Alghero

Recovering from the hard walking around Rome, the next day we arrived off of the port of Alghero in Sardinia.

Alghero is a charming town of about 45,000 people, on the upper west side of the Island of Sardinia, with quite a bit of history, nice architecture, and a really nice beach in walking distance of the port.

We decided not to do a shore excursion but explore it on our own, as it is rather small and easy to navigate and we felt like wandering about on our own time.  I used the GPSMycity App to create a custom walking tour.

First we had to get to Alghero.  The port cannot dock a cruise ship, so we went by ship tenders, which were actually the lifeboats (note the empty davits in the picture above).

The good:  It was a really neat ride and well organized.

The bad: You got in a tight line to get on the tender with people who were going to be on the tender with you, on the tender you then had to put on an N94 type mask in a rather hot and stuffy interior, and then as soon as you hit the dock you could take the mask off.  This didn't make a heckuva lot of sense, but that's covid regs for you.  Had a nice chat with a British family on board the tender - their eldest and ours were going off to colleges after the cruise and it was a very pleasant chat. 

So we arrived and got off the tenders on what would be yet another sunny and really hot day:

 A nice historic tower greets you at the port:

This used to be the entrance and exit to the walled city of Alghero from the port, and it is now a museum and visitor's center.

We walked through the streets and visited quite a few shops:

And saw the central market with lots of produce, including fresh caught fish from the sea:

We walked along and saw a memorial to Italy's Airmen:

The inscription translates to: "In memory of all the aviators who in arms and in service for the supreme ideal of the homeland."

After that the walking tour was cut short due to the heat and a 3-1 vote to hit the beach immediately to cool off, and so we walked to the beach, which was a short walk from town and the port.

It's a very nice beach and we had a great time swimming in the Mediterranean, lying on the sand, and sipping some cold beverages. 

We then wandered back to the port and got in line for the tenders taking poeple back to the ship.

We waited by the Torre Della Madalina, also known as Garibaldi's tower, as the famous Giuseppe Garibaldi had visited Alghero, arriving at this point in 1855.

 

The long line gave us time to admire the city walls and try to get some shade. 

 Princess crew members came along offering people umbrellas/parasols/or sunshades (Actually they all the same thing but the game with the crew member was you got to pick which one you wanted) for shade as we stood waiting to board.

On the upside, for the tender on the way back we got to go on top of the tender and enjoy some fresh air and get a good look at the city and harbor as we motored away:

 

A nice and very relaxed day, especially compared the almost endless amount of walking throughout the rest of Italy under a very hot sun.