Day Ninety - April 5

Before I write about today I thought I would provide a brief note on the weather situation yesterday, April 4. Again the upper deck was closed due to severe weather conditions and strong winds. The high temperature was 12.5C or 54.5F, wind speed 34.2 knots (39.4 miles/hour), apparent wind speed strong gale 45 knots (51.8 miles/hour) and large waves of 11.5 feet or 3.5 meters. All the pool deck furniture had been removed and pushed to a corner of the deck and tied down. It looked very eerie. So we were obviously not able to walk our daily laps on the outside deck. But Janice was diligent and went to the gym as she usually does on sea days. As for myself, I seem to never find it lol.

Now onto our day in Cagliari. Ciao e benvenuto Hello and Welcome. This is our first stop in Italy and the island of Sardina. Sardina is the second largest island in the Mediterranean Sea after Sicily. The island itself has a population 1.6 million with the port of Cagliari having approximately 160,000 inhabiltants.

We cannot believe that this is the half point of our journey - and how fast the time has gone. It was good to get on land and start exploring again.

Our arrival time into the port was 09:00 with all aboard 16:30 and departure of 17:00.

The Insignia Senior Management provided us with information regarding the use of masks as we enter Europe. "It is required by all passengers to wear FFP2/KN95 facemasks and maintain physical/social distance in indoor venues."

"Oceania Insignia requests that all passengers please wear their facemasks and maintain physical/social distancing while in the Barista Bar, Insignia Lounge, Casino, Martinis Bar (the chairs are still there but you are unable to sit down), Horizons Lounge, and any indoor venues while you enjoy the company of your friends and fellow guests."

With this now in effect, everyone was wearing masks again and notices were on the doors advising you of this when returning to the inside of the ship.

We decided to go exploring by ourselves today when the ship was cleared by the local authorities. Janice found a small train (although it was technically an open air bus since it was on the road and not on tracks) which travelled around the city taking 50 minutes and at a cost of10 euros. The meeting point for the train was Piazza Yenne, a short walk from the cruise terminal. It's journey took us to the highest point in the city for excellent views. Like many European cities, the roads were very narrow and with cars parked along the way the train driver needed to be very cautious. One thing we have been noticing is that the cars are very small compared to our massive ones and SUV's and that most have dents in them, especially the taxis.

Completing the journey with a return to Piazza Yenne we decided to find a local coffee house for coffee (Janice) and hot chocolate for me (Coffee for Janice was 1.50 euros while my hot chocolate was 3.50 euros). Afterwards it was back touring and walking back to the top of the city because we had not done enough walking.

Unfortunately many of the nice architecture and buildings were marred by graffiti which is such a shame.

On our way back to town Janice wanted to do some shopping and decided on a necklace however when we returned in the middle of the afternoon we found that this shop and many other shops in the town were closed. We had forgotten about the European afternoon siesta which is daily from 1 to 4:30. It seems the shops open for four hours in the mornings then reopen from 4:00pm to 8:00pm which is why the Europeans have late evening dinners. Note to self - should you wish to shop make sure you don't wait!

Our next port of call Trapani, Sicily tomorrow is 177 nautical miles away.