Sardinia Day 1: Cagliari

Decoration from our B&B

Since we were only staying at the B&B for the night we had to be up and out pretty early. Being that it’s the middle of February, there isn’t much tourist-ing going on in Sardinia these days. We wandered the streets doing our best to capture the character of the old town. It’s a beautiful place set high on a hill and I have an appreciation for any city that’s refreshingly different from Tuscany. Although every city in Italy is characterized by different things, when you stick close to home it can be some what repetitive.

Cagliari, first of all is full of palm trees, which top my list of favorite things. I just feel more at ease when there are palm trees and water around! On top of that the city seems to be on an endless descent into the sea. After a coffee and a pastry we headed down toward the port. As an interjection here, I have to say that I’m the designated planner of the two of us, and I’m really, really good at procrastinating. So good in fact, that sometimes things don’t get done at all! Like this time.

We pretty much wandered aimlessly around the city for a couple of hours taking the photographic opportunities and enjoying the sunshine which seems to have run away to Sardinia as well! Finally, our savior and care taker Paolo called and suggested we head to the beach for lunch since that’s what the locals do. We stopped by the info point for a map and a bit of direction and we were headed back down to Via Roma and onto the PQ bus line.

At the beach we found plenty of kiosks serving lunch with plastic picnic tables set out along the sand. We walked down a bit and chose one where we ordered fresh salads, sandwiches and onion rings.

For the kind of place it looked, I was expecting high prices and low quality but it was a great find with friendly service. The best thing about being there was how friendly the wait staff was. They were so laid back and so nice. They recognized Lorenzo’s Toscana accent right away and started chatting with him about their recent trips to Florence. The Florentines themselves could stand to learn a thing or two about customer service from the Sardinians!

We must have passed over two hours just chatting in the sun, but it was fantastic. Afterward we sat on the water’s edge until Paolo came to pick us up and take us to his home town of Villacidro and our next adventure…