On our way back to the ship following the excellent visit to the Bronze Age settlement at Barumini we had time for a short photo-stop on a hill overlooking the larger part of Cagliari to the west but it was to the east that we were directed to gaze first. From this vantage point we could see over several large reservoirs in a low, wetland area. This was Molentargius, protected land on account of its historical importance as salt pans – some reservoirs are fresh, some are salt – and its natural importance as a stopover point for numerous types of birds. Flamingos, in particular, return each year. Plants are also important in the area with some species at threat of extinction.
Our bus had stopped within a few dozen metres of a sculpture, and I’m fond of photographing sculptures. This was St Francis of Assisi, sculpted by Andrea Martini.
The city of Cagliari is somewhere we’d like to explore should we make a return trip to Sardinia in the future. From the viewpoint I was quite taken with the architecture of the Church of Saints George and Catherine (you can see it just beyond the trees towards the left of shot below). The original late sixteenth century church was destroyed by bombing during World War II and the new structure was consecrated in the 1960s. Its design features eight tall parabolic faces, alternately filled with colourful walls and windows.
When we arrived back at the port we were greeted by a long queue to board. Given that we’d also had problems boarding on embarkation day we began to wonder if the entire cruise was going to be blighted by this issue.
The Sardinian weather for the day had been warm, often bright, but prone to sudden, short bursts of rain and that continued to be the case for the remaining hour or so before Caribbean Princess confirmed she had everyone aboard and we could proceed towards the next port of call.
We’d expected a standard evening on the ship of a sail away, then a freshening up and changing into evening clothes ahead of some drinks, some food, then some more drinks but there was one period of surprise before we’d fully left the harbour area of Cagliari as a helicopter started to follow us closely. It didn’t feel like this could be a medical emergency as it would have been very easy to return to port so we initially thought it might have been security-related. However, we eventually learnt from an announcement that the local authorities had requested to be allowed to track us out closely as we left for training purposes only.
Finishing off this post I’ll include menus and food photos from the evening’s main dining room meal.
The next post in this transatlantic cruise series will cover two days aboard Caribbean Princess in the Mediterranean. One of those was scheduled. One of those was not.