Sunny, Steep, and Sticky Sardinia

Sardinia (or Sardenga locally) is a rather large island off the western coast of Italy that is made up of a mountainous interior surrounded by stunningly beautiful coast (either beach or cliff). Despite being larger than Sicily it is hardly mentioned in the travel literature as it’s both a little hard to get to and a little hard to get around. A car is very handy as the public transport is more of an occasional sort of thing. Despite our best attempts we eventually resorted to a private taxi for the hour drive to the airport on the final day. But aside from these shortcomings the island is a great mix of friendly people, tasty local food, and dazzling natural sights.

We only had time for two stops (as the trips goes on we are staying in fewer places, for longer), Cagliari and Cala Gonone. Cagliari, at the southern tip of the island is its main city. A day on the local beach, and a day seeing the old town and we were headed north to the coastal resort town of Cala Gonone. Essentially a seaside resort full of holidaying “in the know” Europeans, its main drawcard is the coast to the south, dotted with stunning beach coves and cave-like grotto’s. The biggest grotto is imaginatively named “blue grotto” and is made up of two cave systems each of around 7km in length. It is possible to walk into one of these for around 900 meters without any extra equipment and marvel at this weird underground world. Huge stalagmites and stalactites feature and the floor becomes a perfectly still, almost 100% reflective pool of seawater. No photos allowed of course due to “copyright reasons” (read falling gift shop profits).

The other attractions are the many beaches, accessible by boat that dot the coast south of the town. Some of these have featured in big films with the likes of Madonna strutting their stuff in front of the lens. They’re exceptionally beautiful but somewhat marred by the other 200 people crammed on to the small stretch of sand. Our only other activity was a small bushwalk (mostly to keep Ryan happy) into a huge gorge in the interior of the island. Our guide spoke only a little English but valiantly attempted to tell us everything he knew about the local flora and fauna and how the gorge came to be made. Groppu gorge also features one of the hardest rock climbs in Europe, which we attempted in flipflops to no avail.

Sardinia was our last stop in Italy and we’re both very sad to say goodbye. Despite eating pasta most days we are not even a little bit sick of it, and know we will miss the food a lot. Now we’re in Greece, having suffered an easyJet flight from Sardinia, via Gatwick to Athens, but that 16 hours is another post in itself.



Italy Summary:
Days in Italy: 39
Stops: 13
Coffee: Short, Black, Strong, Cheap and of course Brilliant.
Pasta eaten (estimate): 4kg each.
Family members met (estimate): 30
Double kisses received: 100+
Expected chance of a return visit: 100%