Sardinia - Sun, Sea and Sand

(sorry for the annoying formatting, but I am sick of trying to fix it)

Last weekend I went on what I would call my first real “vacation,” to Sardinia, Italy. For those of you that don’t know, Sardinia is an island to the East of the mainland of Italy. Not the football that the boot is kicking, but another island just a bit North-East of the football. I went to Sardinia with my good friend, Monika and we were excited to have a weekend just the two of us, relaxing on the beach.

We arrived without much of a plan, other than a rented vehicle and a road map in hand. We figured that was the best way to enjoy Sardinia, just wing it. Our plane flew into the town of Cagliari, but once we got our car we immediately drove out of the city in the search of beaches. I was very nervous about driving in Italy, especially when the first thing we encountered coming out of the airport was a round-a-bout. But I quickly got used to these round-a-bouts, and even began to prefer them, getting annoyed when we had to stop at the rare stop light. Eventually, we parked our nice little Smart car (yes, we rented a Smart car!!) near Porto Campana and walked down to the beach.

In front of us was endless gorgeous blue Mediterranean Sea, and under our feet was beautiful fine white sand. It was paradise. Monika and I both wanted to get a little bit of colour while down South, so we set up our towels on the beach and laid down. I think we lasted about 20 minutes before getting bored and wanting to go play in the sea. So we went for a swim, and a climb along the rocks before trying to lay and tan again. We may have lasted about 30 minutes this time, before needing to go for a walk along the beach. Although we failed at tanning, it was still a great afternoon enjoying the sea, the sun and the sand.

(Enjoying beautiful Sardinia!!)

Being in Italy, we of course wanted to enjoy some pizza fro dinner, so we drove to Teulada and stopped at a very nice pizzeria. Oh my goodness, so incredibly delicious!! I would eat pizza every single night if I lived in Italy! With full stomachs we needed to find a place to sleep. Since we were renting a car, we decided to save a little money and use our car as accommodation! But that meant pulling off and finding a quiet spot to stop, which proved to be harder than expected.

(Enjoying some true Italian pizza...delicious!!)

We found a nice little side road in the town of Iglésius, but as we were getting settled, a “Polizia” drove by, slowed down, and looked in at what we were doing. We thought it might not be a good idea to stay there in case he came back later in the night, so we continued along the road towards our destination (a cave we planned on visiting the next day). After having been sketched out by the cop, neither of us were very tired so we just kept on driving. It ended up being a VERY curvy road (even for Italian standards) in the mountainous desert of central Sardinia. It was not the most fun drive to do in the darkness of night, but at least we were the only ones on the road so I could drive as slow as I wanted. Finally, we reached the town of Fluminimaggiore, pulled over at our first opportunity and slept.

We got up early in the morning, and walked around the town a little. People gave us quite a few odd looks, most likely since it was obvious we were tourists yet it was unusual that we were already out and about before 7am. We arrived at the cave early, and since we hadn’t got the best night sleep we took a nap in our car, which was quite refreshing. Monika and I had decided to go to a cave cause we thought it might be a neat thing to see, but it was SO much more spectacular than I had imagined it would be!! The tour was done in Italian unfortunately, but Monika and I were floored by what we saw. I can’t even describe with words how magnificent it was, but hopefully a photos will help.

(Grotto di su Mannau, it's epicness not well depicted by this photo)

After the cave we headed back down to the south to a smaller island that was off the island of Sardinia, called Isola di Sant Antico. We drove around the mini island a whole bunch, getting lost quite a few times, but also stumbling on a couple nice beaches and a couple spectacular view spots. With another beautiful day in the sun accomplished, we again headed out for pizza. Who knew it could get even more delicious. In the town of Sant’ Antico, we found a pizzeria which used a traditional pizza stove. They didn’t speak Italian at this place, and the only pizza name we understood was “Funghi” (mushroom), so we ordered a half pizza with Funghi. Oh my goodness, fresh from the oven and so incredibly delicious. After pizza we decided we need to experience the other Italian specialty – Gelato. And just like their pizza, it’s melt in your mouth deliciousness exceeded our expectations.

(Enjoying some Gelato under a palm tree)

The second night we were more experienced with finding a good pull off spot, so we settled in much earlier. Before going to bed, we decided to walk around the town of Barbusi that we had parked in. One thing we noticed about the Italians is how lively they are late into the evening. We are used to the North American culture where the evening is often the time to relax inside, watch the nightly news with an evening tea. However, in Italy, the evening is when the temperature is most reasonable, so that is when people socialize. There is this really neat part of their culture where they sit out in front of their house in the evening and just chat with each other or any other passer bys. It was quite unique to see.

After a much more relaxing sleep the second night, we headed back to Cagliari to return our car and enjoy our last day in Sardinia. There is a lot of history in Cagliari so we wandered around the town for the morning, saw the amphitheatre, the old town, a beautiful cathedral and the University. We then decided to make one last effort to tan on the beach, so we walked an hour out of town to the first beach we found and we laid down for a rest. I don’t understand how people can spend an entire day tanning on the beach. I think Monika and I had a record that day and we managed to last 2 hours before needing to do something more productive. Though, over the 3 days we successfully turned from white to a slightly browned white (and pink in a couple of areas).

Our flight out of Cagliari left early the next morning, so again saving on accommodation costs, our plan was to sleep in the airport. We took a bus from the main centre to the airport, scouted out a good spot and settled in for the evening. Airport chairs are not the most comfortable, but we enjoyed a relatively good night sleep.

One very big disadvantage of not paying for accommodation is the lack of access to showers and bathrooms. In terms of bathrooms, for a female it’s not as easy to just pull over to the side of the road, but Monika and I got pretty good at the squatting technique. And when we ate out at restaurants we always made sure to use their bathroom a couple times before leaving. But having no showers – well, it wasn’t too terrible, I just feel bad for the people sitting around us on the plane home. Boy did we smell. Sure we spent a lot of time in the sea, but the sandy salt water of the Mediterranean does nothing to clean you off.

Overall, it was a very successful weekend. I learned a lot about the Italian culture, enjoyed the Mediterranean sea, became comfortable driving in Europe and successfully came home with a sunburn. Monika and I also perfected the art of sleeping in a car, which will probably come in handy for future trips. Hopefully you enjoyed that story, and look forward to my next one! I have 2 weekends of hiking coming up, and then I’m off to Munich to enjoy some beer at Oktoberfest!!!