We Found a Little Piece of Heaven

We rented a Smart car in Olbia and drove 38 k to Palau. For a while we thought the car was smarter than us because we couldn't figure out how to unlock it! But we finally arrived. We are staying at a lovely B&B owned by an English woman who married a Sardenian.

Palau is where my old friend Paolo lives with his family. He and Enza have both owned bars/bistros for years but this year they decided to open a restaurant in the little town of Porto Pozzo a bit further west than Palau. They began renovating a building in April and were finally able to open the restaurant in mid July. Here is a picture of their new restaurant. In the back, is a big patio covered by a large tent, surrounded by flowers and herbs.

And here they are along with John...... After the most scrumptious meal ever! Imagine hand made ravioli, delicate and light, filled with fresh fish or ricotta with lemon. Oh...almost forgot...our antipasti was tuna carpaccio ....yum! After the ravioli we had a tray full of lightly fried calamari, gamberoni( jumbo shrimp) and fish. All this followed by Sardis.... A large and delicate sweet ravioli filled with soft cheese, fried lightly and covered with honey.

Today Paolo took us on a hike to look at a large piece of land he is in the process of buying. This man has dreams! I mean....really big dreams.... He wants to turn this piece into a B&B or a small hotel as well as togrow all the veggies for his restaurant. When we were hiking around the land, we heard at least 7 different ideas....but John and I are just the same. We always have dreams and ideas, sometimes we achieve them and sometimes not. Here is the view from the top of his land.

Coming back from the beach this afternoon, we noticed a little sign for Porto Rafael.. And decided to take that fork. We are naturally curious, especially about little, out of the way places. Cities are not especially interesting for us but little towns and villages near the sea or along a river seem to have a special quality to them. The road to this town led up and around a high ridge, past an old fort perched high above and down along the edge of a cliff falling down to the sea. As we approached the center we noticed several unusual houses tucked into the trees and behind huge boulders. The houses were clearly stucco and usually white but instead of the usual square or rectangular shape, the walls and roof swept up to the chimney or around behind a giant rock. The lines of these houses were curved instead of linear. In fact, they looked like houses built for hobbits. Each house took advantage of the natural surroundings and were tucked in behind trees and rocks so that you couldn't really see the whole house, just a roof or a gate or a wall.

You can park above the village and walk down through the small piazza, past a miniature church, following the stone walkway until you walk under a bridge and enter a larger piazza next to the water. It is lovely with overflowing flower baskets, trees full of blossoms and colorful umbrellas spread out across the piazza. The sea sparkles below and you can hear the clink of glasses and plates in the few restaurants tucked under the cliffs. It is ia little bit of heaven.

 

 

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