Sardinia

Day 10 of our cruise last month saw us arrive in Sardinia, an Italian island we have not visited before. We decided to take another Tui excursion, Flavours of Sardinia. This included visiting an olive farm and museum, an ancient church and a vineyard, perfect.

Leaving the ship at 9am our guide was superb telling us all about Sardinia's history and it's own language. She informed us that there were two coaches for this excursion and we were the lucky ones as we were visiting the vineyard first... wine for breakfast!

Cantina Audarya was about half an hour inland, what a beautiful country to drive through. The views from the vineyard were amazing.

We had a super tour of the winery, including seeing some interesting shaped vats for making dessert wine which apparently add to the concentration. The vast stainless steel vats stood proud in the fermenting room. I always love to see the stored barrels of wine, they look inviting with an air of anticipation.

After our tour we settled in the tasting room which had been laid ready for us, each place having a platter of cheese and meats with a delicious bread that was as thin as a crisp.

Our first wine was 100% Vermentino,  pale straw colour with citrus flavours finishing with a touch of minerality. The wine was so clean and delicate but with lasting flavours.

Our next wine was a rosé made from 100% Cannonau, a grape I haven't tried before. It was very similar to the white wine but with added tropical fruit flavours.

The final wine was my favourite, again made from Cannonau but left to mature on the skins to give a rich deep red colour. It has great depth of fruit flavour along with light spicy notes, I really enjoyed this wine.

Our vineyard visit was a great way to start the day with beautiful views, lovely food and amazing wines. We would have loved to have bought some home but as with the whisky in Gibraltar the bottle weight would have caused a suitcase problem.

Not far from the vineyard was the next stop on our excursion. Driving through the narrow streets our coach arrived at Dolianova Cathedral which is dedicated to Saint Pantaleon. This Roman Catholic church is one of the main Romanesque buildings in Sardinia, it is said to be over 800 years old.

Outside, although a huge building with a dominant tower, it isn't an amazing Cathedral, and inside it was also quite sparse but with some amazing features.

The gems in this Cathedral are on the walls, painted frescos that have survived 100s of years. They are open to the elements and not behind glass to protect them. The Tree of Life must have been amazing when first completed and the full alter would have been stunning.

After the Cathedral we visited an olive oil producer, passed down through the generations producing oil in the traditional grinding method not pressed like many modern producers.

A tour of the production area was followed by an education in tasting, such an enlightenment as I knew very little about olive oil. We tasted olive oil, lemon olive oil and chilli olive oil (not me). The flavours were amazing and surprisingly there was no oily after taste or texture in our mouths. 

Our excursion in Sardinia was a super way to see more of the country, it's certainly a place we would like to visit again. 

As we had some time before departure we walked into Cagliari, a busy city on quite a hill. There was no way we were going to miss having an Italian pizza and to my delight the four cheese pizza had no tomato base ... delicious, especially as accompanied by a glass of Italian wine. A great end to our day in Sardinia. 

Keeping up with my sunset and time tracker I've added Sardinia.

Funchal 20.42 UK time

Gibraltar 21.03 UK time plus 1 hour

Motril 20.57 UK time plus 1 hour

Palma 20.39 UK time plus 1 hour

Cagliari 20.15 UK time plus 1 hour