Alghero, Sardinia, Italy

Ooops... It's been almost a year since I last posted here! That certainly wasn't my intention. Things have happened during this time, though, and my life has been pretty much turned upside down. In October last year I was diagnosed with bowel cancer that had also spread to my liver and lungs. Not something I would have expected as a 36-year old! I had rather an evently 6-week hospital stay, and have been having chemotherapy since. (My next session is tomorrow.) Needless to say postcards got neglected for a while after the diagnosis, but I got back to swapping and collecting postcards fairly quickly again as it's one of the things that keep me at least somewhat sane and brings me joy. I'm trying to remain positive, and postcards have definitely helped with that!

There's a theme for today's cards - apart from a couple, they were all sent by friends or other Postcrossers from their holidays. It has been really interesting to hear more about their trips, and while I'm not able to travel anywhere outside of the UK at the moment (or even too far in the UK), this still brings me into holiday mood. :)

Today's first card is from my friends Keith and Jackie. They were on holiday in Sardinia earlier this summer. I asked them if they could send me a postcard, and they did! This might be my first postcard from Sardinia as well, I'm not quite sure. Hmmm...

Alghero, also known in the local Algherese dialect as L'Alguer, is a town of about 45,000 inhabitants in the Italian insular province of Sassari in northwestern Sardinia, next to the Mediterranean Sea. Part of its population descends from Catalan conquerors from the end of the Middle Ages, when Sardinia was part of the Crown of Aragon. Hence, the Catalan language is co-official (a unique situation in Italy) and known as the Alguerès dialect. The name Alghero comes from Aleguerium, which is a mediaeval Latin word meaning "stagnation of algae" (Posidonia oceanica).

Alghero is the third university center in the island, coming after Cagliari and Sassari. It hosts the headquarters of the Università degli Studi di Sassari’s Architecture and Design department. In 2012 it was the 10th most visited city by tourists in Italy.

Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus). It is located west of the Italian Peninsula and to the immediate south of the French island of Corsica.

Sardinia is politically a region of Italy, whose official name is Regione Autonoma della Sardegna / Regione Autònoma de Sardigna (Autonomous Region of Sardinia), and enjoys some degree of domestic autonomy granted by a specific Statute. It is divided into four provinces and a metropolitan city, with Cagliari being the region's capital and also its largest city. Sardinia's indigenous language and the other minority languages (Sassarese, Corsican Gallurese, Algherese Catalan and Ligurian Tabarchino) spoken on the island are recognized by the regional law and enjoy "equal dignity" with Italian.

Due to the variety of its ecosystems, which include mountains, woods, plains, largely uninhabited territories, streams, rocky coasts and long sandy beaches, the island has been defined metaphorically as a micro-continent. In the modern era, many travelers and writers have extolled the beauty of its untouched landscape, which houses the vestiges of the Nuragic civilization.

I don't normally comment on stamps here, but this one is just weird! Anyone got any information on this? It reminds me of the stamps I once bought in Spain... Why does the cancellation say 'San Marino'?? Strange!