Sardegna, Italia
Our flight was already scheduled to arrive pretty late into Cagliari, 21.40 on the 22nd of August, but with it being delayed an hour, then some confusion in finding the car rental office, it was quite late by the time we arrived to Hotel Aurora. At €55 for a double room without a bathroom, it’s one of the cheapest lodgings in the city. Our plan is to camp everywhere else, but there’s nothing close enough to Cagliari, and with it being so late, a hotel is a good plan. The Fiat Punto they gave us was quite nice. More than enough room for the two of us, handles well, rides pretty comfortably, decent acceleration, and small enough to deal with driving around Italy. Car is really the best option in Sardinia, as there’s not much in the way of public transport, and especially not for getting around the island, just from major city to the other. We booked through Auto Europe for €200 for the week, so between the the two of us, it wasn’t too bad at all. The hotel is modest but adequate. Didn’t really compare to what we had in Turkey, but it’s ok. I’m really quite far from a luxurious guy. We got settled and found some dinner, and then some amazing ice cream as we chilled in the Piazza Yenne before heading to bed.
We spent the next morning walking around Cagliari. It’s a rather old city and has some nice buildings that we wander through, and the weather was great, sunny and 37C. Finally! Living in Holland has taught me to greatly appreciate these things. By mid-afternoon we headed to Nora, about 30 minutes south, stopping en route at the supermarket for some lunch necessities and sitting on the beach for a bit. Nora is a Nuraghi ruins site. Ruins fascinate me… I dunno. I just dig em. From all time periods… even modern. My home of Detroit is in a state of urban decay, with ruins of it’s own. So anyway, there’s quite a bit of structure still in Nora, and some mosaic floors. And with a great view out to the sea.
From there we headed the two hours towards Oristano, where we planned to camp for the next couple of days. We thought a central location might be ideal, since there were things we wanted to see all over the island, and we’ll fly out from Alghero, on the north side of the island. We could also have just made a new camp every day and travelled in a line, but since we’re here, literally, the day that high season is ending we were afraid finding a campsite everywhere would be difficult. As it was, we were pretty lucky to find space at Camping Is Aruttas, in Cabras, on the coast west of Oristano. It was a little difficult to find exactly where the place was, but we managed. It’s a nice campground, and cheap… €12 each/night and free showers. And the beach is right there. It actually wasn’t even packed. There were lots of Italian families that go camping for the whole month, and had their multi-caravan spots basically turned into apartments, with dining areas, living rooms, laundry, and the caravans as the bedrooms. Many even had TVs. We had our choice of spots from a fairly empty part of the campground.
Sunday morning we headed to Costa Verde an hour and a half or so away to the south, which is supposed to have some great beaches. The route we took went through Montevecchio, an abandoned mining town. I was actually really interested in visiting some of the amazing looking sites there, but today was going to be a beach day, and it was already taking us longer than expected to drive, because the roads winding through this area are crazy. Up and down mountains, with valleys below where there was the mining, through old abandoned towns, past crumbling factories, and switching back up steep paths. Unfortunately I didn’t have any extra charged batteries and mine were low, so I couldn’t get nearly all the pictures I wanted to, and I wanted to save some for the Costa Verde. The final stretch of the drive took us to some sand dunes with lots of fir trees and other green plants covering the hills, hence the name. And just beyond was an amazing beach, with nice sand and a dark blue sea with a strong current, bringing some incredible, foamy, white waves in. It was amazing trying to swim into them, and then fight your way out as it carries you back in. We headed back before it got too dark so I wouldn’t have to drive through all that again, but we ended up taking the route around the other side of the mountain back to a major road and it went much faster. We stopped in Marina Torre Grande, the closest town of any size to our campground, on the way back for some dinner. Along the road that follows the coast, lots of people had stands set up, selling souvenirs and whatnot, or food. There was also some bands playing on a stage in one area.
We were kind of switching back and forth from beach day and site see day. Monday was a do shit day, and I wanted to see the Barumini nuraghi ruins in the middle of the island. But that still didn’t keep us from first spending a couple hours in the morning on the beach by our campsite. The nuraghi are really phenomenal structures, and only exist in Sardinia, but they’re everywhere here. The just look like a dome of rocks, but inside are several levels of rooms. The Barumini structure is 4000 years old and one of the best preserved of them. The area has a much different feel from the lush beaches of before. The interior of Sardinia can be very dry and brown. We bought a ticket that included a visit to the museum, and after doing so we just drove. I miss not having a car in Amsterdam. I love driving. Maybe influenced from growing up in Detroit, maybe from having driven so much, maybe just because I like road trips… I dunno, but it was great to be in a car again. There was some sort of natural preserve towards the north, a route which could take us back in our general direction of home. Everything in Sardinia is a general direction, though. There are no straight roads or direct routes anywhere. It was beautiful in the mountains here. With cliffs on one side, and looking out across the green, rolling mountains on the other. We got out and walked some trails a bit, and had a very smart little beagle take to us and follow. This seems to happen to me everywhere. Dogs love me. We got back in the car and continued on. There are no major roads in this area of the island, so we kept going through little towns and villages along the way. It was quaint in a romanticized, Italian kind of way. We stopped in Oristano for dinner, finding a funky crepes place, and walked the city a bit.
Tuesday we drove 150km across Sardinia to the Gulf of Orosei on the east. There’s several beaches along there, and we opted for Cala Cartoe. It’s not easy to get to, having to drive up and wind through mountains, but that also gives awesome views of the gulf and the village below. Cala Cartoe is a white sand beach, surrounded by green, forested mountains, and the water was much calmer than Costa Verde, so we could actually swim. After spending the day there, we wanted to see a bit of the other beaches, and headed back towards Cala Canone, and passed some goats in the road back down the mountain. We stopped at the closest ones nearby, which were also nice with red pebbles, and an orange rock backdrop, but I’m glad we spent the day in Cala Cartoe. This one looks like it was quite busy earlier, and I think I enjoyed it more seeing the view with everyone gone. We walked to the end of the beach and sat on a cluster of large rocks in the water and chilled out before making the drive home.
The next day we decided that we would pack up camp and move somewhere closer to Alghero, where we would be flying from a couple days later. There’s a road that follows the coastline from Oristano to Alghero, and, of course, has phenomenal views. The deep blue of the sea contrasting with the jutting rocks sprouted with greenery, it’s fantastic. When we got to Alghero we headed to the Mariposa campground, which is on the beach in the north side of town. It was much more crowded than in Cabras, but that’s to be expected, being a much more touristic town, and being right in the city. We also had our choice of spots here, but there were no squared out pitches… just various areas where it was a free for all. Find space for your tent and put it there. We still managed to find a nice one with some shade and off to the side, made camp, and walked into the old Catalan city of Alghero. The old castle is the main area of activity, and after walking through it a bit, we had some beers at a pub looking over the castle wall into the sea.
Thursday was our last full day, and we started with going to Capo Cáccia and the Grotto di Nettuno, a large underground stalactite and-gmite filled cave. To get down to the entrance involved climbing 650-some stairs along the edge of the cliff. The grotto is pretty impressive, although not as big as i would have liked for €10. The tour also wasn’t great, as it was just a guy with a microphone with a trail of 100 people following behind him through everything. It was difficult to pay attention to what he was going on about, and instead we just enjoyed what we saw without trying to see the different shapes that gave the names to the various formations.
Nearby was another nuraghe site, Palmavera. Maybe not as large as Barumini, but still impressive enough. Also close was the Anghelu Ruju Necropoli, a huge burial ground of artificial caves, used by civilzations from 3000-1500 B.C. As a kid I would have loved having this place as a playground, with all the caves and places to hide… though it’s a little freaky when you think of the circumstances for which it was built. We headed back to the campground and spent some time on the beach before it got dark.
Friday the 29th was our last day. We were flying at 18.30, and had to deal with returning the car as well, but that still gave us some time for some final exploration of Alghero in the daylight. All was good until a slight mishap with trying to drive through the old castle town on he way out… I should have just backed my way out to begin with, but thought I could take a different way out. However, with the very narrow old Italian streets, with barely enough room for the car to begin with… and then the factor of other people and construction blocking roadways, we found ourselves in a tight spot and needing to turn a corner that was proving to be difficult. After many attempts, and the help of the locals which got some some people to move their things out of the way, and to help navigate, we managed… eventually… might have been a little easier had I spoke Italian, but no matter. All was fine in the end, and we got to the airport with no problems and took our flight back to Bremen, Germany.
Sardinia is an awesome place, with amazing views, beaches, and history. It was a great combination of relaxing and chilling out, and seeing things, and of quiet and hustle. And the weather was great the whole time, so everything I was looking for in this trip worked out.
Tags: Europe, Italy, sardegna, sardinia, Travel
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