Sardinia

On May 10th, Matt and I took a quick weekend trip to the island of Sardinia. Sardinia sits off the Mediterranean coast of Italy (it's 'owned' by Italy) and is absolutely beautiful. This weekend get-away was a much needed trip, as Matt had been working 14-16 hour days for a few weeks straight and flying twice just about each of those days--so he needed to relax and I just wanted us to get to spend some time together.

Well, our objectives for the trip were accomplished, as we were able to relax, spend some great quality time together, and add yet another European location to our list of travels.

While in Sardinia, we ate some amazing coastal Italian food, seafood (our rule is that we only eat seafood if we're near a body of water or surrounded by an ocean/sea), and of course, gelato. Given that I'm not a big seafood eater and am pregnant, I was very selective about any seafood that I ate, so don't worry, it wasn't like I ate a pound of it each day! We were also really lucky to have beautiful weather while there (apparently it rained both the week prior and the week after), so we both came home with a little bit of a tan.

Since the island was so small, one of Matt's main requirements for the trip was that we rent a SMART car (they're these ridiculously small cars that people drive here in Europe). I thought it would be fun and we've both been wanting to rent one, so I didn't have any objections. Well, when we got to the Alghero airport, we were both bummed with the news that the rental car company didn't rent any of the small SMART cars (because there is no trunk or room for luggage), so the one we had rented was the FOURFOUR, the biggest of the fleet. As you can see, we got a beauty (lime green with a huge scratch/dent on the front and a missing hub cap)! We laughed about our FOURFOUR, but she was truly the perfect car for our trip.

Since weather was so nice on the day we arrived, Matt and I took the FOURFOUR out to a grotto north of Alghero. Not only was there a grotto to be seen, but about 700 stairs to go down and then back up (they wrapped around the coastal rocks). Here's a picture of me on some of the stairs. Since Matt and I are in pretty good shape, the stairs weren't too challenging...although my calves were a little sore the next day!




The next day, Matt and I took a fantastic drive along the coast from Alghero down to the coastal town of Bosa. It was like driving on Pacific Coast Highway in California but in Sardinia. Along the way to Bosa, we spotted a private beach that was tucked away in the cliffs in a small cove. It took us a few minutes to try to figure out how to get down to it from the highway and then about a 15 minute hike, but once we made it down there, we were so glad we had found it. It was beautiful (and there was sand)! Here's a picture of the private beach (taken when we were hiking down to it) and a picture of us out on some of the rocks. Matt managed to go explore the cliffs while I made myself at home reading in the sun.













For our drive back to Alghero from Bosa, we decided to take the inland scenic route through the rolling hills. Although not as beautiful as the coastal drive, this drive offered us some great views of the coast (in the distance) and the opportunity to see some cork trees. Sardinia is a big producer of cork--and it's made from the lower bark of the cork trees. Once a tree's bark is stripped for cork, it can no longer be used for any more extractions. As you can see, these cork trees have already been stripped and will continue to exist only to help create oxygen.




Then, the following day Matt and I went sailing on an 80ft wooden sail boat. There were 2 other couples on the boat with us and together, we all had a wonderful time (and I never felt sea-sick, which was a plus). The boat, the Andrea Jensen, was owned by a British couple who moved to Sardinia with their boat to turn their hobby into a job. We set sail in the morning and were taken out into the Mediterranean ocean where we sailed north along the coast until we reached a beautiful cove where we were served lunch, went snorkeling, and played in the water.


Matt got to help put up the spinnaker and all the other sails, so here is a picture of him working hard. We got back to Alghero that evening and then cleaned up and walked down to the old part of town (no cars allowed) for another great dinner by the water. Here are some pictures of our sail boat (they let me go out in a dinghy to take the pics!).














In all, we had an excellent time in Sardinia. It was a great relaxation weekend and one that allowed us to spend some much needed time together.