Monday, May 14, 2018

Plan B Comes Into Play on a Cagliari Monday


Monday, 14 May, 2018

Today's plan was a good one, as we were going to take advantage of Sardinia's incredible beaches and spend a day at the shore.

Then we looked at the day's weather report calling for wind throughout the day and rain from noon to 3:00 p.m.

NUTS!

Plan B called for more walking around Cagliari's historic center in search of the perfect souvenir, glass of wine, Sardinian cuisine lunch and gelateria.

Of course a few church visits intruded into this plan. 

In Chiesa di Sant'Anna

Sant'Anna's Main Altar

A Sant'Anna side altar

Padre Pio

The buildings facing the
Chiesa Sant'Anna

The base of a Sant'Anna pillar

We headed to the Mercati Santa Chiara to see how the locals shopped for food. It was a small market with some good looking food products.

As we exited the Mercati, we heard angelic voices singing.

It was an adult choir practice at the Chiesa Santa Chiara next door to the Mercati.

We liked them. How about you?

Good grill work but I love the
Danger of Death sign a bit more

Here came the storm from
the West

It was still clear to the East

More interesting architecture

Look Laurie, A CHURCH!

Are looking at me?

No clue anymore which
church this is but we liked it

It had a great ceiling

Who doesn't like a skull
in their church

Artsy graffiti

Long live anarchy!

And yet another church . . .

Interesting use of stained glass lighting

Same spot from a different angle

Jesus at ground level,
a rare sight indeed

I liked this Baptismal Font
quite a bit

Ornate, Catholic churches
are almost always ornate

See what I mean?

Scooter Exit?

I almost expected the doors to explode open and have a Vespa shoot out like a fighting bull at the Las Ventas Bull Ring in Madrid.

How old is this building?

And another church

How many churches can there be in a 15 square block area?

Too many!

The BVM in black?

pilgrim padre

St. Michael slaying a devil's minion

A 1950s teaching Nun holding a
ruler to hit her students towards knowledge

OK, it might be a Cross but I'm just saying . . .

One corner of Cagliari's
Palazzo Civico or City Hall . . .

. . . and another

A fine old building . . .

. . . and a bomb scarred one

The BVM overlooking
Piazza del Carmine

Reportedly Cagliari's
best gelateria

Damn good gelato!

Laurie wanted one

A fantastic lunch at the
Antica Cagliari Ristorante . . .

. . . included a good white wine

We headed back to our apartment but not before entering the Cripta di Santa Restituta.

This crypt's religious history dates from about 310 A.D. and also served as an air raid shelter during World War II.

We were underground in a
big cave similar to our apartment's
cave bedroom only a half block away

Worship Space

A headless saint

A basic WWII monument

The alleged Column of Martyrdom

Eerie Crypt Cross

St. John the Baptist

We were still full from our great lunch after resting for a few hours at home but wanted to get out and about Cagliari one more time.

An antipasto of Sardinian meats, cheeses and bread with some local wine was almost all we needed.

I say almost because we tried to pass by a gelateria but just couldn't. We only had a small and a medium cup of their wonderful gelato.

Moderation in all things you know.   

All that was left was a café
for the road in an ancient bar

 This one would do nicely

We had already tried it Saturday

GREAT atmosphere!

We were done for the night and headed home for a good night's sleep before flying back to Milan tomorrow morning.

Our Cagliari mini-vacation was a good one, now it was time to get back to work.

Meanwhile, back to Italian DII American football . . .

Here are the current standings in the six DII Groups with only two weekends left in the regular season to complete each club's eight game schedule.

Remember, the top two teams in each Group make the playoffs. 


Finally, here are this week's DII Power Rankings. The Skorpions moved up three spots from #10 to #7 after the weekend's win over the Crusaders.

Our regular season finale will come in two weeks against the currently #2 ranked Busto Arsizio Blue Storms who are 7-0 on the season.



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