Roosink's Europe Road Trip 2013: Sardinia

Hello again everyone,

Since signing off last time we have had a well earned 4 days at a beach on the southern coast of Sardinia at a camping with "the works". Unabashedly bumming around and not playing the tourist. The life of a nomad can be wearisome! In total, 29 campings in the last 6 weeks. I can hear you all commiserating and sighing a collective 'ohhhhhhh'. But you'll be glad to know we managed to recharge ourselves over those days with the help of a beach at our doorstep which kept the kids busy, internet, cafe, restaurant and the best showers to date. Although with today, being around 40 degrees, we are all fine with a cold shower! By the way, we keep an online map updated with every camp site, special camper park or other place we have stayed overnight during our trip. Check it out here (the red stars are the places we have stayed overnight).

Summer has well and truly arrived and with it almost the rush of peak season as the summer break is almost on us. Regardless of that however, it is now Friday night and it is bound to be chockers at every campsite as every Italian and his dog heads off in their own campervan for the weekend. A few nights ago we arrived at 6.30pm on a Sunday night at a campsite and had to wait an hour for a place. It was FULL! It wasn't until 11.45pm until the last Italian campervan left the campsite! That is certainly getting the most out of your weekend.

Departing from Cagliari in Sardinia by boat we again missed spending some time in the port we either departed or arrived in. So we rectified this with a justified stay in Palermo, the capital of Sicily. After a 10 hour overnight boat trip to Palermo we immediately took to the task of finding a 'Camper Contact'. These are basically car parks with water and toilet services for campers, rampant throughout Italy due to their own passion for campervan travelling

Good Morning Palermo, SICILY!

Plenty were leaving as we were arriving in Palermo. Everything but the kitchen sink

PALERMO, one particularly quiet street early Saturday morning not representing the general chaos at all!

Negotiating the narrow roads of a large town was harrowing to say the least at 7.30am on a Saturday morning. On top of that our GPS was sending us on a goose chase. Finally we found a car park just several km's out of town. We had a hunch, from the look of our surroundings, which was confirmed by the owner who warned us of Romanians and robberies. Our camper was however safe for the night he promised as he himself slept there with his wife in their own camper.

Saturday morning and bingo, markets on our doorstep! We exited the campsite into the swirl of people and purchased dinner and fruit and veggies. The swordfish was tempting!

Looooong zuchini

look closely, a swordfish, sword and all! A Sicilian delicacy.

mussels

just 3 euros, who could resist?

Someone passionate decided to rename this street: Bicycle Street

We spent our afternoon siesta at some gardens in Palermo

We then saw the town by bus while fighting off the numerous offers to travel by horse and carriage

The sights of Palermo :

Our 'catch' from the market for dinner :)

The 'scenic' Camper Contact park 2km from centre of Palermo.

post haircut Italian style.

The hilltop town of Monreal, a stone's throw from Palermo. We arrived during the Monreal Marathon!

nuts ...

Noah's Ark

mosaics from the cathedral

Adam and Eve

was impressive to arrive on a Sunday morning during a sermon. Less impressive arriving with 3 kids who had just received balloons filled with rice on a rubber band to bounce around.

view from Monreal

? THE best gelato to date ?

Garlic, the staple

An aquatic park spotted from a distance which couldn't be resisted on a hot day. But how cruel to arrive during 'siesta' - enforced at the fun park!! No swimming for an hour :(