So, yes. There we are, left behind to watch our ferry sail off for Sicily. Our rental car waits to be picked up the next day in Palermo, and the next ferry for Sicily goes to Tripani two days from now.
We are feeling pretty stupid right now too. We must have looked at the clock a zillion times that day, patiently waiting for 1730. Strolling around town laying in the sun and having a nice little read at the park until 630. We are dumb.
There's nothing for it but to find a place to stay and get to an internet cafe. We cancel the car reservation and look up a few B&Bs. Then we check flights. There are so many cheap flights we think maybe we can find something, but there is nothing. We double check the ferry schedule, but the troll and the ticket lady told the truth. Nothing for Sicily for two days. The prospect of being stuck in the city of our defeat for two more days is too depressing. We decide instead to strike a course for the mainland. There's a ferry leaving at 7:00 the next evening.
A new plan laid, we head out into the dark to find a bed for the night. That of course turns out to take about 2 hours longer than expected. Bed and breakfasts in Cagliari are pretty spread out, and basically you are ringing on someone's doorbell asking for a place to stay. At 9pm, it kinda gets too late for surprise drop ins. Finally, tho we find a great deal at La Perla Hotel for 55 euro.
We're both dying by this time, it's so muggy out and those packs were so so heavy. Even Mike is half dead. Luckily, the woman speaks Spanish and getting settled was that much easier. We spent the rest of that night drinking off the wine we had bought for the ferry and smoking the last of my clove supply from Sophie.
The next morning we're a little rough from the wake we held for our loss of Sicily. But, the hotel lady agrees to hold our bags while we wait for the our departure time, so we have a day of freedom to roam Cagliari a bit more. It's really not a bad place to be stuck. Not so big that you're getting run over all the time, and not so small that you're done in 2 hours.
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| There's wee Mike, way in the bottom left. This tower is an old jail. From Italy: Cagliari |
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| Right to Left: Smart Car, Delivery truck, regular Italian car. From Italy: Cagliari |
That is pretty much it. We wait til the appropriate time (there is no way either of us will screw up on a 24 hour clock again ever) and slink back to the gates. I say slink, because we both feel really stupid, both for missing the boat and for letting the troll see us so panicked. I wave our brand new ferry tickets sheepishly at him and he actually cracks a smile and laughs at little bit. I am pretty sure he was still laughing at us, but whatever. We were on the boat and off the island.
That night, we slept with our camp mats and sleeping bags on the ferry floor. We only woke up once and it must have been storming out because the ferry was humping up and down 10 times more than the earthquake in Rome. And that boat was a really big boat. I wanted to go to the deck to have a look, but I was too tired and too comfortable. The rocking of the boat just made me sleepier... and the next morning, at about 9am, we were at the mainland.
See the rest of our Cagliari and ferry photos here.
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