little fish swimming around your feet. The water temperature felt about as warm as our lakes get in late summer.  After about three hours of beach time, we had lunch at a nearby restaurant, S'Antigu Cunventu, that may have been the best meal of the entire trip.  The seafood and pasta was delicious.

My cousins were such gracious hosts.  We can't thank them enough for the hospitality and love they showed us while we were there.  It was a pleasure seeing Ed and Betty immersed in the Sardinian experience.

While on the island, they wouldn't let us pay for anything while we were there, although we still tried.

We had to get up at 3:30am the morning we left in order to catch our 6:30am flight, but we made it just fine.  Despite the abnoxiously early schedule, Enrico, Simona and Marco accompanied us to the airport.

We are so grateful for the shared experiences and the wonderful memories we made while on the island.  We just hope that they will visit us in the U.S. at some point and we can return the favor and show them what America is really like, without the filter of the media.