Thursday 19^th February – Cagliari (Iglesias and Carnivale begins)

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This morning we decided it was time to get up and out, so we walked down into town and took the train to Iglesias, about an hour north west of Cagliari. 

As we travelled along, it started to rain but by the time we arrived at Iglesias, the rain had gone and the sun was emerging from behind the clouds.  Iglesias has a mining history and we found a statue reflecting this in the main square (Richard also managed to find a chandlery en-route).  Then, further into the town, we found remains of the old city walls with fortifications from medieval times.

As we walked into the old town we were surprised at how empty the centre was.  OK, we arrived at lunchtime as things were shutting for the afternoon but we were there for three or four hours and hardly saw a soul.

At the far end of Iglesias, beyond the city wall, we found a road up the steep hill to Chiesa di Buon Cammino, the white-painted church overlooking the town.  It was a long and hot climb past numerous roadside shrines (there was even religious ‘graffiti’ painted on the tarmac road).  At the top we were rewarded by good views across the town and along the valley towards Cagliari.  The Church itself was not open to visitors and even had security gates and security cameras.

We came back down and found a café for lunch before exploring more of the town centre where we found the town hall with the old cathedral opposite it.  Outside the town hall was a platform, we think in readiness for the carnival celebrations that start this evening here in Sardinia and run through to Shrove Tuesday.

On our way back to the train station we found a park and were about to go in when the heavens opened and hail rained down on us.  We ran for shelter under the awning of a shop and, between hail storms, made our way back to the train station. 

The journey back was a little more challenging – we had worked out that we needed to change trains but fortunately all went well.

We reached Cagliari just before the start of the evening carnival celebrations.  As we came out of the station, we noticed people in fancy dress up one of the side roads and followed them to where the procession was gathering.  As we waited the heavens opened and as we headed up towards Piazza Yenne to look for some shelter we bumped into Cape coming the other way who had also decided to brave the inclement weather (the band took shelter down the hill under one of the bus stops).

When the procession started it was better than expected; despite the rain there were many people in costume parading through the town.  We all walked along with it having great fun, throwing confetti and having it thrown over us.  Then David was asked by one of the ladies to play the King; bizarrely this involved him putting on a dress and sitting on a small cart pulled by a tiny donkey which was being helped in its mighty task by a number of humans. 

By the time we came back to Pyxis we were exhausted.

Iglesias

Cagliari:  Start of Carnvale

© Pyxis 2009