WEEKS 3 & 4 IN PARADISE!

Me high above the Sardinian coastline- View over 'Cala di Volpe' bay

Good evening from Sardinia!

I haven’t had time to blog in a while as life here has been really busy and I am always tired! – I blame the sun! (but still love it of course!), so beware as this is going to be a packed update! I have been to a few different local places in the last two weeks, and also for a trip over to Sassari and Alghero in the north west of the Island which I’ll write about a bit later on in this post.  I can’t believe it is the 7th of August already, and tomorrow I will have been here 4 weeks. I have no idea where the time is going, but I’d better make the most of it as I have only around 3 weeks left before I head back to the UK and the long British winter starts! I am looking forward to moving to Bath for my Masters though, which will make leaving here just that slight bit easier, although for sure I'll miss this place and the family a lot.

All has been going very well here in paradise and Cami is definitely improving her English. Whilst completing my TEFL online course here I have done a module on teaching English to children, and it has come in handy for knowing how to teach Cami through play and natural conversation. One thing I am doing is monitoring her speech and writing down anything which she says wrongly so I can analyse it to see any patterns and work out how to correct her mistakes- this according to the TEFL module is a good way of seeing where children are going wrong and how to correct them. Cami understands most spoken English, but makes the same frequently occurring mistakes in her speech. The most common examples I can put here include not knowing how to use the superlative form- for example she will say 'more fast Zoe' instead of 'push me faster' or 'that dog is more big than that one' instead of 'that dog is bigger than that one'. She also tends to have an Italian influence when speaking and will say 'I want two sweets and stop' instead of 'I only want two sweets/ I just want two sweets'. This is probably because it Italian you say 'voglio due caramelli e basta' (literal translation into English is I want two sweets and stop'. I understand where Cami is making mistakes, but I'm not so sure of how to correct them. I don't know if it is just enough to make her repeat the correct way of saying it a lot of times as I have been doing that, yet the mistakes are etched onto her brain haha! 

Us playing with wigs

Our days here are a mix of getting up late, playing lego, barbies, puzzles, drawing and other games in the house! Cami actually loves playing in the house so much that it is a hard job in getting her to leave- however most afternoons we go to various different beaches. Today we went over to L'Isola dei Gabbiani which is not actually an island (despite its name) as it is connected to the coast by a long thin stretch of land which has a road going along it to private property on the 'island part' of the island! (See the aerial view photo below).  Either side of the road there is a long sandy beach which is really popular with Italians and foreigners alike. Today we met up with Louise who is an English lady who has an apartment here, and she has two girls who are gorgeous! Cami likes to play with Lola who is 5, and Lottie who is only 2 tries to play too- it's adorable. The beach is gorgeous and the water is crystal clear- it really is like paradise! The other day we were on the beach until the sun set having an aperitivo- check out the photo below from the sunset.

Isola dei Gabbiani from the air

Me chilling out in the water

Relaaaaax :)

Silvia, Louise, Lottie and Lola!

Cami and Lola playing in the water

Sunset and aperitivo the other day at Isola dei Gabbiani

Last Sunday was really nice as we spent the day as a family and went to a beach over by Porto Cervo. On the way there, we stopped at this wonderful viewing point over ‘Cala di Volpe’ bay where you could honestly see for miles! The sea seemed to stretch endlessly in front of our eyes, and you could see the coastline and also all of the expensive boats moored off the coast. We couldn’t resist a few photos, and also chilled out for a while at the top with ice creams as there was a lovely little café there- what a fantastic location for a drink and an ice cream don't you think? After admiring the panorama we drove down to the coast and parked up at posh beach club! The beach was lovely, but absolutely packed, so we didn't spend much time in the water until a little later when people started to leave.

Cami and me at the top

Me with my Italian family

The beautiful, but crowded beach!

Another gorgeous place I have visited recently is Porto Rafael! It took me around 2hours to walk there from Palau along a scenic path from where the views were lovely. It was around 35 degrees whilst I was walking in the middle of the day with my ipod on, and I was sweating buckets (disgusting I know!) so maybe that wasn't such a good idea- but still when I finally arrived after taking a few wrong turnings it was worth it! It was so quaint and reminded me of an Italian version of my favourite village in Cornwall- Mevagissey. The streets were all steep and narrow and led down to a tiny little piazza on the waterfront. It was really quiet when I arrived as I think it was during the afternoon 'siesta' time, but this only made the place more beautiful! All of the little houses were white and had gorgeous flowers of every colour on the balconies. I fell in love with one particular building which Silvia later told me was a shop. It had a lovely while curved outside staircase with little lanterns and was surrounded by pink flowers. After a little wander around, I was hot and sticky so decided to go for a swim to cool off before heading back to Palau. It didn't seem to take as long on the way back- probably because I knew the route this time! 

The view from the walk down to Porto Rafael- Palau in the distance

Porto Rafael

A gorgeous little house in the village

Flowers on one of the balconies

Me cooling off!

The cute little piazza

Lovely sign!

Port Rafael from the rocks :)

Me on the piazza!

Last Saturday, seeing as I had the day off like usual, I decided to take my Finnish friend Rose up on her offer to go to visit her in Sassari! I left the house at 6.30am and I was just in time to see the sun rising over the sea! It was so calm at that time of the morning, maybe I should wake up earlier and go for a walk in future? I left Palau at 6.45 on a bus (which was surprisingly on time!) and arrived in Sassari after one change at around 9.30am where Rose was there to meet me. We had a good catch up whilst she showed me around the city (Sassari is where she is au pairing) and to be fair, although it was a nice little city, I didn't find it that attractive. Being inland and with not much to do, I realise why it is not really on the tourist map. The little lanes and squares were however charming and the churches had a Spanish influence. The Duomo was probably the nicest building there, although strangely only the main facade was impressive. According to the guide book it is the island's most imposing example of Baroque architecture, although the rest of it didn't seem to match as it wasn't impressive at all- apparently this part was Aragonese-Gothic from the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.  Seeing as Sassari didn't have enough to offer for a day, Rose suggested we go over to Alghero for a trip which is Sardinia's oldest resort and a major fishing port. I have been wanting to visit for a while so I was really grateful for the opportunity of a day trip. Located around 40km southwest of Sassari, It only took us 30 minutes on the train- although I have to say I found it hard to call this a train! It was more like two cattle boxes put together on wheels! It was ancient, the windows barely opened and to make matters worse it was packed! Luckily Rose and I had two seats (we decided to be Italian and fight to get on first even though my British-self wanted to queue!) and I was thankful when we finally got off in Alghero and I could breathe again! It was honestly hotter in that tin can than outside!

Map of northern Sardinia- See Palau, Porto Cervo, Sassari and Alghero circled :)  

The sun rising- such a tranquil moment!

Piazza Italia in Sassari

The baroque facade of the duomo

Our transport to Alghero- the tin can.

The train station in Alghero was a little way out from the main town, so after a 20 minute walk we arrived at the walls which surround the historic old quarter (centro storico in Italian). We were absolutely starving when we arrived as Rose hadn't had breakfast, and I had eaten mine at 6am, so we set off on the hunt for a nice place to grab a bite to eat. We had just entered the walls when we found a cafe/restaurant selling huge focaccia sandwiches! I practically pounced on the mozzarella and tomato one, and Rose on one with tuna, ham and salad, and we sat down outside on a set of steps to devour them! They were huge, but really delicious and only €3 each- brilliant value! The second we finished eating, we set off to explore and couldn't wait to start taking photos. The city had a Spanish feel to it, and this is apparently due to a 'Hispanicization' which began in 1354. According to my 'Rough Guide', the city came to have such a Catalan feel to it that it became known as ''Barcelonetta'' and this influence is still strong today with flamboyant churches, little piazzas and narrow cobbled streets which are named in both Italian and Catalan! I especially loved the sixteenth-century 'Cattedrale' (cathedral) which has an impressive dome with a clear Spanish influence. We wandered around the streets and went for a walk along the walls which had lovely views of the Mediterranean sea. 

The historic center taken from the port

The impressive multi-coloured dome of the cathedral

Our focaccia sandwiches for lunch!

Me on the city walls

A lovely bicycle in a cobbled street!

A tower of one of the churches

Me chilling out on the city walls

Rose and me!

Me chilling out on top of a catapult!

View from the top of the catapult!

A panorama of the port of Alghero from the walls

Before long it was time for us to get the 'tin can' back to Sassari from where I had to catch a train. I had previously worked out the journey for my return, and unfortunately I knew it wasn't going to be simple! I had to get a train from Sassari to a strange village from where I had to change train and then get another one to Olbia. I then knew I had to get from the train station in Olbia to the airport from where I would get the last coach to Palau at 23.30. The journey however didn't start very well as the train from Sassari was 40 minutes delayed. Due to this delay, the other passengers said that we didn't have to change train in the strange village (how they knew this I don't know!) but anyway, seeing as it was only one line all the way to Olbia and also the last train of the evening, I believed them and just waited for the train to start going again! The most annoying part was that there were no announcements so it really was a waiting game! In the end, the delay was around 30 minutes more, and then finally we arrived in Olbia in the north east of the island. I was really worried that I would have to get a taxi from the train station to the airport from where my coach left for Palau, but luckily as I emerged from the train station a small little airport bus came past! It must have been a miracle! It then went to the airport where I only had to wait half an hour or so for the coach to arrive for Palau. Surprisingly it actually arrived on time (I know- I really was shocked as this is Italy after all and everything is notoriously late!). I eventually got home completely shattered at around 1am after a 20 hour day! It really was worth it though, and I loved visiting Sassari and Alghero with Rose. As I know I have said in another post a few weeks ago, she is the only person I have met who likes photography as much as me! As soon as I get back to the UK I'm going to look for a set of flights to go out to Finland to visit her. She studies in Helsinki, so it would be amazing to have the chance to visit the city and see her again. I've never been that far north in Europe, and you know me- I'm always up for travel! 

Okay that's all from Palau for now, I think my next update might be at the weekend as I have met a Canadian au pair on the online au pair Facebook site who is living only around 30 minutes from Palau and she really wants to come to visit on Sunday. We also might go over to the island of Caprera which is one of the islands in the archipelago of La Maddalena and has some of the nicest beaches in Sardinia! I can't wait! thanks for reading, Buonanotte xxx