Sun 29/01/17. Sardinia, Spiaggia di Mari Ermi.
Early evening with the sun going down over this spectacular coastline, beach and our home for the night, hopefully. Having just walked back from the Spiaggia after having a lovely sundowner we were met with a guy taking photos of our NiKi, not one but several. Damm, we thought-local council, police or local busy bodies taking evidence to report back to make us move on our way. Currently in Sardinia there aren’t many places if any to make us move on our way to- in terms of touristica the island is shut and certainly all campsites and/or aires. So David approached the gentleman standing his full 6’ 4 and stood by the guy. All of a sudden embarrassment took over and the young gentleman just went into full apologies of how sorry he was but how in his words “handsome” the van was and how lovely it looked sat in its spot-which of course it did. So then rightly or wrongly we asked the young couple in to see how handsome and spacious young NiKi was inside. As young first timers for even a brick home this was a new world for them and amazed they were as they stepped into Narnia land. Well I think for him it as Nardia but for the young girl she was slightly but politely horrified at the clothes space despite my best efforts at telling her you only need 10 select pieces of good quality that mix and match for your wardrobe. I could see her thinking that the space wouldn’t even house her designer sunglasses that are of course obligatory here let alone clothes and of course this wasn’t underlined by my outfit of oversized Uniglo shorts and a jumbo sized David reject T- shirt. I just also hope that the fact that we hadn’t been able to wash that day due to a complete lack of water didn’t add to the situation. However we both feel that we might have caught 2 potential future motorhomers here in the making, you can never get them too young!!
Let’s travel back in time as it’s been a busy week what with leaving Spain and arriving here in Sardinia. Spain remained unkind to us weather wise right up till our departure but once again it shone through on the food front on the last day with our menu del dia in Sitges. A lovely small town, a much lighter version of Barcelona. Not our cheapest MDD at €16 but as we were soon to find out cheap by Italian standards. D had artichokes but in the old fashion 60’s style of roasted and having to eat the flesh of the skins that had been coated in dressing. For me it was the tail of monkfish and boy that fish must have been a whale given the size of its tail. But it went down very well served with clams and in a champagne (cava) sauce and despite the 5 hour boarding time it also stayed down for the duration of the crossing thankfully.
GRIMlines remained grim and after 2 varying check in times we arrived at 9.30 pm for a midnight departure. At 2.30 some 5 hours later and after GRIM had boarded over 500 fully laden lorries the 4 motorhomers were placed on board. The rest of the journey was uneventful other than meeting a lovely father/son couple in a motorhome where the young 15 year old son is hoping to become one of the top Motocross riders in the world and isn’t far away from it at the moment, but it was inspirational to see the talent and sacrifices made to enable this dream come true- good luck Chris and Christopher, may your dreams come true.
Sardinia, Italy what to say.
Since arriving and being fore-warned with horror stories of how bad the drivers are plus the roads are including by Italians themselves, also held up by the fact that when I was working for a well-known car hire company they were the worse licensees we had how were we to fare. Arriving in dark and rain is no one’s best first impression nor ours as we bounced into the lovely town of Alghero. With no other option we had to park in the local car park and after checking it out and settling in we walked into the old town. Even In the dark it was stunning but tummies were rumbling and moods weren’t for cooking and so we headed to have our first real Italian pizza in Lu Furat, a Lonely Planet recommendation. We had 2 types of pizza, one the norm and the other made from chick pea flour and for me both were as good and unlike Spain the hot pizza was hot, bloody hot in fact and our first taste of Sardinian wine was equally as good. An excellent start and the price not too bad at €28, if only we had stayed just there.
As we made our way around the top and middle of this lovely island we soon realised that the island is in fact shut for tourists with all the many top things to see and do plus many restaurants included in that January shut down. This was slightly disheartening for us as there is so much to offer and even the best beaches don’t look quite as good when the sun isn’t in full flow and there’s no one about not even a coffee shop open. Plus after our first pizza moment we soon realised that Spain was cheap and Sardinia wasn’t with a small bottle of local beer costing €4 and a wine €3, we did get a few crisps on the odd occasion but nothing enough like Spanish tapa to make us give up lunch or dinner. Plus no camp sites or facilities however many we hunted out and said they were open were, and it put us under pressure on the water front. As much as we like the odd drink we can’t wash and cook with wine or beer and by the Sunday morning levels were non-existent and tempers frayed. So after a night spent in the once renowned bandit town of Nuoro on an Aire where the water and dump were firmly closed we had to resort to David removing the cap on the water facility and with water gushing down everywhere we managed to secure the hose on the flow and fill NiKi plus some reserve drums but at the cost that David got very very wet as the water spurted out everywhere. Plus of course where does every self-righteous IT person leave their mobile at that time as well….. In their pocket. Oh dear, was not the phrase or words used by dear David at that moment but thankfully after some time spent in rice the phone thankfully came back to life.
It’s at this point after a few lovely early morning hours spent in Bosa a town
of many coloured houses that we arrived where the story began. So now after a lovely sunset moment and dinner with arguments behind us (until the next) we settle down for the night with the no neighbours and just the crashing of the waves we wonder were that couple really interested in our home or was he Carabinieri or worse perhaps Mafiosa. Will we be moved on at midnight, will there be a dead horses head on our pillow or have do I just need another
small limoncella.
At out second attempt Grimaldi Lines dropped us off at Porto Torres in the north of Sardinia
to start our long journey home. Here is the route this week.
Chris and Peter says
Good to hear you could finally do the crossing to Sardinia, lovely island! We toured it in spring couple of years ago, but not by motorhome. Enjoy!
Katherine clune says
Check out European nomad’s site. Penny visited Sardinia last year.
Katherine clune says
Check out European nomad’s site. Penny visited Sardinia last year.
Jacqui says
It never ceases to amaze me how Italians fail to make the most of their wonderful resources. We have a house on the south west coast of Calabria, and whilst we are lucky enough to be in between two sea side towns with a proper residential community, there are towns a spit away that are closed up like ghost towns only just lacking in the odd ball of tumble weed here and there from mid September to mid June, Yet it’s still possible to swim in the sea in December and the weather, though changeable in winter as the recent snow throughout Europe has shown, we have had fabulous February weather too. They work so hard to make their money during the visiting months, but could easily make better use of what lies closed and wasted with just a little marketing. Two hours from us in the Silla mountains there are wonderful skiing facilities, but hardly any information about it. It’s such a shame but then it does stop it being spoiled for us I suppose.