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Published: September 6th 2009
On the way to Porto Giunico
The translucent waters of Sardinia are incredible.I arrived in Sardinia on Friday after a train ride from Barcelona to Madrid and a flight with Ryanair from Madrid to Sardinia. The train was incredibly comfortable, breakfast and a movie was provided and the service very special.
Ryanair from Madrid was a different story. I had previously sworn never to fly Ryanair again however I had no choice this time and again it lived up to my extremely low expectations.
On arrival at Barajas Airport in Madrid I discovered that my suitcase was three kgs overweight (Ryanair charge you for every kg your bag is over their 15kg limit.) My overweight bag set me back 60 euros!
As many are beginning to realise you are better off flying with the older, more established airlines who in the end provide a level of service you could never get on the discount airlines and who's price is actually not much different from the discounters.
Ryanair continues to pack their planes with passengers but make their money by charging for add-ons such as luggage check-in and hotel bookings.
The problem with the discount airlines is that they survive because they claim to be cheaper . With the
The Sardinian Coastline
The drive to the beach was long and slow due to the traffic. Its the weekend and the locals head out of the city and make their way to the beach price of fuel continuing to increase will there will be pressure on them to raise airfares?
How can a so-called '' discount airline" afford to raise its fares and still be seen as cheap? My bold prediction is that most of the small discount airlines will be gone within 10 years and I say good riddance!
Im staying here in Cagliari (the capital city of Sardinia) with Viviana (we met studying Spanish in Madrid in 2007) and her family. They are lovely salt of the earth people and cant do enough for me. Shame there is a bit of a language barrier as my Italian is restricted to ciao, grazie, arriverderci, capuccino, cafe latte, spaghetti bolognese Forza Italia and not much more!
On Saturday Viviana and I visited the local markets here in Cagliari. After parking the car (and directed by one of the many Senagalese here - which cost 2 euros) we wandered into the market which is small yet filled with a diverse amount of local product.
The smell in the fish market was overwhelming and is very much of the ocean. Five minutes was more than enough time for me to spend inside.
Porto Giunico
A fantastic beach, with great umbrellas to shade the tourists from the heat of the sun. The locals care little about shade! Cagliari is almost completely surrounded by water (both ocean and lagoons) and populated by an incredible range of marine life. The lagoons are also filled with beautiful pink flamingos. They flew to Cagliari years ago from Africa and decided to stay. I have yet to take a decent photo of them but will attempt to do so over the next couple of days.
Yesterday we made our way to a beach which is about one hours drive from Cagliari called
Porto Giunico. It is a typical Mediterranean beach, dotted by umbrellas, wandering vendors and sun-drenched locals.
It has silky white sand and crystal clear water. The water is so warm - easily 25c which makes entry into it less traumatic than in the relatively cooler waters of Sydney.
We spent about 4 hours at the beach (me under an umbrella and totally covered up except when in the water) before we headed back to Viviana's parent's place where they greeted me with a welcoming aperitif and some antipasti.
I am having trouble adjusting to the size of dinners here in Italy. Obviously its not just one meal, its primi patti, segundi patti, dessert, cheese and coffee.
Porto Giunico
I'll have to research what that castle-like building is on the top of the headland. Viviana didnt know. I'll google it! I am only here for 4 days but will need to adjust quickly!
Today we went to the local beach in Cagliari where again the locals are happy to expose themselves to the 36c heat.
I observed beach vendors wandering up and down the beach (whilst a chocolate magnum melted in my hands) selling everything from caps to jewellerly to leathergoods and clothing. One man was walking in between sunbathers with a whole rack of clothes.
They harrass everyone in search of business. Very few buy stuff and thankfully I dont speak the language so they walk away as soon as I ask "...do you speak English?"
After the beach it was back to Vivian's parents place for dinner along with her two sisters and their six children. Again there were multiple courses and I had to be careful in not eating too much too early. I had to go the distance to show my respect of the food!
Which comes to this very moment where I am finishing off this blog. I intend to sleep off the food for a couple of hours. We have no plans for tonight.
Tomorrow is likely to
Beach Tennis
Very popular in these parts, its almost impossible to avoid it. There is no surf in Sardinia (or not at least where I am staying) so the locals need to amuse themselve in the water somehow be the beach again (under an umbrella again - which, by the way, costs 20 euros) and then we may do a tour of the old town.
Its still 35c outside and I need a drink, so its ciao for now!
Update on the castle-like building: It is the Porto Giunco Tower. My guess is that it was used to protect the beach from tourists a thousand years ago..or maybe not...
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Laura
non-member comment
Ryanair to Sardegna
Thank you for this post. I am planning to fly from Spain to Sardegna next September and have been considering Ryanair - I think I will also consider other options based on this information.