Árdís - 01.01.1964, Blaðsíða 31

Ársrit Bandalags lúterskra kvenna
29
We stopped in one of the larger villages by the name of
Oristano and went into the cathedral church. Except for St. Peter’s
in Rome it is the most beautiful and ornate church I’ve ever seen.
Everything was marble and gold, in fact it is quite indescribable.
It was restful to sit in quiet meditation, the surrounding beauty
and sacred atmosphere, making one feel humble and contrite. We
drove on going north along the coast close to the beautiful blue
Mediterranean with its inlets and bays on the left and magnificent
scenery on the right. We reached the city of Sassari, the second
largest on the island, near the northern tip. We registered in a
lovely, modern hotel and after refreshing ourselves went out to
attend an open air concert in a park nearby. The music is really
unique so unlike any other musical form that it would be in vain
to try to explain it in terms of modern musical concepts. Another
thing there that left an imprint on my mind was the well dressed
children and the dazzling whiteness of the things that surrounded
a baby in its carriage. The roads though winding were excellent,
even when we were driving on the sides of cliffs, we felt safer
with railings and fences on the outside. We never got tired. We
were too busy “looking”. Sometimes wild boars would scurry to
safety when we approached. We passed through a beautiful village
called Castelsardo, located on a hill which slopes down steeply to
the sea. We stopped to buy hand-woven baskets—local handcraft.
In the late afternoon we met many natives returning to their
homes after a day in the fields, and the line from Gray’s Elegy
came unbidden to my mind. “The ploughman homeward plods his
weary way”—but we were all, including the children, to stare at a
completely new sight when a cartful of field produce to be taken
to market passed us, drawn by a team of oxen! We were traveling
slowly and of course they were—so we had ample time to observe
them. We entered the mountainous region on the east coast. Rugged
but beautiful. Low hanging clouds often obscured our view. We
were grateful for the fact that banditry no longer flourished. Of
course we had stopped in numerous places for meals and though
the food is very different from our own, it is on the whole good
and well prepared. I have never partaken of as much fruit in my
life, and when it was served a bowl of water was always placed
on the table to rinse the fruit, such as pears, plums or grapes. At