The last few weeks I discovered the island of Sardinia. This time flying in with a plane and roadtripped around the island in a small Lancia. How did I experience the island? I've heard a lot of good stories about it. I will share my view, after an off-season visit.
Taking some shots at Spiaggia di Capo Ceraso
What's the plan?
The van was not ready on time, so no van plan. To enjoy the island to the max, I didn't bring a laptop with me. Writing posts on a smartphone was a once in a lifetime. Even with having my glasses on and being sober, the words got touched by some kind of magic and changed in something completely different. There was a plan. Rent a car for 2 weeks, during off-season this costed only 58 Euro's for the whole period. We rented 2 AirBNB's, 1 in the North and 1 on the East coast. The late arrival by plane, forced us to make another Booking(.com) and enjoyed a plate full of cakes during breakfast at the West coast. Costs for the BNB's were average 80 Euro's per night. I only took hand luggage, weather conditions were all the time between 15 - 20 degrees Celcius...no ski outfit needed. 1 pair of Salomon hiking shoes and 1 pair of Barefoot shoes for getting into the rocky waters. Another plan was to loose a few kg's of weight....body weight.
The first stop: Laveria Lamarmora
The first impressions
After getting the rentel car at Goldcar (which only has green and black colors in their logo, so maybe there is gold in the car), we went to my first planned stop on the Westcoast, it was one where @xsasj wrote about in one of her posts. I will share this story later on Pinmapple. What struck us was the poor condition of the roads in Sardinia. During our 2 weeks we drove maybe twice a proper road. The others were full of holes, had several layers of asphalt (and most of it was worn), the roadsigns were hard to read (because they were also worn) and the condition of most cars? You can guess they were also in a bad shape. During our first few hours on the road, we saw 5 accidents and several cars just got off the road into the bush. During our trip we also took roads that were actually sandy dirt roads. Just look ahead first when you drive there with a regular car. Several roads are more suitable for a 4x4. Next time I might rent a FIAT PANDA 4X4, which you see a lot here. While driving I also noticed the intense smell of cat pee from time to time. I took off my shoes and smelled...nothing weird, I just passed out. No, just kidding. I'd still like to know which plant it was that smelled like cat piss, although it would be that weird if it was real cat piss...there are so many here.
One of many cats, that took over Porto Cervo from the billionairs
And be aware when you are hungry, it's not that easy to treat yourself on a fancy restaurant meal during off-season. The first day we ended up with a few snacks from the petrol station. It's difficult when you are hungry and the town names starting to look like food names: Carbonia (Carbonara), Costa La Spiaggetta (Spaghetti Coast), Orgosolo (Gorgonzola), Tortoli (Tortellini), Burgos (Burgers). Supermarkets are easy to find and they are open. But in a lot of places, the island felt like deserted. Ghost towns, restaurants that looked like they haven't been open for years. The cats follow you everywhere...not only for some attention, but also for food. The biggest contrast was maybe our visit to the town of Porto Cervo (Costa Smeralda). During high season this is the main jet-set spot. Around that time it is full with luxury yachts and billionaires. When we arrived: no yachts, no jet set, nothing open (besides the beautiful church)...the only ones with food were the creatures that took over this town...cats (and I mean a lot of cats). I guess that loosing body weight during this trip, will be easy.
The chruch of Stella Maris in Porto Cervo. The only thing open here.
What's happening here?
Besides the fact that most places look deserted and abandoned, there was still something happening here. In these 2 weeks we ended op on som many weird Carnaval events. For example when we visited the beautiful colorful town of Bosa, the silence was abruptly disturbed by a noisy event in and around the main street. Men of all ages, dressed in black clothes of old ladies, carrying baby dolls with bleeding pussies. People walking around with fake penises, or using medical tools to put on women's boobs. It was hilarious. The wine tasted good and we found a nice and quiet natural pool on the cliffs just outside of town. During our trip we saw more Carnaval events, actually I wanted to escape the carnaval madness in Germany. The last evening we wanted to visit a bar in Tortoli, and I was surprised that on a cold day a lot of young women were walking around in tight mini dresses, partly dressed like angels, this could be an interesting bar night. Further on we got a bit stuck in traffic, there was a chicken rave in one of the streets. Yes, guys dressed in chicken suits having a little techno rave. Or there were these ladies shaking their huge bee-asses. I felt a bit underdressed that day. Next time dresscode should be Turtle and call the place 'Turtlelini'...
Punta Molentis Beach
Su Sirboni Beach
The Beaches
So you can find funny Carnaval stuff here in February, that's for sure. You won't find any jet-set around this period. We went to a part of the Costa Smeralda, where the are was full of expensive houses. Google Maps mentioned several nice beaches (no bitches) here, but most spots were fenced (private property). Although, I managed to find some steps that got us to a little beach and from there you could walk and climb over rocks and through bushes, to find more tiny beautiful beach spots. And the island is full of incredible beaches. Even in winter, the water can still look turquoise. Is a bit cold, but still fucking beautiful.
Spiaggia di Cala Fuili
Torre di Bari
Spiaggia Le Piscinette, Masculeddu & di Foxilioni
There are easy options to reach the beaches. These ones mostly have beach bars. But during this period, there was no beach bar open anywhere. And we visited a lot on the island. Just bring you own ICHNUSA (The local beer here, Non Filtrada is my favorite) and snacks. Even in a small beach village and beach called Porta Taverna...you would expect something with this name right? The Taverna's were there, all in maintenance. It had a certain charm and peace, being there alone. Beaches felt private and sometimes we met some others. The picturesque beaches you find on all advertisements were absolutely stunning in real. Although you have to be in a good condition. During high season, people take boat trips to visit these beaches (especially on the East coast). But those boat trips are not happening at the moment. That means you have to do serious hikes to get there. Hikes of 13km (6,5 km one way) full of climbing and descending. You need proper footwear, because the trails are rocky! No easy stroll to those special places. Use the KOMOOT-app, because many trails have no signs at all. I was wearing long pants, because it was easy ending up in the bushes or falling of bigger rocks. Definitely this island has serious adventurous discovery vibes. I managed to destroy the soles of my Salomon hiking shoes, although with the last pair I also experiences low quality in this brand. The last 4 days, hiking in the mountains or on steep trails was more challenging, sliding down with hardly any profile left under my shoes. Multiple scars. Luckily almost every day was ended by a massage, the good thing of traveling together.
The intense hike to and from Cala Goloritzé
Rocky roads, no matter how high
Seriously, Sardinia rocks! Literally and figuratively. We went also inland and up the mountains. Some could be partly reached by a dirt road, but you have to be careful with a normal car. Roads can be full of holes, sharp rocks and...wild pigs, sheep or donkeys. The land turtle we didn't meet, although the turtle is painted everywhere on the walls and in logo's. The flamingo's stayed in the water and we didn't meet snakes. Most wildlife encounters were with cats and bright green salamanders. We planned to climb several mountains, but Monte Pino was probably the highest one we did. The last few days had serious showers in the mountains and the shoes did not do a good job anymore. I will share the Monte Pino hike in another post. It was not possible to see all peaks of the island in such a short time. There are many good view spots, although you need to be creative in getting there sometimes. In Sardinia they don't really make parkspots along the road when there is a stunning viewpoint. This time of year, there was hardly anyone on the road, for us it was easy to stop and shoot a few nice images. One of the nicest scenic routes on the island is probably the SS125 between Dorgali and Baunei. Just before Baunei our attention went to a bright green soccer field on a rock. The local team was training here. This is the nicest spot for a soccer field, that I know (including a helicopter platform). When we arrived in Baunei, we discovered that one of the bars had a nice rooftop restaurant (that was officially closed, but we were allowed to have a few wines on the rooftop). During our little roadtrip we also tried to climb Monte Ferru, although during this hike we got soaked by the only serious shower we experienced on the island. After 1 hour we decided to return, because it was just to wet and windy.
Who does not want to play soccer here?
Several shots along the SS125 from Borgali to Baunei
Spot flamingo's at Punto Panoramico Stagno San Teodoro
The view on Olbia and Isola Tavolara from Monte Pino
A part of the Selvaggio Blu hike
The towns
Like I mentioned before, in February you will find completely deserted villages. The villages that are booming in summer, but dead in winter. The bigger cities like Olbia and Cagliari we avoided. Several town we visited had a special vibe: Bosa, Burgos, Bari Sardo, Baunei, Santa Teresa, Palau, Alghero and one was a special one: Orgosolo. Orgosolo once known as a village of murderers and bandits. Today the town is full of wall paintings, dilapidated houses, damaged cars, smalls alleys, kids driving around in cars, the smell of burned stuff and just a bit of a weird vibe. It's a huge contrast with the surroundings: a beautiful scenery of mountains. Often you will find road signs full of bullet holes and the bullet casings are also on the streets. In the evening the streets and bars were filled with men, that give you a bit of a weird look. I know, I don't look like a gangster...the getto is probably not my place.
Several images from Orgosolo
Alghero
The town of Bosa
The natural pools close to Bosa
Rooftop views from Baunei, more to come...
Was this all I had to say?
No, definitely not. I just don't want to make this post too long. I will share more detailed stories in the coming 2 weeks here on Pinmapple and some other communities. Sardinia has amazing scenery, and I do feel the magic on several locations. You can use all your imagination and fantasy, while looking at the rock formations.
Maybe it was the lack of sleep...the first week I had to sleep on a mattress that I would call a piece of cotton and not a mattress. Maybe is was because I missed some parts of vanlife...after 2,5 months it is still not fixed by the Mercedes Garage. Maybe it were the holes and the rocks...Sardinia ROCKS. I just missed a certain vibe, connecting with other travelers and locals. Or maybe it was the fact that besides the Italians, there were only Germans here? I did not have thwe feeling I left Germany sometimes. It's difficult to avoid it, when your girlfriend is German to. Although, the tourism signs all over the island are marked with a Belgium flag next to the German translation.
The view from our AirBNB balcony, during the rainiest day
Lookout of Capo Ceraso
The view from Panoramico Liscia Ruja, where normally a restaurant is located called "Primmaopoimiponguappostu"... I am not joking
On the way back to Germany, we could finally watch people and enjoy the catwalk during our stopover in Milano. This airport stopover was like being in the middle of a modern video clip. Surrounded by weird outfits, natural beauties, hippies, backpackers and screaming kids. Welcome back to the mainland!
Sunrise session at Cala Fuili