Spectacular Sardinia

November 2020

In a long overdue post, I thought we really should mention our three weeks in Sardinia in November.  We’re currently in Megève, France, for the ski season, and if I’m honest, my head hasn’t been in the right place for writing, such has been the peculiar situation we find ourselves in (more on that in due course!), but the sun has been out and brightened my mood, so here we go!

We headed to Sardinia as Italy started to tighten restrictions, realising that if we stayed in Sicily we could find ourselves cornered in one town. Unfortunately this means we still haven’t visited the south of the island, which was a key objective, so sadly (haha!) we’ll have to return once more! Sardinia had lower C19 rates so we hopped on another ferry and hoped for the best.

We couldn’t have chosen better. We have both fallen in love with the island, so much so that we may find ourselves there more often in the future – property prices are pretty sensible still. I don’t want to give a day by day account, it would be tedious I fear, but I do want to share some of the sights and highlights.

We arrived into Cagliari but didn’t visit the capital, heading straight across to the coast. Using P4N and SearchforSites as our guides, we found wild camping spots along the coast from Pula to Sant’Antioco, sometimes on the beach, once at a heritage site, in little coves, and along the marina. We had no problems, met a few other chatty campers, and chilled. 

The town of Sant’Antico is very sweet, it runs up from the harbour where fishing and pleasure boats bob up and down. The harbour is lined with restaurants and cafes, and the town climbs up and way in a sprawl of little streets, shops and houses. There’s a tarmac cycle path that extends to Santa Catarina which is very pleasant, there are reserves and salt pans on one side and the harbour to the other, with lots of wildlife.

The island is worthy of a tour too. Harder to find somewhere to wild camp, but with some spectacular cliff views, and the most lovely seaside town in the south, called Maladroxia, with cute little houses along the beach front that I’d love to live in!

Back on the mainland, and a little further south of here, we drove down to Pula and Nora. Nora is a historic landmark site, Phoenecian and Roman in origin. Whilst we were unable to explore the full site, we were able to see some of the ruins on our run, and we stayed on the peninsula with the sea on either side, absolutely wonderful! Beach yoga and a paddle in the sea, surrounded by ancient history, is something quite special!

We then ventured back up the coast. It’s an awesome coastal road, breathtaking views around every bend. We stopped in at Bosa, which rewards visitors who climb up to the castle (closed unfortunately due to covid) with amazing views of the multi coloured town, houses painted in bright pastels that look like something out of a kid’s story book. Then we headed up again, via the gorgeous, Spanish stye town of Alghero, where we camped on the harbour wall and had to move in the middle of the night due to high winds crashing waves over the harbour shelter and onto the van! Alghero is on our list for a return visit, full of history and beautiful old buildings. 

After Alghero we were treated to more spectacular walks and views on the Capo Caccia, before mooching a little further north to Argentiera.

We stayed several nights in Argentiera, an incredible beach spot with breathtaking sunsets and fabulous walks, even if the town itself wasn’t very much. We’d gone here to find someone we knew, but that didn’t workout. Instead, we met three mad cap Germans. Two were in a converted removals van, and this really was something else. In the back, a hoist to lift his 1970s ex Italian police MotoGuzzi.  An old wooden dining suite of table and 4 chairs. A sofa and armchair. A full kitchen and bathroom, a study area, and a double bed accessible via a ladder. And on the side of the van, a proper, old school, solid wood front door. We went to say hello and stayed for a couple of hours drinking warm white wine, and we were joined by the third German who was in a little Romahome type van. I’m not sure which of the three was the craziest, but the next morning when we set off, we encountered the biker again, pushing his heavy old bike up the hill. He had run out of fuel on a ride out to ‘clear his head’ of his wine induced hangover! We ended up towing the bike back to the van using his belt, certainly an experience none of us will forget!

It seemed a good time to take a little trip inland, and over the next few days we meandered through a few little places, but the highlight if these had to be Orgosolo. You could spend hours wandering the streets here. The buildings are covered in murals, some political, religious or historic, others just fun. They date back many years, but there are also recent additions. It’s fascinating and interesting and curious and I wish I had a guide with me that day to explain them to me in more detail because the wording was often hard to translate from the local dialect. Again, one to re visit after Covid.

Also super fun was Su Gologone. The roads through this part of the island are in themselves incredible, heading up over mountains, through towns clinging to hillsides, and with rugged vistas. Su Gologone was a treat because we parked in the valley by the spring, where the water was simply delicious, and the next day we went for a (very challenging) cycle ride up the mountains to visit the caves – which were shut, but we went anyway! It was a different and very active day out, but a step change from the usual beach and sea experiences we’d had.

After this, a couple of things started to change. Firstly, the unseasonably warm weather we were enjoying was being replaced by increasingly high winds that battered the van overnight and caused temperatures ti tumble. No more sea swims, which had been an almost daily feature, much to my delight and Rick’s astonishment. But also, the further east and north we went, the less van friendly it became. The reviews of parking places made this very clear, and we were visited by the local police most nights. They were always friendly and courteous, and always made it clear what we could and could not do, but it was clear indication that were not quite so welcome on this side of town! We nevertheless found a few nice beach spots but soon headed back towards the west, where life was more relaxed.

The north east of the island is known for being more upmarket, so perhaps this is no surprise. But equally we felt it was much less charming that the rural west which we much preferred.

The one place I would call an exception to this was Arbatax, possibly in part due to us being in low season. We were able to stay on the coast again, in the shelter of the magnificent red rocks the area is famed for. And what a treat at night – it’s illuminated! It is a most spectacular place, and there is a bustling port and what is no doubt a very busy seaside town too. Bizarrely, at the top of the cliffs is what appears to have been a fantastic tourist facility with a restaurant or cafe, but it closed and completely vandalised, a real shame. But the walk up is still very worthwhile.

Back west, we went to Castelsardo and and up to the tip of the promontory at Stintino. Castelsardo is another gorgeous port town, I’d imagine that in full summer swing it’s really a place to be. We sat underneath the castle walls with a cool beer and watched the sun dip behind the rocks, simply glorious. And Stintino offers lots of curious walks amongst the most peculiar rock formations, with fantastic coastal views.  Here we met another couple on a van, Germans who spend every winter in Sardinia doing watersports, heading back to their home in northern Germany for the summer where they run a watersports centre. It was interesting to chat with them about their lifestyle, their van experiences in Sardinia, and their summer business .

Sadly, all good things come to an end, and we needed to get over to France whilst we still could (turned out to be a prudent move!) So with a heavy heart we bade farewell to Sardinia, but there is no doubt we’ll be back, hopefully to explore the historic sites properly when they’re open, maybe to try some water sports, definitely to swim in the beautiful sea!