Beach Hopping on Sardinia

My 3½ week adventure around Sardinia started on 1st July 2019 in the capital Cagliari. A late evening flight arrival was followed by a midnight taxi to my downtown hotel and bed. I’d booked 1 week Cagliari in the south, a few days between Ostinato & Bosa in the west, a night in the mountains at Enis Monte Maccione nr Oliena, a few nights Cala Gonone in the east, 5 nights in Murta Maria, 5 nights Arzachena north of Olbia and final night in Olbia – I thought a thorough exploration but actually only scratches the surface of island beauty spots. Each of these 5 sections is a summer holiday in itself. I chose to spend over one summer, not to tick off but explore and see where I might like to make return visits.

1. Cagliari & the South coast

I woke the next morning to the bright Mediterranean sunshine and bounced out of bed. My first beach, the city’s public beach called Poetto, is a short bus ride away. After a swim and lunch, I took a walk around the coastal head to Torre del Poetto and Sella del diavolo. Returning to the main beach for a leisurely stroll along this very long beach and a bus back to the city. Over the week in Cagliari I went to the Saturday market at Mercato Civico di San Benedetto, a very good spa at the T hotel and enjoyed great pizza at Framento and several gelato stops!

Poetto beach & Torre del Poetto

Next day I took an hour bus trip to Villasimius in the south-east corner of Sardinia. There I hired an e-mountain bike for a big beach hopping day on the Capo Carbonara coast. Cycling through the peninsula I felt my holiday start to open up. I had the first dip of the day at furthest point Spiaggia di Capo Carbonara. I then zig-zagged back taking swims at Spiaggia Cala Caterina, Spiaggia di Santo Stefano & Spiaggia della Fortezza. A lunch stop and then continuing along the east of Spiaggia di Porto Giunco, Simius & Punta Molentis. The latter being too busy to really enjoy, di Simius was a more relaxed experience. Lovely swims in all these beaches, but no sign of carbonara pasta! An incredible day, hard to pick a favourite with so many beaches. Back in Villasimius, I enjoyed local pastries before the bus back to Cagliari.

The Carbonara coast

The next day I hired a scooter from Cagliari and followed a breezy road run along the southwestern coast.  The beautiful beaches that morning to swim were Spiaggia di Cala Cipolla, Su Giudeu & Spiaggia Rosa – see below with long walks between.

Southwest Cipolla coast

That afternoon I returned via the ancient city of Nora and Pula, with a late afternoon dip the Nora beach before returning to Cagliari. It’s an invigorating hot hairdryer 45-minute ride along the coast on a Vespa but these beaches are much better than ones nearer the city, well worth the drive.

The ancient city of Nora & beach

2. The West coast – Oristano 

Waving goodbye to my week in Cagliari, I took a train north up to Oristano. Here I stayed a couple of nights. I took a local bus to visit the granite beaches at Is Arutas, then walked down the coast enjoying swims at Spiaggia S’Archeddu ‘e Sa Canna, Spiaggia di Maimoni, Spiaggia di San Giovanni di Sinis, Spiaggia di Mare Morto, Spiaggia di Capo San Marco & Caletta del Faro. Down the Sinis peninsula, a wander around the ancient site of Tharros & climb up the Spanish tower with breath-taking vistas of west coast Sardinia but it was on a hot hazy day. I really enjoyed this day, fantastic scenery around every corner, warm water and very few foreign tourists despite the sites, it felt very local. The day finished with aperitivo at Lido bar as the sun sank in San Giovanni di Sinis while waiting for the bus to return to Oristano.

Is Arutas, Sinis peninsula & ancient site of Tharros

The following day I took a bus north to Bosa and a rest day from beaches and swimming in the sea to wander the beautiful streets of Bosa, even tho there is a nearby beach. Perhaps I was suffering from beach fatigue! After hauling myself over the ramparts I enjoyed a leisurely lunch at Bacco Bistrot followed by gelato and a riverside walk in the evening.

Bosa

 

3. The East coast – Cala Gonone

After a day in the mountains climbing Monte Corrasi near Maccione and navigating several buses across the middle of Sardinia via Oliena, Nuoro & Dorgali; I finally reached Cala Gonone. A time to relax for 4 days and explore the east coast. Famously rugged and some of the most Instagram-able beaches on the island. The portside is brisk day and night for boat trips, it’s the best way to see the coastline south of Cala Gonone, unless you prefer technical coastal climbs. The resort has a different feel, more foreign tourists than other places I’d visited but a relaxed atmosphere. Next day I took a boat with a stop to walk through the Bue Marino caves, I couldn’t believe how far in the cave you walked, it’s a mile or so and merits it’s own day out. However, the boat returns and you’re off down the coast again. Swimming from the boat and beaches at super busy Cala Luna and caves, Cala Mariolu, Cala dei Gabbiani & Cala Goloritzè. A magical day out on the eye-filling Azzurri where granite meets the deep blue and sea spray garnishes the rocking boat. Crammed in a boat jostling for space in a fleet of tourist boats at each stop may not sound relaxing but was the affordable way to see the coast. Even if it was a scramble as people descended to get the best spots on a beach or trying to clamber back on board before departing to the next stop. I do love a boat trip so I’d highly recommend, it was pretty good value, you need a separate ticket for the caves, I forget the cost but think was €40-50 for the day trip. If you are a group, best to take a motorised dingy yourself for full freedom. Other days were spent wandering Palmasera Beach, Spiaggia di Sos Dorroles, S’Abba Meica beach, Spiaggia Ziu Martine & Cala Fuili.

Cala Gonone & Cala Goloritzé boat trip

boat trip

4. The North East coast – Murta Maria

I really enjoyed the relaxing village of Cala Gonone, but now I was heading north and for the first time into Olbia region. The bus winds over the hill to Dorgali back the way we all came in. The bus route took us all the way to Olbia airport, past the hotel I was due to stay, a few miles out so I had to change and backtrack on a local bus. Olbia airport services Easyjet so lots of bustle and huge queues at car hire desks. I’d chosen on this trip to use trains, buses, hired scooters/bikes & some taxis to get around. Because I wasn’t returning to origin, car hire didn’t work for my itinerary. But it is certainly the way to get around, getting between regions on the island aren’t well serviced. However, trying to park near beaches and beauty spots isn’t always relaxing either, so I chose to stay in hubs and found cycling an enjoyable way to discover places locally. Especially here at Murta Maria, where my hotel gave me the use of a free bike. From sleepy Murta Maria I’d cycle the short distance to Porto Istana, then walk around the Corallina coast, Spiaggia di Porto San Paolo, Spiaggia di Punta Don Diego, to Costa Dorata beach and then back. I cycled to Olbia to buy a pair of hiking boots from decathlon for my next adventure.

Porto Istana beach

The beaches here are warm, shallow aqua blue, nearly white sands and have the sky dominated by Isola Tavolara. As a mountain man, I just had to go! My hotel had a number for a local guide, you can only hike their with one, so I booked it.

Isola Tavolara

An incredible adventure started at 5am, before sunrise. My guide Massimo & son met at my hotel and took us to pick up other hikers from nearby hotels, English & Danish. We were taken as the sun broke on a motorised dingy boat from Cala Finanza across to Tavolara island. We were given harnesses & helmets and set off around the side of the mountain. Hidden from the sun, the air was cool but the gradient rose steeply. We’d reach via Ferrata sections as we rounded back on ourselves at altitude. Monte Cannone or Punta Cannone is 564 meters but an exhilarating climb with exposed sections near the top. We only felt the sun on the top section and sat for a rest at the top taking in the incredible vistas. The only way down is abseil descent from near the top, which I volunteered first, only out of pure fear, it had been such a time since I’d abseiled and was considerably heavier in weight, I felt the gravity of the situation!  At the bottom, a lunchtime picnic and well-deserved swim. More beaches to discover at Spiaggia di Cala Tramontana, Spiaggia di Chinelli, Spiaggia Spalmatore di Terra & cute wee Spalmatore di terra. A memorable day, special thanks to our guide Massimo! video clip

Monte Cannone

5. The North coast – Palau 

Leaving Murta Maria I took a bus to Olbia and a quick change to Arzachena, which was to be my base in the north section of my trip. When I organised bookings I was trying to find reasonably priced places within reach as a hub for an area. This is an inland village but with a good bus network to the coast and affordable in the now expensive Costa Smeralda region. I decided to skip the superyacht watching in Porto Cervo and instead focussed my days near Palau. I commuted daily on the 20-minute bus to Palau and then sought out activities. one day around the local beaches; Spiaggia “La Sciumara”, Spiaggia di Nelso, Spiaggia di Cala Inglese, Spiaggia di Cala Martinella, Spiaggia Della Contessa & Spiaggia di Cala di Trana- Palau.

One day I took a boat trip from Palau, again reasonably priced way to get around and see the La Maddalena archipelago islands of Santa Maria, Budelli, Spargi & La Maddalena. Stopping to swim the coves & beaches, scramble for a good spot and take a simple lunch onboard. On the main island, a stroll through the old back streets and enjoy a gelato as shipmates recognised each other. It’s a wonderful way to explore the emerald coast of Costa Smeralda.

La Maddalena Archipelago

I kept a final beach day in the north to enjoy Spiaggia di Porto Pollo, Spiaggia dell’Isola dei Gabbiani & relaxing further along the quieter Spiaggia di Barrabisa & Spiaggia Porto Liscia. I love the vibe, watersports and beach huts here. A fantastic way to finish this beach-hopping adventure, so many incredible beaches crammed into this trip. I’ve no idea how many I actually visited, must be 50+ but I made a point of taking a dip in each, from the Carbonara coast to Porto Pollo I savoured every moment…

Porto Pollo

I had two summers previously on Corsica, Sardinia although very close is quite a different island, many more beaches, the mountains feel geologically closer to the dolomites. Corisca is stunning and rugged feels more Provence terrain with great windsurfing in the northern beaches, mainly French with patches of Italian down the east coast, whereas Sardinia is all Italian, you feel the Roman influence in the south and Tuscan influence in the north with ferry routes feeding tourism. But the interior is frozen in time and the west is unspoilt and timeless. Well worth many summers exploring, I hope you enjoy, salute!

Who knows what the future of tourism holds but certainly July 2019 was peak over-tourism in some beauty spots, the desperate race for best Instagram shots off the boat, preening and noisy overcrowded beaches or caves – and this wasn’t mid-August. Many Italians took their holidays in July because of the usual strain in August. Habits might change again because of events in 2020, time will tell. It certainly wouldn’t stop me going again, I pre-planned my trip to have a balanced experience and only dipping into hot spots briefly. Sardinia absolutely blew me away, I’d go back in a heartbeat – over-tourism is felt in every country.

Cala Luna Sardinia

On this trip, I took a holiday from booze but upped my gelato intake 🙂

Gelato

Grazie Sardegna!

 

Roman Holiday: Andiamo! – 2003

Roman Holiday

While I was perusing a stall at a market near the river Tiber I was interrupted by the stall holder who pointed to a black and white photo postcard of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn on a moped from the film ‘Roman Holiday’. ‘He’s Dead,’ the old Italian man croaked. It was June the 12th, 2003. I stopped and stared at the picture. This was one of my favourite Hollywood actors. I grew up watching classics like his portrayal of Atticus Finch in ‘To kill a Mockingbird.’

We were in Rome to hook up with our friend Simon from back home who managed Finnegan’s Irish bar in Cavour near the subway station. Arriving around tea-time at a sunny Ciampino airport, we jumped a bus and subway to the bar. After a cold beer we were then driven to meet Simon’s Italian friend. So we started dinner around seven-thirty in this small fifth floor apartment in the suburbs of Rome. I had never been to Rome before despite extensive travels through Italy. I was glad to finally be there and eager to submerge into its rich culture. Dave and I spoke enough Italian to order food or wine at restaurants. Simon however had worked in Italy for four years and spoke fluently, so he became our translator. Back at the apartment the sun slipped behind buildings and the food kept coming, we started with fresh mussels, followed by soup, then pasta, then fish and on it went until midnight. The food was fresh, simple and fantastic. We talked and drunk wine until full and tired. Only for Simon to suggest going to a nightclub. We simultaneously burst into laughter at the thought of it. Wow, I could hardly move for being so full and we hadn’t even been to our apartment yet. We eventually caught a taxi well after midnight through the dark streets of Rome to a district called Re de Roma.

Rome at night

The apartment was two up, traditional stone built on the main road just south of piazza Re de Roma. Next morning, we woke to the sound of car horns, Simon’s flatmate had opened the double doors and the city noise swept through the airy apartment. We had coffee and cake on the balcony for breakfast and watched the traffic chaos below. I didn’t seem to mind as I was on holiday mood. We listened to the chat from the American flatmate who studied priesthood at the Vatican. Tales of crazy nights and goings on, were far from the expected image of Catholic school interns mainly caused by their confused mid-west upbringing and a new found freedom from their peers. Taking our first steps outside, we caught the subway along the road and so began a ten-day voyage around Rome. We took in the sights of the Colosseum with fancy dressed Romans waiting to be photographed for money. Ice cream at the tricky to find Trevi fountain, lunch outside the Spanish steps, the sites of ancient Rome, to the newer gaudy architecture of Mussolini’s time. Dave had been before so I spared him the trip to the Vatican, which I slipped into without a queue one late morning. The weather was hot from the time we arrived, Rome was having a heat wave but I didn’t mind, I enjoyed the heat.

With daytime being a tourist, we spent the nights being locals. Going to recommended restaurants, eating fabulous food and later going out to bars and clubs. We frequently used our apartment balcony with Campari and sodas as a starting point, followed by Simon’s Irish bar. If Simon joined us for dinner we ate in the Cavour area and received discounted meals, like one time it cost ten euros a head which I was staggered at. We went to a nightclub on a boat on the Tiber river, which was fun but hard to get into for tourists. After the nightclubs had closed, we were taken to late night bars where the party continued. This was a strange experience because local  legalities meant they had to be a sports club, so some were darts clubs like the ‘Naklar’. This was a dingy bar like you would see in a film. The neon lights, guys hanging around the bar, drunk people falling asleep and an old hag for a landlady. To my astonishment they served ‘super lager’ on draught, something I had never seen in Scotland where it comes from. This was a strong lager, popular with alcoholics back home. So in our wisdom we decided to use it for a ‘doctor pepper’ cocktail. ‘Seven nation army’ by the White Stripes became a favourite anthem of the trip with Dave humming the intro tune relentlessly. The night became dawn quite quickly. We left walking out into the daylight, where a sweet-smelling bakery across the road brought morning customers. We staggered into the now busy subway to head home for a sleep.

Naples with Mount Vesuvius behind

After that we decided to get away from Rome, finding ourselves slipping into a dangerous routine. We were both keen to see Mount Vesuvius and Pompeii, so got a train south to Naples from Termini the main station in Rome. The old train moved faster than our trains at home and we bagged a carriage to ourselves. Seat pulled out from underneath to make the carriage into a bed. After closing the curtains, we bedded down for the three-hour journey. We arrived  in Naples at tea time and stood in the station looking lost. I quickly felt uncomfortable and suggested we look for a hotel for the night. It felt like a western movie where men stood at street corners starring towards you. This didn’t seem like a friendly place. Out on the street didn’t seem much better, so we quickly moved on and found a cheap hotel not far from the station. The chubby hotel owner greeted us in his vest and gold chain. He wanted to keep my passport and wasn’t happy when I refused. I didn’t feel safe, so I put some valuables behind a picture on the hotel room wall. Walking around a local market and felt an uncomfortable feeling of being ‘tailed.’ I remember an old Italian friend from this area saying to me once quite seriously that never buy a shirt in the market, because often they will be wrapped without a back to the shirt! I suggested dropping in somewhere for pizza which was a good shout. The pizza in Naples was probably the best I had tasted, the winning combination of thin crust and sweet fresh tomatoes has travelled the world over. But this had to be the best with simple good flavours.

Naples pizza

Next day we were off to Mount Vesuvius with a train to Herculaneum and a shared minibus cab up the mountain. We were lucky enough to share with a retired Oxford Professor who gave up a great insight and showed us the lava flow level from 1944 which stopped short of destroying the towns below. The green lush, misty landscape was replaced by barren lava rock and we stopped at a busy car park high on the slopes of the mountain. Students waited to volunteer as guide up the last stretch to the summit. The mists cleared and we neared the rim with a high point further round the path with metal railings protecting the deep drop into the smoking sulphur canyon. In the distance the ‘Bay of Naples’ with it’s hazy blue sea met seamlessly with sky. It was by no means a strenuous walk, in fact much shorter than I had anticipated, helped by the road access near to the summit. We spent the afternoon at Pompeii, the Roman town which had been engulfed by a Vesuvius volcano eruption in 79AD. Armed with rented mobile information phones we wandered the site. It was interesting to see, I didn’t realise the size of the town. In the barren landscape around, it was difficult to imagine a bustling town. Gypsy kids pestered us for money at the station waiting for our train. We stayed the night before heading back to Rome the next morning. We had missed a chance to go to Capri by a few minutes with the last ferry. I would also have liked to see the burning fields caused by the volcanic ground, north of Naples but these would have to be for another trip.

Back in Rome, we had arranged to watch Simon’s pub team play football in a mini-World Cup tournament at the Francesco Totti’s Longarina football centre at Ostia Antica. Meeting at Finnegan’s bar we greeted the friends we’d made over the trip who just so happened to be playing in some teams. We met other friends, a couple of girls from Austin,Texas and took a train to Ostia Antica where they would be playing. The facilities were good and the competition was well organised with  proper team strips, singing of national anthems and match programs were also sold. Simon’s British & Irish team did well but were defeated by a strong Polish side in the quarter finals. It was a great day out and the fans entered into the spirit of the tournament. We then travelled back on mass for some beers back in Rome.

Ariccia, Lazio

Meeting late the following afternoon, we met with Simon’s Italian foodie friends who drove us through the rush hour traffic out-of-town. A large heavy sun sank behind our heads, the warm wind pushed through the small car and a shiny sheen reflected from the road. We were heading to a village called Ariccia in the Frascati region. Famous for ‘porchetta,’ the crispy spit roast baby pig. It’s just passed the summer residence of the Pope, Castel Gandolfo, a picture postcard area beside Lake Albano. It’s also a Roman foodie’s favourite day trip and I was delighted to discover it. When we arrived at small hilltop village we were taken directly to a bustling place on the cobbled Corso Garibaldi. Our Italian friends ordered the food while we sat on benches at wooden tables awaiting our al fresco experience. We had a local chilled sparkling red wine which refreshed in this warm, humid early summer evening. It was quite the surprise, I half expected a white Frascati wine but thoroughly enjoyed this new wine experience.The food came served on greaseproof and was fantastic with olives on their vines, melt in the mouth buffalo mozzarella, ripe tomatoes and of course the porchetta was succulent, soft and a crispy skin. We gorged on these fresh, delicious and yet simple dishes. With the sun now set, hanging light-bulbs from trees lit up the quaint village with narrow cobbled streets. We took a leisurely walk up to the Piazza della Repubblica for espresso and Limoncello at a bar near the fountain. Sitting at this beautiful square in the cool air, I didn’t want to leave but it was already past midnight. We had to head back to the city which was an hours drive away.

Cafe culture in Rome

Our last day was spent on the one of the public beaches – Ostia Lido, a thirty minute subway and train trip down the coast. The long flat beach was quite busy, we basked in the sun and warm breeze from the sea knowing that our summer was probably going to be over since we were going back to the unpredictable weather of Scotland.  Thoughts of wonderful food, wine and culture lingered on this lazy afternoon. At night, Rome welcomed an endless stream of strolling tourists passing through busy piazzas, watching people who watched them back sitting in the cafe’s. Our Roman holiday was over.

“You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view… ’til you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it.”

Atticus Finch (To Kill a Mockingbird)

Ciao Roma!

now read Wedding in the Old Country – Sicily

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