Planning a visit to my beloved Spain quickly turned into booking flights to Italy for the purpose of using my newly gained and simple knowledge of the language, ie; rightfully wanting to order eat pasta and pizza for two weeks straight. The train of thought rapidly headed towards finalizing destinations to what happened to be what many would say are some of the least “quintessential Italian” destinations of the country: one being the border of Austria to see the Dolomites as well as this incredible island, Sardinia, who has a culture, language, cuisine, and pride of their very own.
The thought process was simple: food, sun, clear waters, and something never experienced before. I quickly dove in to the planning stages and this here is a culmination of everything I learned and re-learned after experiencing it. Who was I to think I could have fit in Sicily or Cinque Terre into the plan. I’m pleased to have taken it at slow as possible, all while it being not enough time in the slightest.
Upon booking flights, there are three options to chose from. Olbia, Cagliari, and Alghero. I cross referenced a map of hotels, restaurants, and must-sees with flight schedules from the mainland, and what I landed on was to start in the northern part of the island to make our way down. The lists of top-things to do in Sardinia loosely lined up with my own priorities and the high level wants and needs were to visit La Maddalena, drive our own boat along the Baunei Coast, and eat at an agriturismo. Along the way, I knew that stunning beaches, archeological sites, and amazing wine would follow. The issue at hand was that three of these must-sees were in three different parts of the island. A strategy would be necessary, and with weather changes, a tad stress inducing, but oh, the problem solving was also the fun part!
Olbia is the most convenient hub for any northern destination: Costa Esmeralda, La Maddalena Archipelago, and many resorts, small hamlets, and shopping. The region is called Gallura allegedly meaning “stony-area”. It tracked. Many restaurants will also serve food local to the region. You’ll see zuppa gallurese, malloreddus gallurese, and also vermentino and other wine varietals that hail from these local DOC(G)s.
After a most tiresome haul to the Venice airport that morning, one that got my heart rate higher than any on the trip, I promised the gods, no more early flights. After a deep airborne nap, we found ourselves in Olbia, getting the car rental through Drivalia, and making our way for an early check-in to our Airbnb. May marks the beginning of the season, so some hotels and excursions were still enjoying their break. I opted for a beautiful tenuta in the village of Arzachena. This place offered personalized parking spot, table at daily breakfast, incredible views, home grown herbs and aromatics, and short distances to other northerly destinations on our list.
After a shower and a nap, we made our way to the Palau, known for its port. We started off with a leisurely lunch at Isule Surelle where we had focaccia sandwiches and two tinto de veranos. One was basque sausage with spinach and pecorino; the other salami and proscuitto crudo. Surelle means sisters, and here, the sisters referenced are none other than the islands of Sardinia and Corsica. Cute! The spot has tables and barstools and is simple and perfect.
Once you arrive at the port, there are three ferry companies with various schedules you can choose from. We used Maddalena Lines, but I also had the schedules for Delcomar and Ensamar saved on my Notion. Here, you can drive your car onto the ferry and explore the archipelago of La Maddalena at your own pace.
While I did a lot of research on the beaches here, there is no chance to see them all unless you stay for weeks, solely in Maddalena. The wind was wild this day, but we managed to find a cove or two and enjoy until it came time to take the ferry back. Our first spot was Cala Francese followed by Punta Tegge where we took naps and wasted away.
We made out way back on the ferry and headed straight to a restaurant called Cucumiao. I found this place through their highly recommended pizza restaurant called Cuppulata which happened to be closed. We arrived 10 minutes before they opened and managed to get a table outside. This was our first meal in Sardinia and it didn’t disappoint. Their menu was large and informative and I read it like a novel. We opted for two mirto cocktails, a prosciutto dish, honey and pecorino for apertivo, and our entrees consisted of seared steak at the table and a traditional pasta dish called chiusoni alla gallurese which has a unique shape compared to its cousin, malloreddus.
You can imagine how tired we were after the travel, the beach day, and the beautiful meals, so we drove back to the farm in the dark and quickly went to bed, excited for what was in store the next day!
