Into Cagliari and the archeological museum!

Wednesday, May 20, 2015

Ciao!

Well, I think that I am working on the world’s longest washing machine wash…you know I just can’t resist a washing machine, and our apartment here just so happens to have one.  So, although we really didn’t need laundry done, the prospect of all clean clothes was just too hard to resist…We were able to find the Italian instructions for the washing machine, and I think I was able to figure out the settings.  [That’s optimistic! – R]   At any rate, this thing has been going on close to forever and shows no sign of stopping!  And, I’m going to have to try and get it dry in the RAIN!  (Officially, the forecast says the rain isn’t going to start until 9 p.m. tonight …but it’s actually raining now, and I have had to close a window or two!)  I have two clothes lines with clothes pegs plus a large drying rack to work with … so we’ll see.  It will be just my luck that we’ll have to put all the wet clothes in the back seat of the car as we head north tomorrow!

At any rate, we decided for dinner last night to just stay in and nosh on what we’d purchased at the grocery store.  We had some lovely pre-cooked artichokes, that were delicious, and we also cleaned up some cheese, salami and prosciutto along with cherry tomatoes and cherries.  An excellent, albeit eclectic, dinner washed down with a very nice dry white Sardinian wine.  I was able to get to bed by 9:30 p.m. which was wonderful!

Up this morning about 7, for our trip into Cagliari, Sardinia’s capital city, and their Archeological Museum.  I had thought about taking the bus in, but Tina, our landlady, suggested that instead we drive into town and park at the train station, which is what we did.  A few interesting corners, of course, as lots of traffic – trucks, buses, etc. in Cagliari proper, but we found the train station with no problem, and there was a very large car park with lots of spaces available. 

Archeological Museum

Nuraghic bronze- reminds me of Turkey!

Bronzetti from the Nuraghe

From there, as the museums are all located in the “Castello” (as in Castle) area on top of the hill, we decided to take a cab … we did a lot of walking uphill yesterday, and thought a day of rest sounded good. 

Bronzetti of a chief

Bronze deer head on bowl

Beautiful necklace of glass beads

(Laundry still going; I’m not sure that there will be any fabric left to hold together!) 

My favorite Nuraghic sculpture figure

Close-up of his head; he smiles!

Stele of Nora, first mention of Sardinia

Up and through the castle walls by about 9:15 a.m. and almost to the door of the museum.  (There was a castle wall in the way, but we just walked around it.)   

The museum itself is small 

and vertical – on four different floors – but contains a great many Sardinian treasures and was well worth a visit.  In fact, there is a fair amount of English explanation available, but still lots and lots of pieces marked only in Italian.  What I had been really wanting to see are the reconstructed nuraghic sculptures that went on display late in 2014.  The nuraghe culture did some absolutely beautiful bronzetti – little bronzes, which are stunning.   

Then, in addition, they did some full-size – 6+ feet or taller – sculptures of people as well as nuraghes.  Some of these pieces were first discovered in 1974 in a farmer’s field, while others were found in junk piles and a myriad of other places.  It is surmised that for some reason, the figures were deliberately destroyed, but by whom and when, no one has any idea.  At any rate, it took some years for the statues to be restored and partially reconstructed.  It is estimated that there were approximately 40 statues in all, and they have been put back into something like 25. 

Three more figures

Detail on a soldier statue

Photo of Cagliari from top of castle

Many pieces are still missing, but there is an interesting article about them on Wikipedia, with the link below:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giants_of_Mont%27e_Prama

The few heads that were still available make for wonderful viewing; just who exactly were these people?

We did have a lovely time at the museum.  There were two different school groups, making typical school group type noises, but it was easy to see that they were as fascinated by the reconstructed statues as we were!  (And at this point, I have to submit an erratum:  In an earlier blog, we pointed out that the nuraghes were made without the use of metal.  This is not so, as we saw today very plainly what talented bronze metal-workers they actually were!  So!  Sorry about that!)

When we walked out of the museum several hours later, guess what?  Rain drops!  Can’t be, though – it’s not 9 p.m. yet!  Well, whatever.  We decided it would be best to take a cab back, as the weather really was rather uncertain.  Robert had been given a card by taxi driver #1, and he asked a gal at a bar on the corner if she would call … which she very nicely did, but using R’s phone; can’t wait to see that bill! 

I forgot about all the flamingos!

They are lovely!

At any rate, the taxi came in just a few minutes and delivered us back to the train station.  We decided to grab a quick sandwich before getting back on the road, and then we were out of town and on our way back to Pula!  Tina, our landlady, has recommended a restaurant for us tonight (as the laundry continues to go around … and around …) – I wonder if our clothes will be out of the dryer by then?

As Robert wants to get some Caltech work done, I will close now for the time being!

More later!

Much love,

m

xxx

PS – I think I may shortly be arrested for clothes abuse…  1h 45m and still going!!!

m

PPS - It actually STOPPED!  Not much left but lint, as R says...