With The World At My Feet: UNA GIORNATA A PORTO ROTONDO!

boats in the pretty little harbour of Porto Rotondo

Ciao tutti dalla Sardegna!

The week has flown by, and it's time for another update from paradise! This weekend was pretty eventful, and I've visited two beautiful new places here in the north of Sardinia which I can't wait to tell you all about, but first let me add in a bit about today. We've spent the day at Camilla's friend Eva's 7th birthday party and had a lot of fun. Eva and her brother Alessio who is 4 are half American half Italian and they live in Genova with their parents, but are here on holiday for the summer. They have a gorgeous house which is pretty much in the middle of nowhere surrounded by countryside. I just love the hay-rolls- check out the photos below! Cami played all day with Eva and Alessio in the pool, on the tree swing in the garden, and then this evening we made home-made pizzas and cooked them in an outdoor wood oven. The kids got stuck-in and learnt how to roll the dough, put on the sauce and add the cheese- I think they will all make excellent pizzaiolos! (pizza chef's) in the future! I've never seen real Neapolitan pizzas made like this before, and I must say they were delicious!

Beautiful Italian countryside

Hay-roll again!

Pink sky as the sun went down

Cami in the pool

group pic!

That water chair was pretty comfy indeed!

Eva modelling!

Cami on the tree swing!

Gorgeous pink sky

Our junior pizza makers!

Cami helping Eva

The pizza oven

Two of the masterpiece margheritas!

Instead of having Saturday off like usual, I changed my day over so that on Sunday I could meet up with Carolyn- a Canadian girl from Toronto who I have been talking to online on the Facebook group for Au-pairs in Italy. She is au pairing in nearby Porto Rotondo, and for a while we had been looking forward to meeting. She was meant to come over to Palau for a trip over to La Maddalena, however she had to look after the little girl until 2pm, so I decided to go over to Porto Rotondo for the day and meet her when she finished. The only problem was getting there seeing as it is around 27 miles away from Palau! See the map below- Palau is the blue dot and Porto Rotondo the red one.

Distance from Palau to Porto Rotondo

The closest bus stop is at a place called Cugnana, and it is on the route from Palau to Olbia. The only problem was that there weren't many buses seeing as it was a Sunday, however I got a bus at around 11am and luckily the driver was nice enough to drop me as close as he could to Porto Rotondo along his route to Olbia, however this still left around a downhill 6 mile walk along a main road. I didn't mind walking as it was all downhill in daylight, and I calculated that it would have taken me around an hour and a half. I started off walking, but around 5 minutes after an old couple stopped and asked me if I wanted a lift. I've never thumbed a lift (Technically I didn't stick out my thumb- the couple offered me the lift) before as I know how dangerous it can be, however this couple were so lovely that I decided to take the risk and get in. They were really nice asking me what I was doing in Sardinia and we had a lovely chat whilst they drove me all the way to Porto Rotondo even though they weren't going to the town. I luckily had a good experience this time, however I think that in the future, I'll try my best to avoid the situation arising. It was great though as I arrived at Porto Rotondo around 1pm and in perfect time ready to meet Carolyn. I was starving, so whilst I waited, I decided to grab a mozzarella and tomato panino and a coke in a cafe. Soon enough Carolyn arrived, and we decided to head off to the nearest beach. We actually didn't stay on one beach, and ended up 'beach hopping' all afternoon around the mini peninsula of Porto Rotondo! I think we visited three or four in total and had a swim and a sunbathe on each one! The beaches were lovely I'm sure you'll agree- but not quite as nice as on the islands of the archipelago of La Maddalena!

Panorama of one of the beaches at Porto Rotondo

Carolyn and me on one of the beaches

Us both exploring the mini peninsula

Carolyn in the crystal clear water!

Me chilling out

Carolyn and me <3

As the sun began to sink in the sky, we wandered back to the town where I quickly changed out of my bikini and shorts into a black dress which was a little more acceptable as evening attire! The town was so pretty, and reminded me of Porto Rafael where I visited two weeks ago. All of the houses were whitewashed and there were little tiny lanes everywhere leading to mini piazzas. Seeing as I was here in the evening, I also was able to look around the boutiques with Carolyn! Most of them were ridiculously expensive- like €150 for a bikini, but Carolyn showed me one of her favourite clothes shops which had decent prices. It was a bit like our British Topshop, but with a bit of Urban Outfitters mixed in! I have been looking for a new bikini for a long time now- even before I left for Italy and funnily enough I found a gorgeous white one here in the sale from €40 to €30 and had to buy it as it was a perfect fit! (See me wearing it in some photos later on in this post). I also got a black top in the sale to go with all of the other bikini bottoms I have, so I left that shop a very happy girl! Carolyn also got a really quirky black bikini top- although I fear it may leave her with some strange tan lines on her back hahaa!

The shop where I got my bikini!

After our shopping spree we went wandering around the town on a photo-taking spree, and like usual, I couldn't stop snapping as it was so pretty! We then had worked up quite an appetite so decided to go in hunt of a nice restaurant which sold non-italian food! (Quite difficult in Italy haha). Most of the restaurants were really expensive, so we were lucky to find this little place which wasn't too highly priced and came to only €14 each. Carolyn ended up having a wrap, I had a Greek salad and we both shared some fries. It was a really simple dinner which was perfect and we both really enjoyed having a meal out without the host families (even though we both love our families) - it was as if we were on holiday just the two of us! We then wandered around the town at night. It had started getting busy as everyone came out for the evening all dressed up, and we sat down on the outside benches of a bar to people-watch with a beer in hand.

A tiny little harbour within Porto Rotondo

Towards the main harbour- there were boats everywhere!

Chilling out on the rocks- see the sea spray in the photo? :)

Me watching the posh boats come into the harbour after a day on the water

The sun setting over the harbour

Our yummy dinner- no idea why Carolyn's wrap had a spanish flag- I though we were in Italy?

Beers and nibbles :)

The view down to the harbour from the bar

The bar

Us chilling out!

Panorama of 'Le piscine di Palau'

Monday afternoon I was also lucky enough to go to this amazing location with Silvia, her sister Laura and Camilla ^^^..... stop..... look..... and gaze at the beauty of this place! This panorama shot isn't even enough to capture how gorgeous this place was, yet I think that it is the best photo I have. It is a part of the coastline near Punta Sardegna where the rocks have fallen into the sea (or the coastline has been eroded- we need to ask a Physical Geographer I think!) and the sea has eroded the rocks and made them soft. There are so many of all different sizes that they form kind of mini natural swimming pools off the coastline! We carefully made our way down and found a rock to call our own! Cami and I couldn't wait to get exploring, and before long we were climbing high up on the rocks- I was really surprised at how well she could climb seeing as she is only 4- I swear this child is fearless! We also had the chance to hold a real live 'stella marine' (starfish) which a random guy found. He was really nice and came over to show Camilla. I have seen one before, but this starfish was a bright red colour and quite big! Check out some of the pics below of the afternoon spent in this gorgeous natural location.

Okay I think that's it for this post as I am stanca morta! (super tired). I'll be back at the weekend with an update as Carolyn is coming over for the day on Sunday. I want to show her Palau, La Maddalena and the island of Caprera which I haven't yet visited and they say it is where the best beaches in the north are located! Non vedo l'ora! (I can't wait!)

Un bacione (a big kiss!)