Fall - Day trips: walks around town and a festival not far from here...

Fall is that time of year where it's not to hot yet not to cold to do outdoorsy things; For example, Sundays are perfect for walking around town, the City is practically a Desert. Here are a few pictures of one of the old quarters of Cagliari called Stampace. Typicall small alleys, roads, and small homes are the common denominator here! Stampace is the oldest quarter in Cagliari. It has existed since at least the 11th century and today, strolling through its streets, each with its own church, you get the feeling of being in the “real Cagliari”. Its street plan has remained unchanged since pre-medieval times.

Stampace Quarter

Saint Anne's Church

Enrico can almost wrap his arms around the old Fiat CinqueCento!

Small Windows...

...and Doors!

Typicall small homes

Saint Efisio Church (Patron of Cagliari)

Me in a tiny-tiny alley

The Bastion of St. Remy - once built between 1899 and 1902
then bombarded during WWII and reconstructed in 1958

Inside the Galleria

After walking around the City we went to a small town named Decimomannu Every year at the end of September in this village a few kilometres from Cagliari, the memory of Santa Greca is celebrated who lived between the III and Iv century B.C. and martyrised during the Roman persecutions.
Every year, for five days the celebration attracts big crowds (on Sunday there were about 30,000 people) around the small Romanic church, built in the XIV century and later reconstructed during the middle of the XVI where she had been presumably buried. The whole village is involved in many events, both religious and non: processions and stands take possession of the village during these five days, together with thousands of believers and tourists coming from the island.
The religious celebrations, which are daily tolled by the holy masses, begin on Friday night with the dressing of the Saint: it is an ancient ceremony, with the mothers and wives of the “obrieri” (the festival organizers), dress the simulacre with the most precious clothing and jewels. On Saturday evening, in the square facing the church, is the reavling of the Saint's statue, usually kept inside the little Romanic church with her relics, that instead come from the church of Sant’Antonio Abate. On Sunday morning there is a solemn procession with many folk groups from the entire South of Sardinia, ther passes through the village streets accompanying the Saint and the relics; the procession is repeated the following day in a more intimate way, to accompany the return of the Saint to her church. The celebrations end on Tuesday afternoon with the separation of the relics from the Saint statue and their return to the church.
At sunset (my favorite part) TONS of barbacues light up with red embers where long skewers with eals and piglets spin, and grills are covered with mullets (fish), sausages, and the local magarcui bread is flavoured with salt and olive oil. There are music concerts, theatre shows, square dances and fireworks but I'll be honest, this year we only went for the food! The cool thing is that you buy all your food from the different BBQ stands, and then you pay other people that have organized tables and chairs for your place to sit, table setting and drinks.

St. Greca Church

A cheese stand and stuffed wild boar

BBQ with pigglets

BBQ with fish & eals

BBQ Quails

BBQ fish

Olives YUM!

At our table

Yes, that is a small heart, a pigglets heart to be exact,
and yes I did eat it!

A view from outside our table

The name of our table stand was - My. Happy's cottage

Beautiful Fireworks show 20min. Long!

These Fireworks Remind me of
California Palm Trees!