wantagig

DAY FIVE: (Just realized I messed up numbering our days. We lost a day by the time we arrived in Rome. Day two should have been arrival on La Mad. anyhow...)

After breakfast, we rolled our luggage to the ferry and arrived in Palau. DH's eye is bugging him. The black "hairs" are still there along with black dots too. Our destination was Castelsardo. Talked to a taxi driver and asked if there was an eye specialist in Palau. He said no, we'd need to go to Sassari for a specialist. He said that we could take a chance by waiting at the "pronto soccorso" (ER) in Palau and maybe we'd get lucky and find a specialist. He also said there'd be an ER in Castelsardo. Thought about taking a bus to Castelsardo finding a room and getting transportation to Sassari to find a specialist. The bus wasn't leaving for 4 hours. Thought about renting a car. Asked him how much to taxi to Santa Teresa di Gallura because I knew I could get a bus from there to Castelsardo. He said 35E. My husband asked how much to drive us there all the way to Castelsardo. He said 100E so my husband said "lets go!"

This guy was nuts! Nice, but nuts! He literally drove between 100-140 KPH. The trip lasted over an hour on rolling terrain. By the time we made it to Castelsardo, he was taking us away from town to a hotel he knew of. My husband asked if there wasn't anything more in the center of town, so he brought us to the Hotel Riviera. www.hotelriviera.net

I felt so sick when we arrived, I almost didn't notice a man run across the street and grab both our bags and bring them up the stairs into the bright reception area. This hotel was so bright and airy. I noticed the big FoFo sign which I had remembered seeing in my research. FoFo is the hotel's incredible restaurant. With excellent food and impeccable service. At reception, another young man had me sit down on one of the sofas and brought me some hot tea. My face was multi-colored. First white then ashen, then green then pink. The tea really helped. It also helped to be out of that car. People say "didn't you ask him to slow down?" Answer, Yes of course! and he would.....for a nanosecond!

Waiting in the reception we liked the area so much and I SO didn't want to move, so we said we'd like to stay two days instead of one. After 20 minutes our room was ready. After one look at the room (#218), we said we wanted to stay 3 nights! It was large, airy, modern and with an incredible view of the sea. The big windows and balcony let in the fresh sea air plus there was a great view of the centro storico and the beach below.

We told the director (Pietro) about the problem with DH's eye and lo and behold he knew of an eye specialist in their little town! The doctor only worked Mondays and Fridays in town. The other days of the week he was in Sassari as the director of their eye center. We were in good hands. Today was Friday and Pietro got us in to see the doctor at 5:00. In the meantime we needed to change dollars to euros so we asked where we could find a bank. The director of the restaurant started to explain how to get there but then I think he took pity on the car-sick condition I was still in, so he drove us a few blocks to the bank. We were really impressed by these folks!

At the Bank of Sardinia, they charged a 1.5 euro fee to change 500 USD into euros. I forgot to mention that the Bank of Roma at FCO airport charged a 26 euro commission to make the same transaction! Yes, I tried to tell my husband to use an ATM instead of bringing cash, but he prefers to find out the hard way. i.e. He thought the idea of the money belt was overkill but I brought it anyways. By the third day he had it around his waist never to leave his side. He also wished he wasn't carrying so much cash. Live and learn. In his defense, he's never had an ATM card and therefore didn't understand the extreme convenience.

We then walked to Pinna Trattoria and had a sandwich, vege omelet, beer. water, 2 caffe. 16E. Walked to centro storico. Amazing views on the shortcut by the sea. This part of town is 1100 years old. This whole town was gorgeous. The people were so friendly. We went back and got ready for the beach. Found out the Dr. appointment was changed to 7:15 pm. Walked across the street and enjoyed hanging out at the beach. By 6 pm I was starving. Nothing was open so I got some fruit from the fruit vendor to tide me over.

Walked a couple blocks to Dr Sini's office. We waited an hour. One of the doctors did the preliminary exam with questions, eye drops, eye chart, and dilated his eye. Next we saw Dr. Sini. He explained the problem clearly and how it occurs. The big fear was that the retina was torn. After careful examination, he determined that there was no tear. Big celebration! This would have been exceedingly difficult if I did not speak Italian. In the 3 days we were there, no one we met spoke English. Of course the managers at our hotel knew many words and phrases, but they seemed content to converse in Italian. Mostly Germans visit Castelsardo. There was no English newspaper available. (fine by me. DH always likes to know what's going on. When I'm on vacation-I don't) I was thanking God that it happened when it did and that I was prepared to handle it. Excessive, repetitive listening to those language cassettes paid off big time! (Living Language Advanced Italian)

Now 9:30 pm and hungry, we're relieved that Dr. Sini's prescription is one eye drop twice a day combined with rest. Dr. Sini recommends that we try a nearby pizzeria. We went to Bar Roma. Upstairs you'll find Maria Teresa and her kitchen. We had two ice cold beers, water, and split a pizza. Delicious! With just the three of us there, we got into a big conversation with her. Maria Teresa had the same problem. Dr Sini had also treated her grandson. As we discussed the great Dr. Sini and our feelings of relief, we ordered a vege pizza and two more beers. 25E total. What a day!

After this, the reports will be much more concise. It was scary thinking you might be loosing your eyesight so far from home!

GAC

wantagig: great report! I really enjoyed it, also because I too sojourned at the Hotel Riviera and ate at the Ristorante FoFo in Castelsardo!

wantagig

GAC, you were my inspiration thanks to your expertise and 12 day sample itinerary. However, If you keep reading you'll find that we never made it south of Alghero. If it weren't for you, I never would have known of Castelsardo. Yes, I read the books that you mentioned, but almost all of the towns seem so enticing, how does one choose? It really helped to have you there to answer the questions before we left. On the 4 week trip, this was our favorite town.

WanderingTexan

Thanks for continuing the report. My husband had to go to the emergency room in Brazil on one of our trips. I assume DH's eye is OK now? Would Hotel Riviera in Castelsardo work for someone that can't speak Italian?

Surlok

Wantagig, very nice report! Thanks for posting.

Wandering Teaxan, did the doctors/nurses in that ER in Brazil treat you well? Where was it? I ask because I'm Brazilian and live in Rio.

wantagig

WT: Thanks for asking, and thank God, his eye is "fine". He has a detached retina, which is somewhat common with severly myopic, older patients. We know that now, but then, we were afraid that he was going blind! If I didn't speak Italian, we'd go to Sassari which is a provincial capital and Sardinia's second largest city. Surely there'd be someone there at the eye institute who would speak English. Did you have language trouble in the ER? I can't imagine! We were scared as it was. To have a language barrier would be much worse.


I think that the romantic town of Castelsardo would work if you had a phrase book. The beach isn't bright white. It's definitely sand, not dirt or pebbles. The hotel will supply an umbrella and lounge chair. It's a great little cove. A place where families go. It's clean too and talk about convenience, it's right across the street!

What I liked about Hotel Riviera is the unbelievable service at the hotel, the restaurant FoFo, and the bar. Everyone, housekeeping, breakfast waitress, etc, was quick with a smile and a greeting. Pietro and his two cousins are the owners. It's been family owned for years. They treated us like valued guests and they were so warm, friendly and helpful. Your daughter would be in good hands. They definitely know some English. I'm sure they know some German too. We spoke in Italian because I'm at an advanced level and they understood my joy in being able to practice it 100%. (Which is not possible in the "Big 3" where everyone wants to respond to you in English. )

WanderingTexan

wantagig, Thanks for the additional information. I bought some Italian tapes, but so far, haven't started on them.

Surlok, The ER in Brazil was great. We were in Rio and my husband fell (too much to drink and he was clowning around) and hit his eye on the side of the pool. He had to have quite a few stitches. The staff was very nice to him and it was all at no charge! Only problem was that the hotel charged around $70 TO CALL a doctor.

Surlok

Ouch!! This was what the hotel charged? Or was the doctor visit that cost that much? A good doctor here would have charged you about 200 American Dollars to come to a hotel to see a patient. In his offce, it would have cost a hundred.

We do have excellent private hospitals, as well as public, as Miguel Couto in Rio. I'm glad to know your husband received good care, and it all worked well in the end. I hope this unexpected accident didn't prevent you from enjoying all that Rio has to offer.

wantagig

DAY SIX: Today was Saturday and we heard there was a wedding at the 900 year old church in the centro storico. We strolled up there and got a brief guided tour (4E/2) of the church's crypt. It was very interesting. We found out that the wedding was Sunday so we followed the sign to Aragona and grabbed a snack of a warm sandwich of mozz. cheese, tomato, and oregano, an order of chopped artichoke (delicious and pickled from the fathers farm) beer, sm water, lemon soda and caffe' for 11E. Aragona in the centro storico has a beautiful view and good fresh food.

We walked back and relaxed on the beach. We got cleaned up and went to FoFo. We had the warm flat bread that is found in Sardinia. It was particularly delicious here. We got a bottle of wine, water, cheese ravioli, huge plate of mussels, red mullet fish, grilled jumbo shrimp, salad, 2 caffe'. It was our first 2 1/2 hour dinner. It was fantastic! We had our first "mirto" which is Sardinias version of limoncello. We had some limoncello too! Simply put, it was a wonderful dining experience. Both the food and service were exceptional. 84E

DAY SEVEN: We went back to centro storico to see the wedding (from afar). It was fun to hear the car horns honking and wave to them as they made their way up the hill to the church.

We took the longer route and happened upon the museum with Sardinian woven artifacts. 4E/2 Saw the panoramic view, the highest point in Castelsardo from inside the museum walls. We then went back to Aragona to try the famous "mirto spaghetti" that the restaurant fellows had spoken of. It was really good, just as they promised. DH had the spaghetti botarga. He liked it. Way to fishy for me. (It's made with fish eggs). For an appetizer we had the caprese (mozz. cheese, sliced tomato, oregano) a lg. beer and a caffe. 25E

We walked to hotel Baia to work off the large meal. This was the hotel where the taxi driver was originally going to bring us. Below, and down the steps, the sea is beautiful. There is no beach directly below the hotel but a really big smooth flat rock. Someone hammered a rope into the rock so that you can jump in, swim around, and hoist yourself up by pulling on the rope. As we were heading back to our hotel, we saw a darling terrier and ended up in a 2 hour conversation with a couple of local ladies who owned the dog. These people are great.

When we got back to the hotel we asked Pietro how much it'd be to take a taxi to Alghero. He got back to us right away. He said Angelo could drive us there for 80E. That seemed like a good bargain. We took it.

ErikJW

Thanks for the report. Please keep it coming. I am very interested in Sardinia.

I'll wait for the full report but questions keep coming: if you were to decide among towns on N. Sardinia ( with respect to beach, calmness of water, dinning experiences, and cute town with scenery) what would you pick? We are looking into spending a week in September with 4.5 year-old- hence the beach/sea calmness questions!

wantagig

Hi Erik: Based on that criteria, definitely Castelsardo. Definitely Hotel Riviera.

We met a young lady from Poland who had visited Castelsardo, amongst other villages in Sardinia, and had loved Castelsardo so much that she returned with a friend to spend 3 weeks there.

What a great place to get away from it all. The people are so friendly and it's so picturesque. The small bay right across the street from the hotel is lovely and clean. Kids were playing in the tidepools on either side of the beach. It was dreamy!

wantagig

DAY EIGHT: Paid our bill at the Riviera 120E/night. As you can tell, we just loved our stay here, but I must warn you of one thing. If you want a quiet room, you should ask for a room that does not have the view of the sea. My husband doesn't like A/C so we slept with the door open. Fri and Saturday night traffic past our window was pretty constant. The mopeds are noisy. It may have been better had we shut the windows and used the A/C but we never did. Sunday night was much more tolerable. That's about the only negative thing I could think of. I would go back here in a heartbeat and I'd still ask for a room with a view!

Angelo arrived on time and drove us to Alghero. He brought us first to Villa Las Tronas. We couldn't see a room and its location seemed kind of isolated. We went to Carlos 5. It looked nice but they were full. These two hotels are Alghero's finest but they are quite a trek from the white sandy beach area. Angelo stopped at another hotel a 3 star near Carlos 5 but it was in dire need of a facelift and had no elevator. Went to Hotel Florida but they had no room available to see. Went next door to Hotel Soleado. The sweet girl at the reception (Monica) showed me two rooms. It seemed fine so I said OK. The AC blew air, not cold air though. The florescent lights aren't too appealing, but we decided that the location and the bathtub were both good reasons to stay. Lots of pressure and lots of hot water. It's right across the street to a big beach and it's a nice 15 minute walk along the marina to the centro storico area. The owner is multi-lingual and the gals speak some English too. The people here were friendly.

We thanked Angelo and asked him if he'd pick us up and drive us to Olbia. He said yes (140E). That is an excellent price as he had to leave Castelsardo, drive to Alghero to pick us up and then drive us clear over to Olbia. He said to call him the day before we leave as we didn't have an itinerary and didn't know how long we wanted to stay in Alghero.

We walked all around the centro storico area. Inside the walls, we went to a pizzeria that's open for lunch called Passaparola on Via Gilbert Ferret 35. We ate a vege pizza, a 4 cheese pizza, 2 beers and 3 diet cokes for less than 20E. Boy was that pizza good! Especially the vege pizza! Walked in the centro storico area some more. Walked back and relaxed by the pool. In the evening we took a walk to a bar located across from the marina called Cafe Pascucci for a snack. We were still full from the pizza and decided to split a warm panino of tomato and mozarella, a fresh squeezed OJ, a caffe and a beer for less than 10E. (The receipt says Perbacco Cafe Via Garibaldi #29.)

DAY NINE: We had breakfast. Good caffe Americano. We walked to the marina to a kiosk called Navissarda. We paid 20E/2 to take a boat cruise to see Neptunes Grotto. This was a big boat. The man pointed out some landmarks in English, French, and an expanded version in Italian. We made it to the grotto where we were required to pay an additional 16E/2 to get into the grotto. We left the the boat and walked through the grotto which was discovered less than 100 years ago. It was pretty neat. It was a 3 hour boat ride and tour combo. For 8 to 10E , there are a ton of boats both big and small that will take you there.

After the boat tour, I couldn't resist, so we returned to the pizza place Passaparola and had just one vege pizza with just one beer and one coke for 9E. We walked back to the hotel and went across the street to lay out in the sun on the rented chairs/umbrella. It costs 10E/2 which includes toilet facilities, and a glass of Sardinian white wine. They also have a lock box for your convenience located on your table under your umbrella. Got cleaned up and walked to a restaurant/pizzeria a block away from the hotel called Ramblas. Via Don Minzoni #2. I had a plate of salmon penne which was pretty good. DH had spaghetti w/ fresh tomato and basil. It was good. He then had a plate of swordfish della casa which was covered in a light tomato sauce. We had a 1/4 house wine, water, caffe latte, a beer 3 scoops of ice cream. 39E. The food here was pretty good but I wasn't nuts about it. The pizzas looked good, but this was the first time that I felt "pizza-ed out". (There's a first for everything!)

WanderingTexan

Wantagig, Thanks for continuing the report. Great information.

Surlok, I don't remember what the Dr. charged, but it was definitely the hotel charge for the call. That's why I remembered it! We missed a trip the next morning because we were up all night, but the accident certainly didn't affect our trip. Thanks! WT

GAC

Wantagig: keep the reports coming, they are excellent reading.

For the benefit of Fodorites who might be on a tight budget, it is useful to know that there is bus service from Castelsardo to both Santa Teresa di Gallura to the east, and Sassari (the Provincial Capital) to the southwest. At Sassari, you can change buses to go to Alghero. The trip from Castelsardo to Alghero takes two hours (excluding connection time) and costs about 4.50 Euros. There are about 10 buses daily (fewer on Sundays) from Castelsardo to Sassari; and about 18 from Sassari to Alghero.

wantagig

Thanks GAC and WT for the encouragement. Thanks also GAC for including additional helpful info.


DAY TEN: After breakfast we needed some cash so we walked to centro storico. After suggesting that he can be inconspicuous by the avoidance of dipping into "the vault" (money belt) and can avoid unknown money exchange fees, I said for the umpteenth time "let's use my ATM card". DH consented and soon thereafter decided that it was a great idea he had to use a card and lamented that he had so much cash on him.

We went shopping for clothes. We had seen several display windows with lovely Italian fashions on our previous visits. On the previous visits however, we had been there around lunch time, which is "riposo" time. Almost nothing is open for at least 3 hours during mid-day. Anyhow, we found some neat things for me and I was a happy camper. Now hungry, we went back to Perbacco for two more fresh squeezed OJ's, one heated sandwich, a banana and 2 cappuccini for 11E.

We continued on our way, walked back to the hotel, and spoke with Monica as to which town we were going to visit next. We talked about going to a resort near Olbia for the next 3 nights. We were flying out really early in the morning on the 28th and therefore needed to be in Olbia by the 27th. Monica suggested that we go to Stintino, if it was beautiful water and beaches we were after. I had read about Stintino and it was a place that I had wished I could go. It seemed so far out of the way and prohibitive without a car. My husband asked how much it would be to take a cab. She placed a call and said "70-75 Euro". DH said "lets do it!". Monica and one of the other girls picked the Roca Roja for us for 90 Euro a night and made the reservation.

With our next destination all set, we went to the beach to relax. In the evening we got cleaned up and walked a very short distance north to a restaurant literally on the beach called La Playa. I had the ravioli which was good and the grilled veges which were not good. (they weren't grilled to order. They were served cold) DH just had hot tea and dessert.

After a couple of beers and a Sambuco, we were asked to close the restaurant tab as they were preparing the place for music entertainment. It was 33E. They added a 15% cover charge for entertainment-which was excellent by the way! They had musicians playing Spanish and Mexican songs and it was great! They do offer guests of nearby hotels and passengers with Ryan Air 10% off. They forgot to give us our discount, but it was no big deal. We had a blast there. We danced salsa and got into conversations with many people. The men sang so beautifully and clearly. Being half Mexican, this music, and played so well, was such a special treat! Now it was 2 am and we knew we were getting a ride at 10 am to Stintino. We left and quickly found ourselves at our hotel, but I noticed none of the lobby lights were on. I tried both doors-locked! As I imagined us sleeping our last night in Alghero on the beach, I saw a doorbell. Hoping for the best, almost as soon as I had pushed the button a man appeared. He greeted us warmly and let us in.

wantagig

DAY ELEVEN: Paid our bill 90E/night and met our driver. The owner of Soleado asked us to send him a post card from LA. We took a leisurely ride to the hotel Rocaroja in Stintino. The meter said 64E but he asked us to pay him 70E so we did. This hotel looked really nice and modern. It turns out that it's actually the oldest at La Pelosa Beach but it underwent a real transformation a couple of years ago. It was hard to believe that this 4 star hotel was only 90E/night but traveling in the low season is the time for bargains. We got our room and noticed that there was a tree right outside the balcony that attracted tons of bees. We couldn't open the door as I'm scared to death of bees and there were at least a half a dozen perpetually around the door to our room. I asked the director if she could give us a room away from the trees. It seemed like we were putting her out, or causing trouble, maybe she just was having a bad day. Regardless, with some reluctance, she changed our room for us. The rooms are very modern and nice with big bathrooms.

We wanted to get a bite to eat. We went to the dining area where we saw a huge buffet. We found out that the dining area is for those on a full pensione. It's not a restaurant. We'd need to change our status of breakfast only. We were going to go ahead and do just that when they sat us right next to someone. We asked to sit one table over but they said no. Such a huge dining area but they sit you right next to one another (literally 4" in between tables) I wanted to just get a bite to eat and felt that the huge buffet was too much, so I asked the waitress for a recommendation and she suggested Il Gabbiano on the beach. Great idea. Two minutes away, on the beach, casual and good food! Had a delicious vege pizza, ravioli of spinach and cheese, and 3 beers for 32E (beers were 4E each which added to this bill).

We finished and walked a short ways to La Pelosa Beach. Wow! These waters were as gorgeous as the beaches we saw on the La Maddalena boat tour! Continued walking to a lookout point. By 5 pm the winds had picked up and the wind surfers took to the sea. They put on quite a show. We walked back and I washed everything. The twisted travel clothes-line and clothes pins with hooks were really a godsend! We skipped dinner and called it a night.

DAY TWELVE: This buffet breakfast was HUGE! Fresh fruits, breads, cereals, meats, cheeses, yogurts, you name it. Eggs scrambled and hard boiled. Impressive. This time we weren't restricted with seating arrangements. It was time to call Angelo the taxi driver from Castelsardo and ask him if he'd be able to pick us up the next day and drive us to Olbia. He said yes and that the price wouldn't change as it was about the same distance.

We then decided to walk off the big breakfast and so we headed towards the town of Stintino. We walked to Punta Negra instead. We followed the signs to the "commercial district". DH wanted to see if he could find an "International Herald" newspaper. By the time we found it, we found that the commercial district consisted of a building with one little store open and lots of vacancy signs. It was a cute, quiet, and small village with tree lined streets.

We decided that we had walked far enough and the newspaper wasn't important, so we turned around and went to the private beach of Rocaroja. We tried to raise the umbrella but I was having trouble working it. We tried another umbrella but again, we couldn't work it. The young man who works there came over and I thought he was going to help me. Instead, this guy had an attitude. And after questioning us he said I wasn't allowed to raise the umbrella because it was too windy. When I pointed out that they were raised the day before, he said "it wasn't windy yesterday", to which I replied "it sure was!". In any case, I didn't use the umbrella and it really wouldn't have been an issue if he had approached me in a friendly manner instead of his "umbrella nazi" manner. We found that many of the employees are uptight here compared to the other places we had been.

We wanted to try a new restaurant so we walked to La Pelosa beach and had lunch at the main restaurant there called La Pelosetta. A few feet away is the hotel, of the same name, which is made up of many little one story buildings. If we were to return, we'd probably stay here. We had a vege pasta, pasta with mussels, a mixed salad, water, and two beers, one caffe for 32E. It was really very delicious. About 50 yards off the beach, there is a mini island with an Argonese tower on it that's about 1,000 years old. We saw people wading over, so we did it too. It's not easy because to wade over, you have to walk on slippery rocks all the way. We ended up loosing our footing and fell in. We got to the island and saw that even though there was no entrance, there were "windows" about 12 feet up. A couple of fellows hoisted themselves up to have a peek inside. Naturally I asked what was in there and he said "A restaurant". Very cute! Coming back to land, I gave up on trying to stay dry , so I gave my shoes and cover-up to my husband and used my hands to pull myself over the rocks.

For dinner we decided to go to Il Gabbiano knowing that they had a good menu and good food. We had the tomato, cheese, and basil appetizer, a vege pizza (again) and a beautiful fish (called a Spigola?) that they had received that day. We had water, a beer and a 1/4 wine for 50E. The fish alone was 22E and worth every penny. It was a really, really good meal and friendly service.

WanderingTexan

More great info and interesting report. Thanks.

wantagig

DAY THIRTEEN: Oops! Turns out there was an extra day in Sardinia! It's hard to believe, but this morning the breakfast is even larger. I think it was due to a big group of people that had arrived yesterday. We waited to meet Angelo at our appointed time. When we got to Olbia, which was at least a 1 1/2 hour ride, the 3 of us got a coffee and a sandwich. Then he brought us to Hotel Stella 2000. The girls at Hotel Soleado in Alghero had picked this one for us after calling to find their first choice (Martini) was already booked. We said our goodbyes to Angelo and thanked him profusely. He was really a sweetie.

Regarding the hotel. The hotel has a gas station right in front of it which made DH apprehensive to say the least. Once inside, all was forgotten. It's really a cute hotel that was completely refurbished in 2000. They must have dual pane windows because it was really quiet. The rooms were so large. The A/C quickly cooled off the room. The bathroom was brand new and really, really large. This was a huge bargain at 62 Euro. They told us that even though we're leaving for the airport at 6:45, to come early and eat something and have coffee. She showed us the dining room which was really nicely decorated.

We wanted to go to the center of Olbia so we went for a walk. The gal had offered to let us use a hotel umbrella. My husband graciously declined. 7 minutes later we ducked into a bar to have a drink and to wait out the torrential rain! Moral: trust the locals, take the umbrella! After it let up, we walked into town and did some window shopping. We took some pictures and later decided to get a bite to eat. It was about 4:00 and not much -food wise- was open. It started to come down hard again so we had to make a quick decision as to where we'd go. We popped into a restaurant called Frisby on U.S. Giovanni #3. The man took our order and asked if we'd like to start with an appetizer. He suggested a caprese (tomato, mozzarella, basil) so we said OK. He brought us two orders. I thought that was weird. I explained we only wanted one. He said "no big deal", but I got a weird feeling about this place. I said "this guy is trying something with us". Sure enough, when the bill came, there were two orders of Caprese on our bill and a 2.10E charge for a caffe lungo (espresso with a little more hot water added). The bill said "caffe liquor". They removed one order of Caprese but the owner said that the caffe is the right price. I didn't want to argue over one euro. When no one else in two weeks charges you extra for a "lungo", it is annoying. Everywhere else we left 2 to 4 Euro extra as thanks for service, but not here. Total bill 40.45 E.

After raining buckets, we decided we could make it on foot as it had really eased up. We were getting close to our hotel when we heard screeching of tires. We turned around and saw some guy's car nearly get hit by another. As the guy honked, his eyes met ours and he swerved towards us and splashed a ton of water on us by speeding through a puddle. It's like he took his frustration out on us. Now, I'm really not happy with Olbia.

We have an early wake up because our flight leaves for Catania the next morning at 6:45. We decided to call it a night, but first we arranged for a cab to come get us at 5:45. She says it'll take about 15 minutes and cost "around 20 Euro, but you'll pay what the meter says." By 5:25 am we were in the dining room and enjoying an abundant breakfast with sweet breads, cereals, yogurt, and fresh fruit and juice. We had a couple of cappuccini. They ended up grouping us with a business traveler to share the cab to the airport. The driver covered the meter with his jacket and when we got there he said 20E, which we split with the other man. Even though it was a quick ride, because the driver arrived so early to come get us, I felt it was worth the set fare. I only mention it because we were told it would be a metered ride, but in actuality it wasn't. Our flight parted without a problem and an hour later we were in Sicily.