That Little Island Keeps Calling Me

Yes, it’s back to Sardinia once again. I can’t seem to stay away from this magical isle that continues to call to me. This time I decided to visit the capital of the island, Cagliari, in the far south. In addition to the large city, there’s also a major beach, Poetto, plus lots of wonderful restaurants, shopping, pubs, wine bars, etc. And by sheer chance or luck, I’ll be staying right in the middle of all the action, on Via Sardegna, right next to major shopping and the Marina, in the midst of restaurants and wine bars and sightseeing. And the airport bus drops me off just a five-minute walk from my hotel. Incredible!

So, up at the crack of dawn on Thursday, June 13, to get to the airport by 7:30 AM. A one-hour flight to Prague (!) then two hours to Cagliari, arriving around 2:30 in the afternoon. A quick confab with the airport Tourinfo desk revealed that there are now NO BUSES from or to the Cagliari airport. None. Nada. It’s either a taxi or the local train, 20 euros for the former and around 1.5 euros for the latter. No contest, right? Well, no contest if the next train is due inside of 20 minutes, which is their supposed general frequency. Of course, the Tourinform lady kindly informed me that, as it was now 3 PM, the next train would come through at 4:30 PM. 90 minutes. 90 minutes to wait in the airport when I could be walking the streets of old Cagliari or sitting at an outside table sipping an Aperol spritz. No thanks, Tourinform lady. I choose the 20-euro taxi.

It was a speedy 15-minute trip to my hotel. I checked in and found my room was already wonderfully air-conditioned; I almost stayed in there, as it was nearly 90 F (32C) outside, but decided to pursue that tall, cold drink that kept calling me. It was now around 4 PM and I’d forgotten that most of the restaurants and shops were closed in Italy between 2 PM and 8 PM. Sigh. So it was a quickie snack of fried calamari and an Ichnusa beer until dinnertime.

I did my reconnoiter stroll around the neighborhood, checking out the travel agencies for a possible day cruise on the Med, finding the Segway shop for a possible tour of the city and checking the bus schedules at the main terminal across the street for buses to the beach. I’d have to wait for my spritz.

I enjoyed my room’s aircon splendor for a while and took a shower in possibly the world’s smallest shower enclosure; just barely enough room for me to adjust the water pressure and heat level and to soap my upper body; not a chance I’d get to wash my feet.

Around 7 PM I headed up to the Piazza Yenne, turned left and found the Old Square Irish Pub, open and waiting for me. I chose their fish and chips for dinner along with a couple of very nice local beers. An after-dinner stroll took me around more of the old town. The streets were still hot from the sun, but the cooling offshore breeze managed to drop the temp at least 2 degrees. The streets were crowded with people looking to escape the heat, sitting at curbside tables and drinking their spritzers. I joined them to watch the parade of evening revelers.

It seems the fashion statement of the summer for young Sardinian girls included heavy eye shadow, dark red lipstick and skimpy costumes. In fact, the primary article of clothing on display was the very shortest of short-shorts, so short, in fact, that they could only be counted short enough if there were a pair of cute little buttock cheeks peeking out of the bottom of the shorts. Too bad all of my pics of this lovely tradition were blurred; the girls were just strolling too quickly.

Friday July 14. After a quick basic Continental breakfast at the hotel, it was off to make some plans and reserve some dates. First up was the travel agency, where I booked a full-day sailing cruise for Tuesday, July 18. I would meet the boat at the Marina Piccolo (Little Marina) from where we’d set off around the bay for a day of sailing, swimming and eating. Sounded good. Also signed up for the next-day Segway tour of Cagliari’s Old Town. I’d never been on one of these two-wheelers before, and thought it was about time to broaden my horizons. Hey! I’ve driven a quad-four dune buggy off-roader across the Tunisian sands; how tough could a Segway on city streets be?

And then it was time for my first visit to the beaches at Poetto, a miles-long beach area just east of the city, easily accessible by bus. I bought my tickets and bussed out to the first of the private beach areas, Il Lido, comprised of a long, two-story building, umbrellas, restaurants, etc. Everything for the beach-goer who really doesn’t want to leave home. Entry charge was 12 euro (!), and everything else was extra. I knew I wouldn’t be back to this expensive beach anytime soon, but decided to make the most of it for the day. I sunned, swam, surfed, lunched, sipped and walked the beach. It was crowded with school kids and water polo teams and other sorts of group-inspired activities, but I managed to dodge and weave my way around them all. It was my first day out and I didn’t want to burn, so I only stayed for around 3-4 hours before heading back to my air-conditioned hotel room and a nice shower.

Out at 7 PM for drinks on my hotel terrace, then a stroll over to Cogas, a local restaurant I’d heard about on Trip Advisor. Well, it was wonderful! I was hungry and managed an appetizer plus first and second courses plus dessert, quite a bit more than my usual dinner. But it was so good! I just couldn’t stop. Starters were olives stuffed with meat then lightly breaded and fried, accompanied by a light Sardinian wine. Spaghetti with mullet roe (dried fish eggs) came next, followed by a main course of “Mutton Stew,” which was actually just heavenly-tender mutton that fell off the bone. It was a culinary orgasm with each course. And, naturally, I had to have my seadas for dessert, that wonderful pecorino-cheese-filled pastry topped with honey. Washed down with a mirto, I was in hog heaven. An auspicious beginning to my week-long stay.

Saturday was my Segway tour day. A light breakfast at the hotel, then over to the Segway shop to meet my group and to practice using the two-wheeled Segway motorized contraption. After a brief, two-minute introduction to the machine and to how it works (“To go forward, lean forward; to go backward, lean back; to turn to either side, move the handles to either side”), we were allowed – required – to take some practice time in the street. There were two teenagers, a young Irish couple and myself in our group. Only one person in our group managed to hit a building during practice; I won’t embarrass him by naming names. And then, armed with our new-found knowledge of the laws of motion physics, and topped with a rather uncool helmet, we leaned forward and were off to see the city.

The entire tour lasted about 2.5 hours, and took us uphill and downhill and all around Cagliari. We stopped several times and dismounted to check out specific views and buildings and even for a brief refreshment and bathroom break, but otherwise we remained standing on our Segways throughout. We had to lean waaay forward to get up the steep hills and then had to lean waaay back to get down those same hills. Challenging, so much so that while we were moving we had to pay so much attention to guiding and steering our Segways that we really didn’t have a lot of time to enjoy the passing views. But it was still fun and there were no serious injuries .

Lunch was risotto with seafood at one of the ubiquitous streetside restaurants, followed by, naturally, seadas. I needed a shower and nap in my air-conditioned hotel room. As I was preparing to go out in the evening to search out a perfect dinner venue, I realized that Italians/Sardinians must spend most of their lives considering the meal they just enjoyed and planning the next meal they would enjoy. So, their lives revolve around food. If I lived here, I’d be auditioning for the job of Fat Man in the circus within a month. Time to tone it down a touch.

I found the Donegal Irish pub, noted on Trip Advisor, but it was shut down, so it was back to the Old Square Irish pub for drinks and another great starter, pecorino arreste – fried pecorina cheese on that amazing Sardinian thin ‘bread,’ Carasau. Tonight I wanted mussels, so hied myself off to the Osteria Tabarchina, near my hotel (everything was near my hotel) and ordered my bowl of 50 or so goodies, fresh from the Med that very day. I eat my mussels the way I learned in Brussels, using one empty shell to pick the mussels out of the rest of the shells. No forks or slurping the mussels down like oysters for this traveler! Accompanied by another tasty local wine, veggies and limoncello, everything was just perfect.

As I have noted during previous visits to Sardinia, there really isn’t much in the way of Sardinian nightlife, e.g., music, bars, karaoke, dancing, etc. Mostly just going out to eat very late (most diners showed up around 10 PM for a two-hour dinner) and drinking wine and talking with friends around the table. I did my after-dinner stroll along the marina waterfront and turned in early.

Sunday was another beach day, only this time I decided to ride the bus waaay past Il Lido and see what other areas of Poetto were worth exploring. I stuck on the bus as people kept getting off at nearly every stop, supposedly for their own special beach areas. Pretty soon, there were only two passengers left and I decided it was time to follow the other person’s lead when she got off. So I did. And I found I had made it all the way to Beer Beach, about halfway up the entire length of the Poetto beach peninsula. More umbrellas and lounge chairs, a good-sized restaurant/snack bar, beach volleyball courts, etc. Looked like a nice place to while away the day, so I stayed to while.

I relaxed on one of the lounges, which only cost me 7 euro at this far-away beach venue. The sun was hot and the breeze was strong and all was right with the world. Lunchtime came and I enjoyed some fresh octopus salad and an Ichnusa beer. The beach was still not crowded, even on this weekend day, but the wind had picked up so I decided to call it an early day around 2 PM or so. My air-conditioned room beckoned and I heeded its call.

Out and about again around 6 PM, I had my now-standard Aperol spritz on my hotel’s terrace, having made friends with the bartender so as to get the maximum amount of ice in my drink. Dinner this night would be at Inu, a restaurant owned by friends of my Budapest Sardinian Wine Bar’s owners Nico and Mauro. It was just another short walk away and I arrived around 7 PM, as this was one of the earlier-opening places in town. I hadn’t realized it before, but Inu only offers wine, cheese and meat tasting menus as its fare. Not a strand of spaghetti in the place. But it was a welcome change from the heavier foods in town.

I opted for the three-cheese and three-meat tasting plate, along with another of those great Sardinian wines. And, of course, when I ordered a ricotta for dessert, the waiter told me, “Oh, we don’t have that.” I seem to be getting inured to life’s many disappointments that I find in my travels. But onward and upward. I was able to smother my dessert loss at Osteria Tabarchina with some seadas and mirto, so the evening wasn’t a total loss.

I decided Monday would be a day of exploring those areas of Cagliari I had missed. So I revisited some places to better appreciate them, like the Elephant Tower and the shopping area along Via Garibaldi. I peeked in at the University, but couldn’t find a student store, so sorry, Morgan, no Cagliari University t-shirt. Come lunchtime, I visited both of the highly-recommended pizza places and, of course, both were shut up tightly. Sigh. Anyway, I finally found one of the other good pizza places on a side street and indulged in a sausage, pepper and aubergine pizza. Very nice. More shopping, shower and nap rounded out the afternoon.

I really needed to have a lighter dinner that night, so I strolled down the Via Roma arcade fronting the marina and found a little sushi place, just what the nutritionist ordered. Spicy tuna and shrimp, spicy salmon, veg and shrimp tempura and a finishing lemon sorbet. Perfect. I spent some time ogling the yachts in the marina – one of them was so big it even had a helicopter on its aft deck! – and checking more side streets to see if I’d missed anything.

Tuesday was Cruise Day! I was up early and had breakfast at the hotel, then taxied over to the Marina Piccolo (Small Marina), as I wasn’t sure which bus stop to exit and where to go afterwards. Anyway, my driver found the docking area I was told to go to (Area D) and I settled in around 8:30 to await the arrival of my crew and other cruisers for our scheduled 9:30 AM sailing time.

And waited and waited and waited. No one showed up. No activity at Berth D. Nothing, Nada. No one. 9:45 and I was desperate. I noticed another boat just around from Berth D was getting ready to leave, so I hurried over and asked them if they knew anything about my boat, travel agency, company, cruise; anything at all. Nope, never heard of them. But – will wonders never cease, they invited me to join them on their day cruise, as they had lots of room and figured they could settle things later with my agency. Saved! I scurried on board and settled in for the day.

We cruised around the lower Sardinia bay, sometimes under motor power, sometimes under sail power. A nice, easy relaxing day. Did some swimming and had a nice lunch of cold meats and cheeses, took in the sun, smelled the ocean breeze and just chilled out. A nice break.

We got back to the marina around 4:30. I asked Carlo where the nearest bus stop was so I could get back to town and he offered to take me in his jeep. A good end to a good day. When I stopped by the travel agency to tell them their boat never showed up, they kindly informed me that the boat I had been asked to join was, in fact, the boat I should have been on in the first place! Even the Boat’s leader didn’t know that! There were obvious mixups in the berth number and I never even had the name of the boat, but somehow I got lucky and it all worked out for the best.

I had a shower and cleanup and my daily Aperol spritz at my hotel, and had a nice chat with a young Danish couple on holiday. Then I took the long two-meter hike to the Ristorante Italia, just across the street from my hotel, for dinner. It was another splurge night. I started with half a dozen Sardinian oysters, three from Tortoli and three from Sant Angelo, accompanied by a white wine. My waiter preferred the Sant Angelo oysters, as did the two gents at the table next to me, but my personal preference was for the Tortoli oysters. Then the Mains, some nice beef slices along with a side of veggies, some nice red wine and finished up with my fave seadas. My waiter also introduced me to a new after-dinner wine, Vernaccia, which was so good I brought a bottle home with me. I staggered back across the street and hit the sack around 11.

And so, my final full day in Cagliari. I thought it fitting it be a beach day, so I bussed back to Beer Beach, anticipating a nice long lie in the sun along with some swimming in the tranquil Mediterranean Sea. It was not to be. The Scirocco wind out of North Africa came whipping across the beach, blowing sand into everything. The sea was also choppy from the winds and full of bottom weeds and other sea-stuff. Not a good day for sunbathing. I lasted a couple of hours, but finally decided to call it quits. I showered early and did some last-minute shopping and sightseeing

Around 7:30 or so I headed out for my final meal in Cagliari, which turned out to be somewhat of a disappointment, after so many great repasts. The Danish couple I’d met recommended trying the escargot in tomato sauce at So Cudimbo restaurant, so I figured, why not? I got a table easily enough, but when I ordered the escargot, guess what the waiter told me? Go ahead, GUESS! Yep: “Oh sorry, we don’t have those tonight.”

Grrr. I was very disappointed and was on the verge of leaving when he suddenly brightened up and said, “Wait, wait here, sir and I will go to our other restaurant and see if they have some,” and off he scampered. He was back within five minutes with a covered plate of the allegedly delicious delicacies, and I was happy again. But not for long. These local Sardinian escargot were hidden in tiny shells, slathered in tomato sauce, and apparently there were no escargot forks tiny enough to get into the shells so I had to use a toothpick to pry the little guys out. And they were little! And not particularly tasty; I guess one needs garlic butter for that. So, not a great start to dinner. But the waiter was so pleased he’d been able to fill my order that I just couldn’t express my disappointment, so I smiled all the way through the dish. It also turned out that about 25% of the shells didn’t even contain anything at all! I’ll never listen to Danes again!

My Mains at least made up for the starter. I had porchetto, the great suckling pig dish of the island, soft and tender on the inside and crispy, crackly skin on the outside. Yummy. Some Cannonau red wine was the perfect complement. I decided not to chance another disappointment with dessert, so paid my bill and went off to Ristorante Italia for some seadas and vernaccia wine. Much better.

Thursday morning it was time to go. I paid my remaining hotel bill (I’d charged all those Aperol spritzers on my room) and hiked the five minutes to the main train station. I hoped there wouldn’t be a 90-minute wait today! I was in luck this time; I managed to find the right track just minutes before the train left, and made it to the airport, the first stop for all of the trains, in about 9 minutes. I was first in line at the KLM check-in counter – for all the good it did me. Turned out their system was down and they had to do everything by hand. Not a long line of happy travelers that day. Anyway, we only got off one hour late, which was no big deal to me as I had a nearly six-hour layover in Amsterdam anyway; just one less hour to kill.

I did some more airport shopping and was delighted to discover my departure gate was only a three-minute walk from the main concourse; usually I have to walk half a mile when departing from Schiphol Airport. So it was around 4 PM or so when I decided to find a stool at the main U-shaped bar of the Grand Palace Bar and Restaurant in the airport. I had a lovely local beer and snacks and passed the time talking to David from York, England, who lived in Switzerland. My one beer stretched to two then three, then finally dinner seemed in order, some very well-prepared Indian satay chicken. Another chat with a newly-arrived duo at the bar earned me another Chaney beer, which I really didn’t need by that time, but when a free beer is offered who am I to refuse?

I finally staggered away from the bar and found my gate around 7:30, to await a 9:30 departure. I must admit I spent most of the time checking for holes in my eyelids, but we took off only 30 minutes late and got back to Budapest at 11:30 PM. I caught the brand-new Express bus service from the airport to Kalvin Ter, my neighborhood, just 25 minutes, and was unpacked and asleep by 12:30 in the morning.

Another trip successfully taken. No more immediate travel plans, but watch this space for my next jaunt, probably not for a few months. Happy Summer and Autumn to everyone.