Today was spent exploring the capital of Sardinia - Cagliari. First stop was at the Parco Naturale Regionale Molentarguis Saline - Molentargius in Sardinian language means "donkeys handlers", as the salt extraction was the richest industry of the Cagliari area for millennia, the salt being transported by donkeys. The park is a wetland extending over an area of about 1600 hectares surrounded by the urbanised areas of Cagliari and the other towns of the metropolitan area, including where I am staying Quartu Sant'Elena. I was looking for Flamingos, but as it turned out I ended up taking the best photos of this amazing bird on the way home about 150m from my hotel! A selection of flamingo images below.
My initial impressions of Cagliari and its hilltop castello were pretty mixed. The town does not have the attractive features of most Italian cities - in fact, it's pretty bland. That is until you start wandering around the narrow lanes and realise a) its easy to get a park which is free on Sunday b) the people are super friendly, and c) the food is sensational. Today's lunch consisted of smoked tuna, sword fish and mullet roe (weird but tasty) followed by the best tuna steak I have ever eaten (cooked for about 30 seconds cause it's so fresh), washed down with some wine from a local cantina. More exploring tomorrow.
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