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Copyright © 2005 by Manfred P.. All rights reserved.

June 4 - June 11, 2005

Lazying on Sardinia

Hotel, Beaches, and Baby Sitting

by

Manfred P.

Keywords: Italy, Alghero, Lago di Baratz, Stintino, Capo Falcone, Capo Caccia, Bosa Maritima, Torre Pelosa, La Pelosa beach, tourist, travel trip report, travel log, travelogue.

My wife participated in a 5-day course on biometrics. The event was hosted in a fancy hotel on Sardinia and guess who had to come along to baby sit our nearly 2-year old daughter: I. While my wife was studying and listening to presentations with many cryptic, sophisticated technical words and obfuscating 3 letter acronyms, I had the pleasure to be lazy, watch the time go by, play with our daughter and just be with her.

Capo Caccia

The hotel was located in the Capo Caccia Bay. The hotel as a building was actually not fancy. It was nice but not fancy. What was outstanding was its location and the views from the terraces and the breakfast and dinning restaurants. The building was of an older style, with an inner court yard and wooden balconies. It reminded me of Spanish colonial architecture. A lot of dark, old wood was in use and the inner court yard had a shady passage all around it, lined with blooming flowers and palm trees. Beautiful and tranquil.

The hotel was situated on a small hill on a peninsula, right next to a century old defensive tower. The backside of the hotel had views to ocean views all around, 270 degrees of dark, blue sea shining under the strong sun. Here the "daily life" of the hotel took place. Here were the terraces to sit down under a tree or the shade of a canopy. Breakfast and dinner was served here, and in the evening the terrace was used to put on a show primarily targeted for pre-teen kids. The sound of the waves breaking provided a steady and soothing background sound. Our room was with ocean view - which was both a blessing and a curse. The blessing was the views, the sound of the ocean and the curse was that we had to listen to the musical show for the kids that played the same songs ever night.

The coastline around the hotel is rocky with cliffs in most parts and only a rare spot with a few meters of sand. The water was cold anyway, only some hardened Scandinavian or English guest ventured into the water. The locals spent the majority of the time sunbathing rather than getting wet. During the whole week I tried the water only once, just so I could say that I did not bring the swimming trunks in vain. It was a one-minute swim. That was it.

Lago di Baratz

Capo Caccia is a cape with a light house at the very end and steep, vertical cliffs of some 50 meters falling straight into the sea. Not far from Capo Caccia is the nature reserve of Lago di Baratz. It is a lake surrounded by reeds and a forest. Most of the island of Sardinia is dry and rocky with occasional pine trees here and there. It is not tremendously hospital and rather barren. This lake was in contrast to the rest of the island. Instead of dryness there was a lake. Instead of brown or gray barren rocks there were green vegetation and a forest. One thing Lago di Baratz had in common with the rest of the island: it was as peaceful and restful.

Bosa and Bosa Maritima

The coastline between Alghero and Bosa is said to be the most scenic of Sardinia. Why is it that coastal drives are always such a big attraction to most of us? Big Sur in California. Great Ocean Road in Australia. And here it is the Alghero to Bosa road that winds its way along the cliffs, up and down and provides special joy to all motorcycle rides.

In Bosa Maritima we stopped for a lunch break and to give our daughter the opportunity to play in the sand on the beach. On the way back we went through the inland route and here we saw sheep for the first time. I was looking for them. Rumor has it that there are 1.5 million people on the island and 5 million sheep. In the north near Capo Caccia I had not seen a single one. The sheep are rather skinny and used for their milk. Sheep cheese is the traditional cheese of Sardinia.

Stintino, Capo Falcone, and Torre Pelosa

Not far from the former prison island of Asinara (Italian mafia bosses have been imprisoned here) where the land ends is the small cozy village of Stintino. Only a handful of minutes from the village is the actual cape (Capo Falcone) and the Torre Pelosa. Torre Pelosa is a defensive tower constructed by the Spanish in the 16th century. What makes it so picturesque is its location. It has been constructed on a tiny flat island less than a hundred meters from the beach that took the name from the tower, La Pelosa beach. The water is turquoise and very shallow making it easy to cross the ocean channel between the beach and the tower. I liked that place. It was a lovely beach. I went photo-crazy. I took some 80 or 90 photos of this spot. It was more than worth coming here. The water, the beach, the tower, it all complemented each other harmoniously. Don't expect to have the beach to yourself though, this is a well known place and crowded in the summer months.

Alghero

Surprisingly the population of Alghero speaks Catalan, besides the official Italian. Knowing this fact it is less surprising to hear that Alghero is called the "Little Barcelona". (Barcelona is the capital of Cataluņa, the Spanish province where they speak Catalan.) Alghero is the typical coastal town. It has a harbor, century old thick city walls and defensive towers (8 of them to be exact) to fend off pirate attacks and other invasive forces.

The focus of this week was not on sight seeing though, but on being with my daughter whom I see too little due to business related travel. For a full week I could enjoy being with her, having available to me all the time of the world. I have learned that the smile of my daughter is more beautiful and dear to me than the most scenic drive and the most gorgeous beach of all of Sardinia. But this is not a mutually exclusive thing: I could enjoy her smile during the most scenic drive and right at the most gorgeous beach. For once I could have it all. Am I a lucky guy or what?

    

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