Where have we been?

We seem to have been away from this blog for an awfully long time.
 I'm afraid I have no excuse for most of our absence, beyond the* obvious one of being far too busy home-educating, to write about home-educating.

Last week, though, we were away: thoroughly, emphatically, unarguably away.
 We were, in fact, in Sardinia**.

Sardinia is a rather small island which gives the impression that a rather larger country has become crumpled up in the wash.
 This is due, not only to its swooping landscapes*** but also to the sheer quantity of fascinating things that manage to squash themselves into a relatively small space.

We saw breathtaking vistas.

Ancient tombs.

A painted village.

An enchanted grotto.

Mind-boggling drystone castles****

A more traditional but still exciting castle with extra gorgeously-muralled chapel.

And exquisite sunsets.

In between we visited beaches, strolled about at a snail's pace to allow every elderly person in Italy to admire the girls, ate far too much gelato and too many pastries, and generally ensured that we'd  be coming home three shades darker, and two stone lighter than when we left.

And Phoebe learned to say "Ciao".





*actually fairly reasonable

**Many thanks to the lovely Chiara and Morgan for inviting us to stay with them.

***The parts I saw were beautiful, I missed a lot though, due to my eyes being inexplicably closed.

**** Technically these are called nuraghi, but drystone-castle sort of sums them up.