Editor's Note: Today we are posting two days back to back. Last night we stayed in a room on a beautiful vineyard located in the country side, but we had no internet. To check out yesterday's post scroll down or click here.
Today we had a crazy day. We started out with a lovely breakfast at the vineyard and then hopped in the car. Since it rained last night and it was still overcast and misty, we decided to change our plans a bit and see some things that were inland, and save the coast/beaches for tomorrow.
Our first stop a site near a town called Fluminimaggiore (what a cool name). We took a long a windy road and on the way we saw signs for ancient temple ruins, so we took a quick detour. On the side road to see the temple, we nearly ran into a cow (with horns??) and a baby calf walking down the middle of the road. Not sure who was more freaked out, to tell you the truth. I snapped a quick picture and then we drove a couple of feet to the entrance to the Tempio di Antas. This temple has been here since the 3rd century AD, and was only discovered in 1967. At the base of the Roman temple there is are the remains of a second temple from the 6th century BC. Up a short hill we were able to see the Roman quarries where they got the rocks to build the temple. Probably the best part of the visit was that we were actually able to get up close and personal with the temple, unlike those that we saw in Paestum, a few weeks ago. 
Our next top was a show stopper. Just down the road about 10 minutes, we arrived at the Grotta de Su Mannau. We had to kill about an hour before the tour started, but was totally worth it. We climbed up a hill and then entered a huge cave - 8,500 meters long, and we took a tour to see 500 meters worth. It was incredible. It looked like it went forever and the stalagmites/stalagtites were amazing. I tried to get some pictures that can't really capture it, but they are probably better than any description I can try to make. Take a look at the photo album by clicking the link at the end of the post.From the grotto, we drove through some amazing countryside, where I noticed something that I thought was really exciting. (Short digression: the reason we came to Sardinia in the first place is because last year I found a "learn to speak Italian" TV show on a public television station. Each episode taught some grammer concept and then showed a video of something about Italy. One episode they had a segment on Sardinia, and everything they showed looked incredible, so I made a mental note that I wanted to visit this place. One thing they showed was people harvesting cork from cork-trees). So, as we were driving along, I noticed a lot of trees with the bottom half of their trunks cut off. I thought that these must be the cork trees. We found a spot to pull over, and it was! The bark of the tree is actually cork - and feels just like a cork - has some give to it. I pulled some off of a tree to keep.
We drove through several tiny towns, which pop up out of nowhere. During the middle of the day everything seems like a ghost town - nothing is open and no one is out....Finally we reached the third site of the day - called Nuraghe Su Nuraxi. The Nuraghe are the ancient people of Sardinia, and they built about 80 towers all over the island for defensive purposes. The tower/site we visited today is the only one that is completely excavated so is the most impresive. Its from 1500 BC, and had a village built around it from about the 8th to 6th centuries BC. Ever since about 300 AD the site was abandonded and covered with dirt, so it looked just like a hill. In 1951 it was excavated and several parts, including one of the towers on the site, were in perfect condition. We had a great tour guide and basically got to go all over the towers, inside and out. Its just so hard to imagine people living here 3,500 years ago. From this site, we drove just five minutes to get to the next site, which is the La Giara di Gesturi, a high basalt plateau with great views of the landscape below. The main reason we wanted to go here is because it is the only place in Sardinia where the wild cavallini live - mini horses. Who doesn't want to see that?? Well, we didn't get to see the mini horses, but on the way to the plateau we had a classic movie experience. We were stuck behind a herd of sheep in the middle of the road. Mike tried to get them to move out of the way by driving up behind them, but they seemed to just assume he was herding them up the hill, so we weren't getting anywhere. Finally I decided to get out of the car and see what I could do. I still can't believe what a good sheep herder I am (check out the video below)! Those sheep got out of the road so fast it was unbelievable. I guess its in my blood?
We drove back through several towns to get to our hotel for the night in the small town of Guspini. Luckily, this place had a restaurant and a gelateria (although everything did shut down around 9:30 PM). We're typing up the blog and getting ready for some more beach-hopping tomorrow!
Gelato Gusti per il Giorno:
Mike: Amarena e Stracciatella
Aviva: Too much food for dinner....though that didn't stop Mike.
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