Sardinia: Sea, Sand & My First Sun Holiday In Years

Scottish winters are rough to say the least. Every year once it gets to March/April I always think the same thing, never again. This year however, I had an inckling that I would be in Scotland for the winter again so a sun holiday was definitely needed.

I haven’t had a ‘sun holiday’ in years. I’ve done the whole backpacker thing all to frequently, couchsurfed my way around New York, France and Eastern Europe and even when camping in Norway in November. The last one I admit was definitely a very bad idea. So although it was unusual for me to be the one actually suggesting a “sunshine, beach holiday” that was exactly what I needed. Backpacking has its charms and its definitely a great way to see lots of places cheaply, but is it relaxing? There’s a lot to be said for a sunshine break and this was going to be it.

So, after a surprise Valentine’s gift (I was hoping for something nice) from my better half me and Jemma (of JemmaEatWorld.com) set about looking for somewhere that was warm, had plenty of wine, beautiful beaches and wasn’t Spain or Portugal. Don’t worry I love Spain and Portugal, they’re just places we’ve both been to a lot. In fact I lived in Portugal for a few years so despite loving it, I wanted to try somewhere new.

Although we both wanted a beach – or at least a relaxing – holiday, I was still adamant that it had to be somewhere a little different to anywhere else we’d been to. I’ve been to most of Europe so this makes things quite difficult. I’m not sure how, perhaps it was simply by seeing where was cheapest to get to and then narrowing down our list, but somehow we ended up looking at Sardinia.

I use Google images a lot when deciding where to visit. Travel for me is a very visual search and 10 blue links on a page isn’t going to tell me whether I want to go visit or not. Sardinia, with it’s beautiful clear, blue water and sandy, white beaches looked amazing. Flights into Olbia were reasonably priced, although we would have to go via Gatwick, but it was definitely worth it for the postcard-perfect scenery we would eventually arrive in, many, many hours later.

Fast forward four months and we’ve just landed in Olbia. We’re not hiring a car (although I have to admit we would have seen a lot more if we did). Instead we’re going to travel by public transport.

Olbia’s airport was warm and unlike most airports, actually somewhere we didn’t mind sitting around outside at. There was an outdoor bar and pizzeria and we grabbed a drink while we waited for the bus to turn up.

Our first ‘taste of Italy’ would be in the relaxed Italian approach to life. (Actually I should say taste of Sardinia. Sardinians like the Scottish see themselves as independent and not as Italian). We boarded our bus at the correct time and waited. Then we waited some more. Then some more. The bus driver had disappeared so we were running late but he soon re-appeared. Eating a Magnum. He then processed to slowly eat and enjoy that Magnum for the next forty minutes whilst chatting to a pal before boarding the bus, looking blank when a few of the Italian-speaking passengers complained about the hold-up and then slowly proceeded down the road.

It’s good we weren’t in a hurry. It’s also good that delay happened getting to the apartment at the start of the holiday rather than at the end when we were boarding the plane.

I grew up in Portugal. Well, I spent the first few years of my life living in Portugal and then I lived in the South-West of Ireland. I don’t think I’ve ever lived the ‘fast-pace’ life but as soon as you go on holidays you really notice how tense you’ve become, how difficult it is for you to relax and how you worry and stress about things that really aren’t that important. It’s not like we were really in a hurry (although we were keen to dump our bags and get settled in) and I think it was a big sign that we were drastically in need of a ‘real holiday’.

About an hour later and we were getting off the bus in San Giovani, a little way down the coast. We had been keen to avoid the Costa Smeralda and had managed to find some reasonably priced, reasonably non-touristy accommodation at Villa Magnolia Apartments.

We hadn’t given a lot of thought as to how we would get from the nearby village of San Giovani to the apartment (apparently there was a bus stop outside the apartment but we were never told) and ended up walking along a main road until an Italian guy pulled up on a motorbike.

“You are Scottish yes?” he began. Before we could answer he said “I think you are my guests. Villa Magnolia, yes?” He’d obviouslly begun to wonder where his ‘foreign’ guests had got to and gone out for a look. He returned a few minutes later with his car and dropped us back to the apartment.

We weren’t looking for luxurious accommodation. We were looking for functional, in a good location (i.e. near the beach) and this was ideal. The only thing that was missing however was a little guidebook or notes of what’s in the area. For example in the first few days of our holidays it took us well over an hour and a half to get to the beach, walking via the nearest town of Posada. A few days later we found a ‘short cut’ which took us through a nature reserve and cut the time down to at least an hour. About a week into the two week holiday we found a road which took us to the beach in ten minutes. It’s things like this that would be helpful to put in the notes for when guests arrive.

Nevermind, at least we got some exercise.

Trying to Speak Italian

We did our best to speak Italian. I know a little Spanish and have been trying to learn for a few months. I’m not saying the two languages are the same but there definitely are similarities. Unfortunately however no matter whether I tried to speak Italian or spoke in broken Spanish, people just presumed I was German. I’m not sure whether it was the lack of English/Irish people in the area (there were quite a few Dutch and Germans in their campervans) or whether my hair had gone blonder in the sun, but for every broken sentence I spoke in either broken-Spanish or very-broken Italian, I got an answer in German.

In the end it turned into an awkward conversation with the butcher who asked:

“Kommen sie aus Deutschland?”

“Nein, Irelande”.

This stumped him.

“Oh”.

Tourist Information in Sardinia

After a few days of charging the batteries on the beach, relaxing and drinking plenty of wine, we decided – or I decided at least – we wanted to do a little exploring.

Doing the obvious thing we decided to visit the local tourist information office to see what they had to suggest. The nearest was in Posada so we ventured down one morning, hoping to get advice on walking, places to see, things to do etc.

“Have you been to the castle” asked the girl behind the desk who for some reason, despite clearly being Italian, spoke English in a Liverpudlian accent.

“Yes, we replied. Inside the old town?”

“Ok, so you’ve seen the old town too” she replied, looking sad. “Do you have a car?”

“No” I answered. We were thinking of travelling by public transport.

“Public Transport? Ha! Welcome to Italy” was her reply.

I think I’d expected the local tourist information to support our responsible travel-style holiday and to give us a little background on the buses in Sardinia. Instead she just looked at us like we were mad and since we had already been to the castle, we decided there wasn’t much else for us to see. There were no leaflets on local transport and none on local information other than the castle. We had a made a no-internet decision before we left as well so that meant no looking up Tripadvisor, Wikitravel or chatting to people on couchsurfing.

The perfect excuse for a no-frills, no-thrills relaxing holiday.

The rest of the holiday was spent eating, drinking (you buy your wine by the bucket from a hose), walking and relaxing by the beach. Although I still crave adventure, it was exactly what I needed.

Here are some photos to give you an idea.