Today we explored the mountain valley around Ogosoro. We didn’t have a set plan except to visit the local costume museum in the regional capitol of Nuoro.
We arrived at the museum and the ticket seller asked if I was over 65 I said yes and she nodded, she then pointed at Ton and asked if she was over 65, I said yes, and in a skeptical tone, she asked again over 65?, I said yes again, she then asked a third time and I said yes and told her Tons age. She then gave us both the senior rate. I don’t know if I should be insulted, but Ton was also annoyed instead of flattered not because the lady did not believe she was a senior, but because I told the ticket taker her age.
The museum had a nice explanation of the local history here in the most sparsely settled part of Sardinia. While Sardinia has had many rulers over its history, many of the rulers didn’t make much of an effort to assert much control over this region due to its inaccessibility and small population. So the people of this region are known for their strong sense of independence to this day.
The museum was very well done, and the exhibits were fun, but it was small and we were thru it pretty quickly. We had driven thru a lot of the city to get here, and while Nuoro was the center of government for the area and the largest city we did not see anything else that we were particularly interested in, so we decided to move on.
We headed to Dorgali because it is the one of the centers for Cannonau wine which is the dominant grape on Sardinia. There is some debate about whether the grape is native to Sardinia or was brought here when the Aragonese from Spain controlled the island, it is very similar to the Grenache in Aragon. Prior to our wine search we had another very good lunch in Dorgali which maintains Sardinias 100% record for good meals.
After lunch we set out for a winery Ton had found on line. When we arrived at the winery after a lovely drive through the Sardinian countryside we missed the turn into the tasting area, and came across a worker cleaning winery equipment. He flagged us down pointed us in the right direction, and then met us at the door to pour us wine.
The wine was excellent, and thanks to google translate we were able to enjoy conversing with the owner. We have been using a lot of google translate on this trip, particularly in Sardinia. The hostess of the bed and breakfast doesn’t speak English or German, so this morning at breakfast some German guests and us enjoyed speaking to her, but it was done using Google.
By the time we finished our tasting it was time to head back to Ogosoro. Today I really enjoyed driving around in the mountain valleys in our little Panda. The traffic was very light, the countryside with the wide valley framed by high mountains was beautiful, and the roads were very good.
We returned for another roof top dining experience. I went down to the local market, and managed to order 100 grams of salami in Italian, though my bluff was called when the lady behind the counter hit me with a blast of Italian which required googles intervention to sort out. It turns out she was asking if I wanted a bag to put the meat in.
