I write from Hanoi, Vietnam while Rich completes fantasy football draft #2 of three (#priorities), and I am SO EXCITED to have great internet and to update the blog for two reasons: 1.) Sardinia was fantastic, and 2.) my stepdad, blog reader #1, has been slipping not subtle reminders that I am slipping on the blog posting. So here goes!
I almost titled this post “Sardinia: Living Like a Local,” but I’m sure an actual local would find that ridiculous. What I hope to capture is that of anywhere we have been so far, in Sardinia, we were most able to settle into a routine that included many of our favorite things to do back home: exercising, cooking, reading, not getting on a bus, train, or plane every five minutes, etc.
Day 41: Travel Like Whoa
While Malta and Sardinia are only ~400 miles apart, let’s just say the travel was not the easiest.
Our travel day looked like:
- Taxi from Sliema to the Malta airport.
- Flight from Malta to Rome
- Flight from Rome to Cagliari, Sardinia
- Two trains from Cagliari to Sassari, Sardinia
- Bus from Sassari to Alghero, Sardinia
We left our apartment in Malta at about 4:30 AM and arrived to Alghero at about 6:30 PM- whew.
Two things of note:
- Malta had an incredible airport lounge. We checked to see if there was one on a whim when we got to the airport. There was, and it was bougie and wonderful. The food in Malta had been really expensive so we looked like maniacs taking advantage of the all-you-can-eat spread. If you are reading this thinking about ever doing any sort of long term world travel, do not do it without getting a travel card with lounge access (our favorite is the Chase Saphire Reserve).
Breakfast in the Airport Lounge in Malta - When we walked from the train station to the bus stop in Sassari, an Italian woman Rich’s grandfather’s age (89) on a third floor balcony started waving to Rich like he was Brad Pitt. I thought she was going to come over the balcony. I obviously think that my husband is attractive, but it was clear that this lady believed him to be the MOST attractive. Rich was smiling for hours after.
We got to Alghero, got checked in, and ate INCREDIBLE, cheap foccacia sandwiches at Bar Focacceria Milese nearby.
Our AirBNB
I have had really positive things to say about our AirBNB’s so far, and well, this might be a “if you can’t say something nice, don’t say anything at all” situation. I’ll say a little something though.
What was nice: the location as we were right on the bastions in the old town, near the water. The view out our window was unreal.
Less nice: no air conditioning, no WiFi, VERY limited cell phone service period, and the place was JUNKY. Imagine a twenty four year old dude’s apartment but the dude doesn’t throw anything away for twenty years. Oh yeah, and the toilet tank leaked at least a liter of water every time you flushed.
Checking in was also incredible: Our host couldn’t meet us so he sent his dad, who spoke zero English, to check us in. As part of the check-in, he wanted Rich to make sure he could work the key.
So pops and I are in the apartment, Rich closes the door on the outside, the door locks, and then…Rich can’t get the door unlocked. Rich is sweating, the man is yelling directions in Italian, you can’t unlock the door from the inside without the key so I’m stuck in the apartment with the host’s dad trying to translate which way he should be turning the key. After about 4 minutes of stress, Rich figured out that while the man was showing me that Rich should be turning the key left which was what I was yelling through the door, in fact, you needed to turn the key right. The door opened! Let’s just say one of us found it infinitely funnier than the other.
Dayss 42 and 43: Enjoying Alghero, Sardinia
About Sardinia
Sardinia is the third largest island in the Mediterranean Sea and is located south of Corsica. Sardinia is part of Italy– sometimes it felt very Italian to us, and sometimes it felt really different from the parts of Italy we had visited before (Rome, Tuscany, the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, and Venice).
Life expectancy in Sardinia is 82 years, and Sardinia ties with Okinawa, Japan for the highest rate of centenarians (>100 years old) in the world at 22 centenarians/100,000 inhabitants. The birth rate is really low (1.087 births/woman), and here’s how these statistics play out: you have the proudest looking grandmothers and great grandmothers I have ever seen. Babies in carriages are gold– the babies are dressed up, the grandmothers are dressed up, and they parade around for everyone to ooh and aah over these fabulous, plump children. The women literally glow with pride.
Day 42 in Alghero
Rich and I chose to stay in Alghero because its central location allowed for easy day trips around the island, and Alghero had a lot to offer as well. Imagine a beach town (think Wildwood or Ocean City on the Jersey shore) that also has a medieval, walled old town in the middle. You have rides and a boardwalk type atmosphere, a long beach, and then a bustling Italian square.
We slept in until about 9:30 AM to recover from our busy travel the day before and then ran two miles along the beach. It was really hot and, not for the first time on the trip, people looked at us like we were crazy for running. Then, we decided to do an Aaptive workout by a fountain in a park (imagine push ups, jumping jacks, lunges, etc.), and the curious looks increased exponentially. We assumed the Italians didn’t work out.
We got home, ate some cereal (yes, it was chocolate), and headed to the beach. Rich and I spent several lazy hours there, and then ate our seccond foccacia sandwich at Bar Milese in 24 hours. After that, we went home, showered, read, explored the town a bit, then I cooked pasta for dinner. A solid day!
Day 43: Wash, Rinse, Repeat
So Day 43 was almost an exact replica of Day 42- run, beach, reading, home cooked pasta with eggplant eaten in. The repetition may sound boring but remember that at this point we have been traveling for over forty days: routine was just what the doctor ordered.
One quick note: we did wake up earlier- closer to 8 AM- and when we went out a few minutes later to run, there were runners everywhere. We thought Italians didn’t work out, but in fact, Italians just didn’t work out at 10:00 AM! They were smart enough to get it in early before the heat became unbearable.
Day 44: Daytrip to Stintino, Sardinia
The beach in Alghero was nice enough so I wasn’t exactly sure why we would take an hour long bus ride to go to a different beach…until we got to Stintino. WOW. I have never seen more incredible water in my life. After being at beaches in Croatia, Crete, and Malta, this beach wins. It was our hands-down favorite.
More reading, more sun, more beach, more water, more heaven.
Day 45: Daytrip to Bosa, Sardinia
On our last full day in Sardinia, we took one more bus ride to Bosa. Bosa is a beautiful town with brightly colored houses with a large castle/fort that overlooks the city.
We got up and went for an early run, grabbed a cappuchino in Alghero, then hopped on an 11:00 AM bus for Bosa. We got there at about 12:30 in time to hike up to the castle/fort, walk around the colorful houses, and then eat lunch.
For lunch, we stumbled upon this hipster fish foodtruck garden place– it would have been cool anywhere and was that much cooler because we were halfway around the world. We ordered two super cold beers and a basket of fried seafood.
A note on the fried seafood: All of the little fishies still had bones. While we aspire to Anthony Bourdain levels of travel coolness, I’m going to go ahead and freely admit that we are not there. We devoured the calamari and clams and then tiptoed around the sardines and the anchovies a bit.
After our beer and our late lunch, we were ready to hop back on the bus to Alghero. Let’s just say that while bus travel in Crete was phenomenal, we found bus travel in Italy to be, umm, confusing.
The bus schedule posted online did not correspond to the bus schedule posted at the bus stop and then the time posted at the stop came and went with no bus. We ended up waiting at the bus stop for about an hour and a half, but let’s just say things got a bit dicey because we had zero certainty on how long we would wait in total.
Maybe taking pictures when things are tense isn’t the best strategy…
We made it back to Alghero and elected to eat dinner out. We went to a trendy wine bar and had a plate of meat and cheeses along with two glasses of sangria. While the bar was super hip, it was also super not air conditioned. I’m assuming there are no pictures from this night because all we would have captured was a big puddle of sweat!
Final Thoughts on Sardinia
While our accomodations in Sardinia were pretty terrible, in every other way, this was one of the most relaxing stretches of our trip. The people could not have been any friendlier, and several times, actual Italians stopped us- us! American Rich and Amanda!- to ask us for directions because they thought we were Italian. If you have never been to Italy, see Rome and Tuscany and Cinque Terre first. If you have been to Italy before and want an Italian experience with a twist, we really had a nice time in Sardinia too.
Addendum: Reading in Sardinia
Getting a cell phone to work in our apartment was next to impossible- we posted Instagram photos from the same park bench in town each night- and we had a lot of beach time so I was able to read a TON in Sardinia. I have done the very worst job of posting about books I have read but wanted to name the ones I was able to knock out over a few short days internet free in Sardinia:
- The Shore by Sara Taylor
- The Sunrise by Victoria Hislop
- The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime by Mark Haddon
- Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman
- Revival by Stephen King
Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine was phenomenal. I laughed, I cried three times, and I devoured this novel in less than 24 hours. Revival was the first Stephen King I have ever read– it was left behind in the junky AirBNB– and while it was okay, I’m not sure Stephen King is my jam. Feel free to tell me in the comments if there’s a different Stephen King I should consider giving a chance. The other three novels were really solid too, especially since The Shore and The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime were also books left behind in places we stayed (read: free).
But takeaway: add Eleanor Oliphant to your reading lists. So good.
