I wanted to go to Italy (maybe Sicily, maybe the Adriatic Coast), but Fenanda insisted in Sardegna.
Sardegna, it was!
A full week in the beach, with nothing more to do than swimming and looking around. The landscape is beautiful, and the touristic construction discreet, preserving the sights.
We didn’t go to the south, so, the biggest town we saw was Olbia – small, and not particularly interesting.
At the end Fernanda was somehow disappointed, because (I think) she was expecting something rather lively and commercial, like Mallorca or Canarias, and she found something closer to the simplicity and tranquillity of the Greek Islands.
Maybe she was influenced by the feminine magazines, with their systematic pictures of the usual people in the usual poses in the usual places – the yachts in the coast of Monaco, Balearic Islands, or… Sardegna.
Well, the yachts were there, the usual people should be in them, and the photographers should be around.
However, our holidays were in the land, not in the papers, and for who had read about it before leaving, it was OK.
The coast
Sardegna’s coast is much more empty and wild than we expected.
I couldn’t imagine vacations there without a car (or boat).
Travelling around, it’s easy to find a beach that suits your preferences in a short distance.
Costa Smeralda
If the landscape in Sardegna is beautiful (and it is), Costa Smeralda is the best area, and the most developed for tourism.
Wherever you look, you feel that the whole was conceived to people with a boat.
The so many calas and islands make me believe, that, if you can afford it, this may be one of the best places for nautical holidays, but if you are with a four people family, in wheels (as we were), and depending in your salary to pay the vacations, then… just see and go.
it’s not your world, and you have a beautiful coast elsewhere, to fit your budget (if not so tight…).
Coda Cavallo
One of the best sights in northeast Sardegna is at the Horse’s Tail Cape, so called because… of course, its shape.
The forms of the coast, the colors of the water, and the wide views from the panoramic road are a must, and the beaches are also excellent.
So captivating, that I forgot there my camera’s bag, and extras. Yes, that one in the picture, celebrating its last moments in my possession.
Budoni
We travelled a lot in Sardegna, searching for an animated beach, but everything was calm and discreet in the area.
Budoni is a wide beach, but with nothing more than what we had at our hotel, and its private beach.
Villaggio Porto Ainu – Full Board in the Oven
Villaggio Porto Ainu – Full Board in the Oven
We spent a week in full board at this hotel in Porto Ainu. Everything was very good except two things:
1 – There was no conditioned air, and how we missed it…
We had a rented car, and after lunch, we always went somewhere, basically to cool a bit with the air conditioned.
2 – There is not much to see around, except nature, what becomes monotonous. The beach was warm (with algae everywhere), the animation almost Spanish (and that is a compliment), and the week passed quickly.
Address: Budoni
Phone: +39 0422712589
Watch your scheduling
Watch your scheduling
Sardegna is not an example of easy transport, so watch your transportation plan. I couldn’t get a ticket for the car, so I decided to let it in Italy and rent another upon arrival at Olbia.
Everything went well, the only difficulty was that the rent-a-car is in the airport and closes at midnight.
My boat should arrive at 11.30PM , so I’d planned to run out the boat, leaving the family with the luggage, get a taxi to the 6 km to the airport, and return with the car.
The big problem was the delayed departure of the boat.
I adverted the rent-a-car company about the delay, and got the promise that the lady would wait about half an hour.
Too short, the delay was bigger than that!.
I tried to phone again from the boat, and couldn’t do it. No signal. I only recovered signal 20 minutes before landing and the lady was still there, but announcing that she couldn’t wait much more.
I was the first to jump to the quay, and… no taxi. I phoned the airport in despair asking the lady if she could pick me in the harbour, with the car, and I would drive her afterwards wherever she needed.
No way, “very irregular”, she gave me 10 minutes more.
Inside the harbor I found an advertising of a radio taxi and used it. He promised to come, but he was still outside Olbia, and would take more 15 minutes to come.
New phone call to airport, the lady blaming me, but… staying.
Everything ended well (even the deserved fat tip to the lady), but that kind of tension is exactly what we don’t need in vacations, so, take care.
Ferry to Sardegna
Flying to Sardegna is expensive, even with low-cost.
Though we had already decided to leave the car inland, and to rent another one in the island, we saved money travelling by ferry.
It is quick, safe, and comfortable, with a single problem – the arriving time is not suitable to rent a car, so, when planning, it is wise to reserve a night in Olbia, near the harbor, and deal the rent-a-car in the morning.
We didn’t, and suffered a lot.
