Sardinia Part V: Turning 49 and the End of our Vacation

I turned 49 while we were in Alghero. As a joke, when I made the reservation, I wrote in the comment box, "Monday is my wife's birthday. Anything you could do to help make it special would be greatly appreciated. Thanks." I was thinking that perhaps they'd give us a nice room, an upgrade or something like that. No such luck. We ended up in a lousy room with the worst terrace in the place. Oh well. But the sweet older Italian woman who ran the place did go to the local florist and arrange for a vase full of gorgeous flowers to be put in our room. Of course, Doug ended up paying for them and we couldn't bring them home, but it was still lovely!
I wasn't so excited about my birthday this time around. 49 feels awful. I believe that 50 will be a breeze but 49 bothered me. Doug was very, very sweet all day and I consoled myself by eating gelato on the city walls. Do I look like I'm almost 50? At least I have a handsome husband!
The sunset on the evening of my birthday was breathtakingly beautiful and that was the best present I could've hoped for...being able to sit in the setting sun on a beach in Italy with my sweetie. It just doesn't get better than that. So, I survived the passing of the calendar on my day of birth once again and now I'm trying to live fully into the next half century of life.
We ran into the funniest sight on our last evening in town. A large group of Asian brides and grooms were doing a photo shoot on the old city walls! We think it must've been a magazine or bridal wear promotional. Or it was a big group wedding. But a Tuesday night? Probably a promotion. They all looked quite smart decked out in their wedding finery!
We continued to eat pizza in Alghero because we just found it too good to be true. The last place we had dinner was outside of the old city, again, a local joint and we enjoyed some fun with waiter as we watched Who Wants to be a Millionaire in Italian seeking to first understand the question and then come up with the right answer. We had little success but enjoyed the local banter!
Our final two days in Sardinia proved to be amazing. The wind was too strong to sit on the beach the day before we left but we could hunker down poolside and enjoy the heat of the sun since the wind was blocked. It was great to sit in the sun and feel its warmth penetrating my skin. I was taking on a small sun tan by now so that made me feel better as well. I was reading My Life in France by Julia Child at the time and found it to be moving, funny, delightful and wonderful. It was the perfect read for a vacation.
On our final day, we checked out of the hotel and had the day to kill as our flight didn't leave until 7.00 p.m. We drove to another beach, parked the car and decided to walk along the coast. It was actually hot! We found a little place that rented beach chairs, had showers and a snack bar and decided that this was the only way for us to kill this day. So finally, on our last day, we got to lie in the sun on the beach! We even took a dip in the sea making our Italian beach holiday complete!
Those final 4 hours in the sunshine really helped erase the disappointment that we felt earlier in the week. Sardinia is a lovely place with great views and beautiful beaches. Alghero was a surprisingly wonderful little city and all in all, we were happy for our little getaway.

Sardinia Part IV: Alghero

Given the lack of warmth and things to do in the more remote areas of Sardinia, we decided that for our final two night we’d head to the big city of Alghero. We were pleasantly surprised by the charming old town, city walls and impressive marina. We saw this house and could immediately see ourselves enjoying living there!

We also saw the world's smallest car!Upon arrival, it seemed as if our luck had changed and the sun was shining brightly and the thermometer was rising. We dropped out stuff at our not so great hotel with a lousy terrace and dashed out to the beach, which was only a 5 minute walk from out hotel. It was great for about a half hour and then the wind began to blow and the temperature dropped. We just couldn't catch a break on the weather! We dashed back inside and decided to go and explore the old city. The sun came out once again and we enjoyed a beautiful evening. In fact, the evening sunshine was so warm that we actually thought we might be able to take a dip. So we dashed back to the hotel, changed our clothes one more time and ran out to the beach. Unfortunately, the wind was up again and the air temperature was just chilly enough to keep us out of the water! Even so, the setting sun over the water was reminiscent of my days sitting on Newport Beach in California watching the sun come down over the water. We sat on the sand for a good while and enjoyed the beauty of the changing sky as another day ended.

Having eaten 4 course meals the previous 2 nights, we decided that pizza and a cold beer were a good idea. We trekked back into the old city, avoided the overly touristy restaurants and found a local pizza joint that served up great food! It wasn't nearly as cold as it had been in the mountains and we were cautiously optimistic that the following day would provide an opportunity to be out in the sunshine!