Sardegna

We had never even heard of Sardinia (Sardegna in Italian) until we met Sergio, or maybe it was there somewhere in the recesses of our minds.  He told us of a magical land of gorgeous beaches, caves, stone structures and ancient ruins from ~1500 BC. Tony was anticipating taking some remote work for a few weeks and this sounded like a great place to settle down for that time. Tony didn't end up taking the work, but he may have a new job as troubadour for the Italian Minister of Defense (now a K-Tone fan thanks to Sergio sharing a recording of Tony’s music with him :). Nonetheless, we were so glad we decided to go to Sardinia and it ended up being one of our favorite places in Europe.

We rented a car to have the freedom to explore the island more fully. After several hours of working out rental complications because Tony’s driver’s license was less than a year old, we were finally off. Having a car was a nice change of pace from our train travel. We loved the free feeling of cruising the windy mountain roads and jamming out to some music while still being able to talk (which is hard to do with ear buds in on a train). We started in Cagliari in the south part of the island and drove up to Santa Theresa in the north, and spent eight wonderful days driving the in the eastern half of the island. The landscape was beautiful and varied greatly as we drove. The steep red granite cliffs in the middle of the island reminded us of Zion National Park. In some areas we found white granite mountains and at other times white sandy beaches and juniper bushes predominated.

As we drove up the coast we stopped to visit some of Sardinia’s most beautiful beaches along the way. We hiked to a few incredible, remote beaches. The first was Cala Golorozite, a beautiful pebble beach with emerald water, and overlooked by a huge monolithic spire. The next was to Cala Marilou. We were the only people hiking to Cala Marilou, as most people visit the beach by boat. In order to get there we had to follow some very obscure directions that involved steps like parking the car next to the goat pen, walking 10 minutes north, and then taking the side trail at the large white stone. Fortunately we figured it out and we came to an amazing treasure at the end of our map: the entire beach to ourselves! It was a playground of unique rock formations with an enormous cave that opened into the bay.

As we drove up the coast we found very few campsites open. The tourist season was over and there were times when it seemed entire towns were shut down. We decided to try our hand at wild camping, something we had not done since Scotland. However in Scotland it is legal while this is not the case in Sardinia. It ended up working out great. We found spots where we could drive the entire car behind some sand dunes or vegetation and set up for the night within earshot of the ocean waves hitting the shore.

When we made it to Santa Theresa we couldn't bear to leave. Rena Bianca was perfect for relaxing. It was similar to the other beaches in that there were amazing rock formations and crystal clear blue water. The best part was that we didn't have to hike to get there and the beach itself was a cushion of clean white sand. The water was shallow and still so we spent hours swimming and tossing the frisbee in the water.

A little north of Santa Theresa we visited Capo Testa, a small peninsula overlooking the Strait of Bonifacio. Capo Testa is decorated with Gallura granite rocks that have been worn from the wind and sea. Hiking around the peninsula makes you feel like you have just landed on the moon. Admiring the shapes of the stone, we both felt certain that Gaudi and Dali must have visited this place and found inspiration in this uniquely beautiful landscape. Sardinia was once occupied by Spain, but long before their lifetimes.

We had already tried some of Sardinia’s culinary delicacies in Rome. Sergio and Kaća had prepared us an amazing meal which included some Sardinian Pecorino cheese, Bottarga con Fregola (dried and cured fish roe which is used as a condiment for pasta), and a lovely red wine from Sardinia. We enjoyed more wonderful food while in Sardinia, but we didn’t try Casu Marzu, the traditional Sardinian cheese filled with live maggots. I have to be honest in that we didn't seek it out either (:  We can’t thank Sergio and Kaća enough for everything they did for us, but especially for sending us to Sardinia. We love Sardinia and we love you both!

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