I ate an octopus

Yup, there you have it folks. I ate octopus. And tuna. And squid. And sardines. And prawn. And the list goes on and on. We just returned from a two day excursion to the southwest part of the island. Sunday morning we packed into the bus and hit the highway! We left the coastal plain near the city and headed into the hills. Too little sleep and a lack of caffeination resulted in me dozing off on the ride. When I woke up, we were by the sea. The coast was rocky, unlike anything I have ever seen and absolutely beautiful. I had no trouble staying awake as we wound along curvy mountainside roads to our first destination, Porto Flavia.

Views from the bus.

We learned that Porto Flavia was constructed to transport materials from mines in the area to the sea. It's a tunnel straight through a hill to a cliff by the sea. The rocky coastline made it impossible to dock ships and load them along the coast, so ships pulled to the cliff and were loaded by a boom. This allowed for the export of the valuable lead, silver, barium, tin, and other materials found in the mountains nearby. The tunnel was 600 meters long, and when we reached the end we were above the water, looking at Pan de Zucchero (Sugarloaf) Island.

Pan de Zucchero

Afterwards we splashed around on the beach and enjoyed ice cream before heading to lunch. We drove a few kilometers down the road to a restaurant were we enjoyed a seafood lunch that included more fish than I have ever eaten in my life. I ate so much antipasto that by the time the main course came around, I was fit to burst. (Spoilers: I didn't burst). Let's be honest the photos are more important than my poor descriptions so see the photos below.

We spent the evening at an agroturismo farm. I got to pet horses and chase sheep around a field before indulging in another massive meal. Sleep came easy with a full belly and more than enough wine. In the morning we learned to make to Sardinian dishes- gnochetti and a cheese dessert. The pasta we rolled by hand on little grooved boards. My large fingers aren't quite cut out for the delicate work of making pasta, but thanks to the feedback of Annalisa I started rolling gnochetti like a pro. The desserts were ravioli shaped, with a fatty shell and sheep and goat cheese in the middle. They were fried and then drizzled with honey. We sent our creations to the cooks who prepared our food and we got to enjoy our handiwork for lunch.

Secret ingredient: love

 I'm off to bed, uploading all of these pictures of food is making me feel guilty about my indulgence. Maybe if I'm not too lazy I'll go for a run in the morning before class.