Soaking Up Sardinia

This summer my entire family went to camp.

My daughter (10) went as an overnight camper, my son (17) went as a counselor, and my husband (age withheld) went as a senior counselor.

Me, not so much. That’s a lot of nature and I had other ideas.

I was going to spend my camp time in Sardinia .. packed with beaches and wine and Malloreddus alla Campidanese.

Thankfully, I found three girlfriends crazy enough to sign on to this adventure, no questions asked, with nothing more than our travel dates to start with.

Where in the heck is Sardinia? Don’t feel bad for asking .. all of us received blank looks from friends when asked what our summer plans were.

Friends: “What are your plans this summer?” Us: “I’m going to Sardinia with friends!” Friends: <blank look> “Where the heck is that?”

Sardinia is an Italian island located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. Home to some of the most beautiful white sand beaches, clear waters, and fabulous Vermentino and Cannonau wines, it’s little known to the majority of American travelers, but well known to most Europeans.

You may have heard of the Costa Smeralda, the mega-rich playground of Porto Cervo, or okay, maybe George Clooney having to visit the hospital in Olbia after getting into a motorcycle accident during the summer of 2018?

Image by Carmignani, Luigi & Oggiano, Giacomo & Funedda, Antonio & Conti, Paolo & Pasci, Sandro. (2015). The geological map of Sardinia (Italy) at 1:250,000 scale. Journal of Maps. in press. 10.1080/17445647.2015.1084544.

The major airports in Sardinia are Cagliari (S), Alghero (NW), and Olbia (NE). You cannot fly direct from the U.S., but you can grab a connector in many of the major European cities. Even some of the Euro-Budget airlines (Ryan Air, Easy Jet, Transavia) fly to Sardinia.

The northern portion of the island, the La Maddalena archipelago, has some history with the U.S. Navy, as the home port of a Submarine Tender for several years. This is how I first encountered the island, but admittedly, as a 19-year old Sailor, I didn’t take advantage of even a smidge of what Sardinia has to offer.

Over the next few weeks I’ll be sharing our adventures with you, from climbing up Cagliari’s medieval ramparts for sunset drinks, to climbing down to Cala Compultitu for a day on the beach.