Sardinia Holiday

We had a free weekend coming up and it was my birthday, so we checked out RyanAir for available destinations.  RyanAir is a cheap European airline that only goes to certain locations - usually vacation destinations.  We looked up Venice, then Barcelona, but we had a tough time finding hotels.  Then we remembered a friend telling us to check out Sardinia - the larger island off the west coast of Italy.  It is the 2nd largest island in the Mediterranean, just smaller than Sicily.  We found a cheap flight and a nice hotel by the beach so we went for it.

We landed in Alghero on the northwest coast of Sardinia.  We decided it's kind of a cross between Spain, Mexico, and the Florida Keys - sorta of funky beachy ambience.  Since it's directly across from Barcelona, Spain, it has a Spanish flavor and has come to be known as "Barcelonetta."  The town was built in the 14th  century with a complete wall, ramparts and towers surrounding the old town to keep out the riff raff.  The native language is a version of Catalan, not Italian. 

In the old town area, many of the shops have grotto-like walls and ceilings (check out one of the pictures).  Coral is the main local product, harvested just off the coast in the Med Sea.  You see it everywhere in town.  This was a different type of vacation for us.... no car and no real desire to go much further than we could walk.  And with a pool, a really nice beach, great weather (85 and sunny everyday for 4 days), we just "hung out."  We walked into town in the morning, then returned to the hotel and sat by the pool and read, then sat on beach while Pete swam in the salty Mediterranean.  After watching sunset, we found a different restaurant every evening.  The food was typical Med - a mixture of seafood and Italian. 

Part of the wall surrounding the old town of Alghero



Mary's new boyfriend, Jack Sparrow.



Pete's new girlfriend, Piratress Penelope



Many of the rooftops have this Spanish tile thing going on.



Looking Northwest towards Spain - I think this looks like a Cezanne painting.

Speaking of painting, these wonderful women all gathered here to paint the seaside.

One of the 5 towers along the old wall - check the gap in the wall for a modern road out of the city.

This is a typical interior of the local shops - an arched stone ceiling.

A view off the outer wall along a bay.

A final sunset... Ciao!