January 21, 2018
The ferry arrived on time at Golfo Aranci, but had some difficulty docking up due to the sever winds. A morning train runs from here to Olbia (the main trailhead in Northeast Sardinia) every day except Sunday. As it was a Sunday, I went looking for a cab, but had no success.
I enquired in a little cafe where I might find a taxi. Both the woman running the cafe and a man sitting nearby said "taxi?" pulled out their phones and dialed. The woman shortly thereafter said "pronto," while the man looked chagrined. The woman then laughed, and gave the man the finger. Anna (apparently the only taxi in town) had chosen to take the woman's call, rather than the man's. I suspect they had had this contest before. There were already two passengers from Nigeria in the cab, so we shared the ride (and the fare) and arrived in Olbia in plenty of time for a cappuccino and to catch the morning train.
The train left Olbia and climbed up and down the hills to the junction with the main line to Cagliari. I enjoyed sticking my head out the window at each stop, but the locals thought it was quite cold and were bundled up in thick coats and scarves. The temperature was in the high 50s.
As the main line train headed south, we climbed to a pass near Macomer. The landscape here was quite rocky, and agriculture seemed focused of sheep. Descending to Oristano, we reached a broad valley running to Cagliari where crops are sown.
Upon arrival at Caglari, I noticed large amounts of spume in the harbor, as the strong Mistral (north) winds whipped the tops off the waves, sending the sea water flying into the air. Walking up to old castle neighborhood where I was staying, I was almost blown over and periodically had to dodge flying debris. I saw a clay pipe that had fallen from the wind and had been smashed on the street (1).
I went for a walk up the hill to the Roman Amphitheater. The theater was carved into a natural hillside in the second century C.E. The ticket booth seems surprised I actually wanted to visit. Large portions of the site were blocked off as they renovated the stage area for events held during the summer months.
I looked up events happening this evening in Cagliari. I came across a listing for "Viaggio tra gli strumenti della musica barocca a Cagliari" accompanied by a picture of a cello and mandolin. The event began in 15 minutes, and was a 10 minute walk at Arta Ruga.
Arta Ruga is a former second floor 2 bedroom apartment, consisting of one long room and two former bedrooms. About 40 people were milling about in the long room. They all seemed to know each and seemed to be mainly friends and family of the musicians. In the narrow corridor, I jostled and knocked down a painting. I put on a sheepish grin, shrugged my shoulders, and put the painting back on the wall. My next standing location was selected to avoid leaning against the light switches, which someone else leaned against later, plunging the space into darkness.
Soon, everyone tried to jam into the back bedroom, where a woman talked for about 45 minutes, playing two songs with flute and violin. The crowd then moved to the front bedroom, where a quartet consisting of 3 baroque flutes (tenor, contralto and soprano) and a cello performed some pieces. While there were a few chairs, I sat on some old egg crates bound together to form a sort of stool. The evening ended with a trio of two mandoliins and a guitar playing three pieces
(1) I was reminded of as book I read a few years ago called Defining the Wind, about the author's search for the origin of the poetic descriptions given to different wind intensities in the Beaufort wind scale (a). Given the broken clay pipe, I estimated the wind to be Force 9: strong/severe gale (47 to 54 miles per hour), for which the following effects are visible: "slight structural damage (chimney pots and slates removed)" (b).
(a) The Beaufort scale was designed to estimate the strength of the wind based on its visible effects at sea and on land.
(b) I subsequently discovered that there were winds gusts to Force 10.
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