Sardinia Honeymoon (long)
Jul 11th, 2004 | 07:02 PM
#1
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Joined: Aug 2003
Posts: 45
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Sardinia Honeymoon (long)
This is the follow-on to my Positano wedding post. This is the Sardinia portion of our trip.
Friday: We had a driver take us from Postiano to Naples were we flew Meridiana to Sardinia. We arrived in Sardinia at Cagliari airport and picked up our rental car from Hertz (a Ford Focus Cmax Diesel). Next, we set out to find our hotel, the Stella Maris (which was in Villasimius). The drive from the airport was just over an hour. We checked in and I had the woman at the desk show us three different rooms before deciding on one of them, room 214. Nothing was wrong with any of them I just wanted to make sure we had the best view that we could get. All of the rooms were plain but very very clean and nice. Our room had a wonderful view of the ocean, we loved it! After we got settled in we went into town for a little while.
Saturday: We drove back into Villasimius but stopped at Fortezza Vecchia along the way. The cost was 1 Euro per person (and I would say that?s about what it?s worth). It is a good place to stop on your way somewhere but don?t go out of your way to see it. After wandering around and shopping a little bit we went to Porto Giunco (which we found on postcards). It was our favorite beach in the south, beautiful and not too crowded. We had lunch in Villasimius and then went back to the hotel to check out that beach. Unfortunately, the beach in front of the hotel was covered in like two feet of kelp. The day before we didn?t see any and I asked the guy that worked at the beach stand and he said that it is just that time of year. We walked along the beach until we found a kelp free zone and fell asleep in the sand. J We did get in the water for a little while but it sure was cold?The Stella Maris also has a salt-water pool that we went to but it was cold too. The food at the Stella Maris was fabulous. On Saturday night we had antipasto buffet, ravioli di ricotta al pomodoro, and I had the white fish and my husband had the roast pig (not as good as the white fish).
Sunday: We slept in and didn?t get into town until around lunchtime. We went to our new favorite Villisimius café (I?ll have to look at my pictures to find the name of it) and had pizza. Then we spent the rest of the day at Porto Giunco, for 12 Euro you can rent an umbrella and two beach chairs. (It is well worth it)
Monday: We checked out of the Stella Maris and started the drive up the coast. We stopped at Costa Rei and it was also a very beautiful beach that I would recommend. We drove up the coast until we got to Arzana and then we took an interior road to Nuoro. We looked for some non-Italian food but no luck so we continued on. About 5 ? hours later we made it to Olbia. We found a McDonalds and were pretty excited about that. J After our stop at McDonalds, we went to find our hotel, which was just outside of Palau, Capo D? Orso. We had a junior suite with another beautiful view. You could see some of the islands from our bed! The room was a beach house style, it was lovely. We did have a view of the beach but it was a small beach. It was not as nice as the beaches in the south but I loved the hotel. The food was great at Capo but it was almost too gourmet for us.
Tuesday: We drove to Costa Smeralda/Porto Cervo. I was not all that impressed with it. I?m sure that there are great beaches but many of them are private or difficult to find. We went back to Palau and found a beach in town with beautiful water; the sand was kind of like gravel though. We went to eat lunch and dinner in the port area. For dinner we went to Zio Nicola and we shared a lobster past dish. We ended up coming back here three times we liked it so much.
Wednesday: We went to see the Capo D? Orso (you have to climb a lot of stairs to get up there) but you have an amazing view when you get to the top. We drove around just kind of exploring and then we went to another fortress. A woman in the office gave us a private tour. I think it was around 5 Euro per person. For dinner we went back to Zio Nicola and my husband had the Pizza Inferno (with hot sausage) and I had pasta and clams. Both dishes were delicious.
Thursday: We had planned on going on this all day sail (for 70 Euro per person) arranged through our hotel (Capo D? Orso) but it was too windy so they canceled it. I really wanted to go to the islands so we went into Palau and found a big group boat trip for 30 Euro per person. The boat was called the Petegus and it took us to Spargi and Santa Maria. They were some of the most beautiful beaches that we saw the entire trip! As soon as I get all of my pictures back I?ll post some. The water was crystal clear when we got to Budelli but it is a nature preserve so they won?t let you actually get on the island. The boat stopped and you could jump out and swim but it was too cold for us so we just did some people watching and stayed in the boat for this stop, it was only about 30 minutes or so. Before returning to Palau we motored by Maddalena and we got back to Palau at about 5:30.
By the way, we found a place in town that would do laundry for 12 Euro per load.
On Friday we checked out of the hotel and went back to the airport to go to Rome.
Friday: We had a driver take us from Postiano to Naples were we flew Meridiana to Sardinia. We arrived in Sardinia at Cagliari airport and picked up our rental car from Hertz (a Ford Focus Cmax Diesel). Next, we set out to find our hotel, the Stella Maris (which was in Villasimius). The drive from the airport was just over an hour. We checked in and I had the woman at the desk show us three different rooms before deciding on one of them, room 214. Nothing was wrong with any of them I just wanted to make sure we had the best view that we could get. All of the rooms were plain but very very clean and nice. Our room had a wonderful view of the ocean, we loved it! After we got settled in we went into town for a little while.
Saturday: We drove back into Villasimius but stopped at Fortezza Vecchia along the way. The cost was 1 Euro per person (and I would say that?s about what it?s worth). It is a good place to stop on your way somewhere but don?t go out of your way to see it. After wandering around and shopping a little bit we went to Porto Giunco (which we found on postcards). It was our favorite beach in the south, beautiful and not too crowded. We had lunch in Villasimius and then went back to the hotel to check out that beach. Unfortunately, the beach in front of the hotel was covered in like two feet of kelp. The day before we didn?t see any and I asked the guy that worked at the beach stand and he said that it is just that time of year. We walked along the beach until we found a kelp free zone and fell asleep in the sand. J We did get in the water for a little while but it sure was cold?The Stella Maris also has a salt-water pool that we went to but it was cold too. The food at the Stella Maris was fabulous. On Saturday night we had antipasto buffet, ravioli di ricotta al pomodoro, and I had the white fish and my husband had the roast pig (not as good as the white fish).
Sunday: We slept in and didn?t get into town until around lunchtime. We went to our new favorite Villisimius café (I?ll have to look at my pictures to find the name of it) and had pizza. Then we spent the rest of the day at Porto Giunco, for 12 Euro you can rent an umbrella and two beach chairs. (It is well worth it)
Monday: We checked out of the Stella Maris and started the drive up the coast. We stopped at Costa Rei and it was also a very beautiful beach that I would recommend. We drove up the coast until we got to Arzana and then we took an interior road to Nuoro. We looked for some non-Italian food but no luck so we continued on. About 5 ? hours later we made it to Olbia. We found a McDonalds and were pretty excited about that. J After our stop at McDonalds, we went to find our hotel, which was just outside of Palau, Capo D? Orso. We had a junior suite with another beautiful view. You could see some of the islands from our bed! The room was a beach house style, it was lovely. We did have a view of the beach but it was a small beach. It was not as nice as the beaches in the south but I loved the hotel. The food was great at Capo but it was almost too gourmet for us.
Tuesday: We drove to Costa Smeralda/Porto Cervo. I was not all that impressed with it. I?m sure that there are great beaches but many of them are private or difficult to find. We went back to Palau and found a beach in town with beautiful water; the sand was kind of like gravel though. We went to eat lunch and dinner in the port area. For dinner we went to Zio Nicola and we shared a lobster past dish. We ended up coming back here three times we liked it so much.
Wednesday: We went to see the Capo D? Orso (you have to climb a lot of stairs to get up there) but you have an amazing view when you get to the top. We drove around just kind of exploring and then we went to another fortress. A woman in the office gave us a private tour. I think it was around 5 Euro per person. For dinner we went back to Zio Nicola and my husband had the Pizza Inferno (with hot sausage) and I had pasta and clams. Both dishes were delicious.
Thursday: We had planned on going on this all day sail (for 70 Euro per person) arranged through our hotel (Capo D? Orso) but it was too windy so they canceled it. I really wanted to go to the islands so we went into Palau and found a big group boat trip for 30 Euro per person. The boat was called the Petegus and it took us to Spargi and Santa Maria. They were some of the most beautiful beaches that we saw the entire trip! As soon as I get all of my pictures back I?ll post some. The water was crystal clear when we got to Budelli but it is a nature preserve so they won?t let you actually get on the island. The boat stopped and you could jump out and swim but it was too cold for us so we just did some people watching and stayed in the boat for this stop, it was only about 30 minutes or so. Before returning to Palau we motored by Maddalena and we got back to Palau at about 5:30.
By the way, we found a place in town that would do laundry for 12 Euro per load.
On Friday we checked out of the hotel and went back to the airport to go to Rome.
Jul 13th, 2004 | 09:45 AM
#4
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 1,812
Likes: 0
Next month I will be just outside the city of Cagliari for 3 nights, Alghero for 3 nights and 4 nights in the San Pantoleo (somewhat the Costa Smeralda area). We will have a rental car, and I plan on doing boat trips to the islands off the Costa Smeralda.
Jul 13th, 2004 | 11:09 AM
#5
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 3,398
Likes: 0
AP: here's another excellent hotel resort to choose near Cagliari (opened within the past year):
Sighientu Village Hotel in Marina di Capitana, on the road to Villasimius.
Much, much nicer and larger than the Calamosca, though pricey in August. You can reach the hotel from downtown Cagliari in less than 20 minutes by rental car.
Sighientu Village Hotel in Marina di Capitana, on the road to Villasimius.
Much, much nicer and larger than the Calamosca, though pricey in August. You can reach the hotel from downtown Cagliari in less than 20 minutes by rental car.
