The last years we have stayed in London during August and September, when most Europeans take off for "Le Midi," or the Mediterranean. We've resisted the pull because we don't want to spend Olaf's vacation days with a bunch of kids on summer holiday. But, we had to admit that the empty London streets are pretty depressing at the end of the summer. Work slows down for Olaf, and all you can do is imagine all your friends, clients, co-workers lounging on the beach in the hot hot sun. So this year we joined the fun :)
Yes, places were busy. But we missed the August rush while still catching all the sunshine.
We visited the Italian island of Sardinia. It's a pretty huge island. Our road trip, which spanned ten days, didn't cover but a quarter of the island. It's like Capri, but must less developed.
We took another 6am flight out of London, so arrived in Alghero exhausted. After waiting in line for over an hour to pick up our rental car, we were told "it's over there somewhere" as the agent circled the northwest corner of the airport map. Pretty relaxed. It was the same when we returned the car. She asked "approximately where is it?" and I said, "around there." No problem!
Our first stop was Porto Conte. We stayed at El Faro, a nice little hotel tucked into a private cove.
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| View from our room at El Faro |
After a relaxing two days, we headed north to Stintino, where Olaf had arranged for us to stay at an Agritourismo (farm).
This did not go well. Google maps led us into a residential neighborhood. Olaf called the farm, but no one there could speak English. We walked around for over an hour, through private property and back roads. No Agritourismo. Then we drove around for another two hours. It was almost dark and we were tired and hungry. Finally, frustrated, we found the right road.
The owners were very nice to us. The room was very clean and the animals were sweet. But the bed was like a board and neither Olaf or I slept a wink the entire night. We had booked two nights, but told them we were meeting friends on the other side of the island and couldn't stay the second night. We felt bad, but we were exhausted.
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| Our room at the agritourismo. Olaf looks a little unsure. |
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| The agritourismo guest building. |
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| Nice view. But happy to travel to a softer bed. |
After Stintino, it was a three hour drive to the eastern coast. We stayed in Cala Gonone, a little beach town that looks like Santa Barbara. It's known for being a good base for water sports.
I love the heat. But even I had to succumb to the traditional 'siesta' hours in the afternoon. All the stores closed for the hottest part of the day, between 1 and 5pm. It was 104 degrees (or 40 Celsius) and humid. It was almost cathartic. My whole body was covered in hives. We used the hours to walk and eat gelato :)
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| Our Cala Gonone hotel was at the top of a big hill. It took us about 20 minutes to walk into the city for dinner each night. |
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| We tagged along with a diving trip so we could go snorkeling. No desire to dive. Whatsoever. |
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| My favorite kitty in Sardinia! There were soooo many wild/ feral/ stray kitties in Sardinia. Most were not friendly. A few would come up and liked to be pet. A lot were skinny and hungry. Almost all of them looked to be under a year old. This little one had obviously been adopted by someone, as she was always on the same porch and would run up to me for love :) |
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| Olaf with his spaghetti ice. |
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| Dinner were a bit expensive, so one night we had a picnic on our balcony. It was wonderful! |
Cala Gonone is known for the hidden beaches nearby, which are only reachable by boat. The farthest is about an hour away. The harbor is dotted with stands offering boat trips out to the beaches. They last all day and the driver drops you off for two hours at each beach. Olaf and I weren't too keen on being stranded at various deserted beaches, without restroom or shelter, for an entire day. Instead, we rented our own boat and visited a couple of beaches at our own pace.
I was surprised they allowed people to drive the boats without training or a license. I asked, and they said it was easy.
We had no problem getting out to the beaches. Actually, Olaf had a problem with my driving, and I now will admit I drove too fast.
On the way back we could have died. We should have checked the weather (Said every sailor who died at sea). My gosh. The wind had whipped up the sea into a big froth with massive waves much much higher than our little boat. The boat was very light, and I was worried that it was going to get blown over. My arms hurt so bad afterwards, from gripping the steering wheel and the throttle. It was a lot easier if I zig-zagged and tried to ride the waves. It was really terrible and we felt shell shocked when we finally arrived in the harbor.
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| "Ha ha ha, how fun! Easy to drive the boat. I go fast!!" I had no idea what was coming. |
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| Happy (stupid) driver. |
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| Pretty little cove in which we anchored and snorkeled around. |
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| Smart men snorkel with t-shirts. No sunburns here. |
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| Look, my swimsuit matches the water! |
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| Trying to smile as we finally re-enter the harbor, after HELL. |
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| Morning espresso |
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| A very romantic restaurant where we enjoyed dinner together. |
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| Light day on the beach. These little fish were nipping my feet every time I went in the water... weird. |
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| Sign to other beaches. |
Our fourth destination was a riverside town called Bosa. We drove about two hours to get there. After checking into our hotel, we were driven by golf cart to our room, which was in another building in the old town. It was really cool! We were on the top floor and had a little roof terrace.
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| Looks like Northern California, no? |
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| Colorful town of Bosa. |
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| Arriving in our authentic looking room. |
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| On the little roof terrace. |
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| Our room was the top of the light pink building. |
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| We got massively sweaty while climbing to the top of the castle in the middle of the afternoon. Only stupid people and tourists were out then. Our clothes were drenched in sweat. We left marks everywhere we sat down. Sexy, I know. |
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| Around the castle there were cacti and olive trees. A gardener offered us a cactus fruit, but I wasn't sure, so we declined |
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| The only use for a space heater in Sardinia, in the summer. |
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| Kitties observing the siesta. |
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| A drink on the roof. |
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| Pasta with clams. I ate the whole plate. |
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After a night in Bosa, we returned to Porto Conte, to relax for one more night before flying back to London.
Near the parking lot there were lots of stray cats. Too many. They were mostly mangy and skinny and needed to be spayed and neutered. I bought some wet food to give them, thinking there was like maybe four of them. We walked down to the parking lot on our way to dinner and there is this girl pouring a massive bag of dry food over a set of stairs, with at least 20 cats around her. She had two guys with her and they were trying to catch the kittens. I hope for a good cause.
On our last day the weather changed. It suddenly got cooler and I was able to wear something other than a tank top. We were lucky to get the warm weather, as the cooler weather brought lots of wind. What had been for us a smooth, turquoise sea turned into a big grey mess.
Ciao, Sardinia! Grazie Mille!!!
