Sardinia, here we come.

The real adventure begins, early flt from Rome across the Tyrrhenian Sea to Sardinia. Often forgotten when planning an Italian adventure the food bowl of Sardinia is a must for those looking for amazing food products, especially the Sorthern regions that we were heading into. of As a group of 12 we were met by our host for the next 4 days, from Sardinia Flavour and our driver Gino who must have wondered who this crazy bunch from down under were. Terrific driver, gorgeous hostess, things were getting better by the day.

We head north from the southern port of Cagliari the capital of Sardinia, It is located along the south coast of the island and the city itself has about 160,000 inhabitants, the larger urban area around half a million. From the window of the Alitalia flight the old city of Cagliari looked like it would be worth a visit, but not this trip. Always make some reasons to return. Castello is an old district surrounded by a fortified structure. It was build on a high hill for defense purpose. It was founded by Pisans in 13th century. Later it was expanded by Aragonese, Spanish, and Piedmontese. Since it has been constructed, Castello was a location of Sardinian authorities. It stayed this way up to today. If you are looking for souvenirs from your holidays this is the place to go. There is a lot of small shops in Castello. You can easily find here some nice art and antiques done by local artists. Most of buildings in this area come from baroque and neoclassical architecture periods.(Quoted from Wiki Travel)
We are on the road for about 1 hour 45 minutes before heading inland past fruit orchards, vineyards, olive groves , very dry time of the year, we are told everything is green in winter and spring .We visit the pasta making family at their “laboratory” in the town of Mogonongiori where they make the local artisan pasta , Lorighittas linked like a Latvian wedding ring, and another like cous cous pearls, Fregola

its time for our first “feast” and we head out of town to one of the local Agritourisimo properties Sa Matta Frisca. Family owned the family are one of many that operate these 10 hectare properties and they produce everything, fully self sufficient, and offering lunch , dinner and rustic accommodation. And feast we did, Anti pasta of fried vegetable balls, prucuitto, local salami, grilled zucchini,, sourdough bread, deliciously crunchy, eggplant Bruschetta, and sweet little potatoes thinly sliced and fried. another of local interest was marinated thistle stem.

Prima Platter of 2 pastas including the

local Lorighettas , and a delicious tortellini and a ravioli with local cheese.

But wait , there was more, 2 lamb dishes, one slow cooked, and delicious, and one barbequed. all of the above consumed with the local red wine , which was to easy to drink. Now we were getting to know our travel buddies !
and them desserts, a selection of about 5 dishes including the very local celebratory crunchy cakes, crostini (soaked in Lemoncello), and supported by a myrtle grappa, 2 styles of Lemoncello, a basil grappa, the rest are just a haze. Suffice to say the team were suitably impressed, buying 11 bottles of Lemoncello for the journey. Its a big start, and this is only day 2. !!

A very happy crew boarded the bus for the 40 minute drive back to the coast and on to our hotel for the next 3 nights in the province of Oristano