Fall vacation

As our first snow falls here in Zurich (really, snow), I am thinking longingly of our Sardinia beach and hiking fun -- amazingly, just little over a week ago. Here are some pictures...

Flying early morning from Zurich to Sardinia (all of 90 minutes) we saw snow-capped mountains jutting through a sea of pink-orange clouds as the sun was rising. It was beautiful -- an ocean of clouds amidst the Glarner Alps.

We flew on Edelweiss airlines -- a definite step up from our Phili-Zurich American Airlines experience. They were particularly attentive to the kids, who recieved all kinds of toys, markers, coloring books, etc. Elliot is displaying a Ratatouille Rat made from bread and raisens that was part of his coloring book/breakfast package (ok, maybe not so appetizing, but noteworthy nonetheless for its fancifulness given the state of airline food these days...and also for the blatant commercialization).

We arrived at the Hotel Villa Margherita in Golfo Aranci (NE coast) on the north coast of Sardinia by about 9am. Despite the travel agent's assurances that it "family appropriate," it had more the appearance of a romantic getaway for two (if you are planning such a getaway, take note!).

Sardinia is an amazing land -- rugged mountains, rocky landscape surrounded by a beautiful coast, clear waters....

We found a beautiful little beach, Cala Moresca, that we walked to several times and went on some wonderful hikes--above are some pictures from Cala Moersca and also the maître d'hôtel, who lead a hike one morning around the nearby mountains. Below -- some pictures from the local market in Golfo Aranci and one of the sand castles that we built...

On our last day we visited the Nuraghe Cabu Abbas near Olbia -- the ruins of a large stone wall that encircles the top of a high hill with a tower (called a Nuraghe) at the center. The structure dates back to prehistorical times -- 1300 - 1200 BC, built by the Nuragic civilization as a strategic post from which they could guard against invaders coming from the sea or land and was used later by the Carthagians and Romans. This set against the rocky landscape and the coast in the distance was just an amazing landscape. After a hike all the way around the wall, we sat by the base of the tower and Brian read a chapter from C.S. Lewis' Voyage of the Dawn Trader, which seemed quite fitting given our adventures and view of the sea below.