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Published: June 12th 2022
Our time in Sicily had come to an end…..and frankly, we were ready. Our last stop in Palermo rekindled our warmth for the province, but still, we found ourselves eager to move on. With many years of international travel, we had faced many hurdles, but between being eager to depart Sicily and the challenges we faced, it made for some frustration. When you travel, things will occasionally go awry, but this travel day had special challenges….
Travel Challenges It would prove to be a test of our travel mettle and for us, that is saying something. We had arranged with the hotel for a taxi to pick us up in Palermo at 430am and take us to the airport for our flight to Sardinia. The taxi didn’t show up so we made a call to another cab company, and they said they could pick us up in five to ten minutes. About five minutes later, our taxi rolled up and off we went, still arriving with time to spare. Our flight on Easy Jet was our first and last. We knew we were booking on a budget airline and would pay for luggage, but the fees were higher than
expected because they made us pay the baggage fees for both legs of the flight. We assumed we would only pay once. Here is the kicker….what we didn’t realize is that even though this was not an international flight, we had to pick up the luggage in Milan and then check the bags again through to Sardinia and go through security again. Sigh… that’s one on us for not knowing. Lessons learned. We got our bags in Milan and headed to the check in desk. When we looked at the one bag, the luggage lock and two zipper handles had been torn off somehow and the luggage was now opening with no way to close it. We travel with duct tape, but it was in the other bag, which we had checked first and there was no retrieving it at this point.
The agents at the desk were not helpful in the least- need we say a bit testy. They said there was no way to get the bag from the conveyor belt. We needed to scramble to find a way to secure the bag to keep it closed. We inquired about a place in the airport where you
could wrap the bag in plastic, but they did not seem to know anything about that. Again, our first and last time flying with them. There was no empathy that their machines had wrecked the suitcase. We finally found someone who could wrap the bag in plastic which would hold it together until Sardinia. OK, that’s two things gone askew….there must be a third….and there was.
Once we landed in Sardinia we headed off to Nu car rental. The agent was in a hateful mood and could not understand why we didn’t have an International Driver’s Permit (IDP). We’ve driven in England, Scotland, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Greece, New Zealand and Australia and never needed one. They refused to rent us the car without one. Dave had to apply for one online on his phone and then wait 20 minutes for the application to be accepted. Some forty-five minutes later, we were off in our Fiat Panda.
Seems like we are starting off with some bad travel Karma. Good news!... that was the end of it. Once out of the airport, we found ourselves with very nice four-lane highways and some lovely scenery to boot. The
spring flowers were in bloom and things were looking up. We arrived in Alghero, a cute seaside town on the northwest side of the island and checked into our hotel….well sort of. When we got there, no one was at the desk, and it appeared that this would be the case for a while. We saw our check-in paper and key on the desk along with many others and decided it was self check-in time and we would deal with the details later. Strange end to a travel day, but we had shaken off the bad juju and set out in search of a cold beverage. We didn’t have to go far as the hotel is connected to a café….things were looking up!
Alghero Our time in Alghero was filled with wandering the town, taking a small day trips out to see the Capo Cassia Vertical Cliffs and another site that contained what we called “the giant egg” and also replacing the ruined suitcase. When we finally met the staff at the hotel, they were more than helpful. One gent even took us up the street in the hopes the suitcase could be repaired. No luck there, but
he provided us with a store where we could purchase a new one.
Back to the giant egg….we call it that because of the rather large boulder that appears to be an “erratic” or boulder that does not belong. This fantastic site is called Monte d’Accoddi, which is some altar from about 3500 years ago. Interesting to visit as it is elevated but has no underground chambers. At the foot of the altar is the giant egg shaped stone which we read represents the sun and the smaller round one next to it may represent the moon. We had to see this.
As we pulled into the site, the staff let us know that the road to the altar was currently blocked as an “RV” was trying to make its way out. We asked how far the walk was and they said about 600 meters, so we strode off. On our way we encountered a camper headed down the drive. The driver stopped and got out to yell at a woman working at the site. It turned out to be a rather angry German who was yelling at one of the staff about the narrow pathway scratching his
camper. It was a narrow tree lined road and he was excited and flailing his arms about because he said the trees got narrower and scratched his camper. He went on and on about this….what was strange is that as we passed the camper, there was not a scratch on it…..dude has anger issues. We should have taken a video in case he hurt someone but he jumped back in and drove to the entrance to yell at others. We continued to the site and enjoyed the view from the altar and looking at the giant egg, which had been there a while. This site is well worth visiting. We really enjoyed it.
Bosa From Alghero, we took in the scenic coastal drive to the lovely town of Bosa, where we spent two nights at a very nice hotel. The drive down the coast reminded us of Highway 1 along the California coast. Maybe not that spectacular but it had some similarities. It allowed us more than few amazing vistas. We had some time before check in so we drove to another cute village called Cuglieri to explore. It is a lovely non-touristy town located on the hillside
and we found a small outdoor cafe to enjoy a late morning coffee. It is worth dropping by if you have the time.
Bosa is a quaint older town advertised as one of the most beautiful towns in Sardinia. It has a nice low-key vibe and is situated a couple miles from the sea and oddly enough has the only navigable river in Sardinia flowing through it. There were a couple of lovely bridges crossing the Temo River which allowed for boats and barges to slide under.
Upon check in, we learned that entire town had been without internet for several days. Hard to imagine in this day and age, but fortunately for us it was resolved later that day. While in Bosa we watched a couple celebrating their wedding with several boats circling near the main bridge in town. About 40 guests were on the dock cheering and waving. It was a lovely celebration. One of the main attractions in Bosa is the Malaspina castle. Sadly, it still closed to visitors due to covid. We did enjoy going to the top of the hill to get a closer look and take some photos. Great views of the
town can be found from the castle location. The cathedral of Bosa is a lovely Romanesque building that adds beauty to the town.
We meandered the streets of this cute town and generally just chilled out, realizing that we were beginning to think more and more about the end of this voyage and how much we looked forward to being home again.
Olbia From Bosa, we headed to Olbia where we would spend our remaining few days before catching a ferry to mainland Italy and eventually the Rome airport. On the way, we encountered a rather large herd of goats beings moved to a new pasture. We paused while the herd made its way around our car. Sardinia has some lovely highways and well maintained roads which we enjoyed immensely during our travels. It made the driving far less stressful. The drives in the countryside were pastoral and filled with pops of color from the spring flowers. The goats were an added plus as we always giggle when we see wildlife being herded on the roads.
Olbia is a port city and we weren't expecting much but it is absolutely lovely and clean, providing us with
a pleasant stay among the shops and restaurants in our little neighborhood. We only had a couple of days here and had turned in our rental car so we enjoyed going to coffee shops, pubs, restaurants and wandering the streets to enjoy the local architecture. We walked along the waterfront enjoying the park that has a Ferris wheel and we walked down to the ferry dock to figure out where to catch our upcoming ferry crossing.
Although we spent our time here in the northern part of Sardinia, we found it to be well worth the visit. The sea offers lovely colors that glisten off the sunshine.
FYI: for our foodie friends we included many food photos!
Where we stayed:
Alghero – Bienestar maison de Charme
Bosa – Hotel Palazzo Pischedda
Olbia – Hotel Panorama
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Marsha
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Serenity in Sardinia
You seem to handle your challenges well! I enjoy following your adventures. ?