Beaches, bears and an old castello
A family holiday in Sardinia
Working in magazine and graphic design, Nora Vrba is an accomplished art director, and she is a mom of two girls, Puck and Mia. They live in Haarlem, the Netherlands. Through her photography, Nora loves to collect stories of colour, fashion, art, travel and nature. Today, she shares her memories of a special summer holiday.
That summer, we wanted to go somewhere neither of us had visited before, preferably an island, the weather should be nice and warm, and the food had to be good. Sardinia it was.
Sardegna is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (the largest being Sicily), and one of the 20 regions of Italy. Located west of the Italian Peninsula, north of Tunisia, and immediately south of the French island of Corsica, the island is quite large, and we decided to stay in three different areas during our three-week stay.
Our plan was to fly to Olbia in the north and drive down in three stretches. This way we could pick and choose a different place to stay and explore each week. From here, the search for our accommodations began. First, we selected the area, then we started to search for a nice place to stay. Many hours of research went into this, but that’s part of the anticipation, right?
Palau
Our first week was spent in Palau in the North East of Sardinia. We stayed in an apartment at Residence Il Mirto, a lovely holiday park, featuring a dreamy saltwater pool, a private beach, and all sorts of other facilities. In the area, there are many small beaches hidden between the rocks.
The coast of Palau is jagged, and the wind, which has been blowing along the rocks for centuries, has created artistic shapes here. The most famous is the 122-meter high Roccia dell’ Orso, the “Bear Rock”. This rock, towering prominently above Palau, is unmistakably bear-shaped. We hiked up with the girls, and it’s doable even for young children since it’s a paved path but I wouldn’t recommend bringing a buggy or stroller. The panoramic view from this point is a true spectacle. Don’t forget to bring water and a vest or sweater, since it can be very windy and even chilly at the top.
Day trips by boat are another nice way to discover the area. We decided on a half-day trip to the island La Maddalena by ferry, which runs very regularly and takes about 30 minutes. We didn’t bring the car, and just enjoyed a stroll around the 18th-century main town. The island has many hidden beaches and a bridge connecting it to the neighbour island Caprera which are well worth a visit. Unfortunately, the husband got food poisoning on the third day of our holiday, so we didn’t explore Palau as much as we would have liked.
Bosa
The second week we drove to the colourful city of Bosa on the West coast of Sardinia. We stayed at Pink Palace Appartements in Bosa Marina, which is within walking distance of the beach. As much as we loved Bosa and the pink house, we had some bad luck with the weather: we caught a massive heatwave (40 degrees and way over) without air-conditioning nor swimming pool at hand. We also found out that a »beachy« location like Bosa Marina is a top holiday destination for Italians meaning that most restaurants and bars are semi-closed until the beginning of August, the peak season of Italian summer holidays. It was unreal: we arrived at an almost empty town and beach, and overnight the whole town was completely crowded with Italians. We called our week in Bosa the full Italian experience :).
Due to the heat, we had a very slow week and mainly went to the beach in the morning, had long siestas at home in the shade, and went out late for dinner and (ocean) dips.
Bosa itself is the most lovely and colourful Italian city we visited in Sardinia. The small, cobbled streets, restaurants, and views are magical. Don’t forget to pop into Bosa Cathedral: behind the green doors, you can cool down and view some lovely frescos. Castello Malaspina, sitting atop of the town and built in 1112, is worth a visit as well. The views and the history of the place are mind-blowing. We had dinner at the hidden terrace of Ristorante Borgo Sant’Ignazio, where the staff was friendly and the food lovely. We also liked Pizzeria Al Gabbiano and Ristorante Al Galeone (with a kitschy pirate ship in the garden).
Costa del Rei
Our last destination was Costa del Rei in the South East of Sardinia, known for its amazing beaches. We had a wonderful apartment high up the hill with amazing views and a small, shared swimming pool, called Nidi dei Cormorani.
Since it was still very hot, we spent most days at the beach, taking it slow. We did go out on a hunt to see some menhirs though. There are about three sacred areas of special archaeological and historical value where you can find up to 50 menhirs on display, which are large stones used by prehistoric peoples (Complesso Megalitico de Piscina Rei, Nuraghe Scalas, and Menhir Cuili Piras). These sites are unfortunately poorly marked and difficult to reach but we did manage to find a few.
The town of Muravera is also worth a visit for a coffee or lunch, or just for strolling around in the narrow, colourful streets and visiting the church. My favourite was the graphic outline of the church in tiles around the square. On the way back we ran into some »Spiaggia« signs. Through a tunnel of man-high cactuses, we got to Feraxi Beach Il Delfino and had a nice lunch at the beach shack. We loved exploring other beaches like Piscina Rei or Costa Rei as well.
The best part of our week was running into Luna Park Monte Nai. It’s small and old, but perfect for little kids. We had almost the whole park to ourselves and the girls had a blast. At the end of our holiday, we had to drive all the way back up to return our car and to catch our flight home. We decided to take the touristic route through the mountains. It took way longer than we thought but it was magical, and we were sorry we didn’t stay and explore the mountains as well. I guess we must do that the next time we visit Sardinia :).
Transportation
We booked three different accommodations and thought we could always walk from these to the city center, restaurants, beaches, or supermarkets. However, we found Sardinia very unfriendly for pedestrians, especially with kids. As soon as you get out of the city center, there are almost no sidewalks and cars don’t slow down when passing. So, we used the rental car more than we had planned. The big plus was it had air-conditioning, which was very nice when temperatures got up to 43 degrees Celsius :).
Food
Eating out in Italy is one of our favourite activities. When we do, we always bring some small entertainment for the girls. Most of the time a set of pencils will do. We draw on paper placemats, to create a colouring page, or streets so they can play with little toy cars. We also try to go out for dinner early, which in Italy is sometimes a challenge. Luckily a lot of lunch places are open until late afternoon. And pizzas are happening all day long. But most of the time we were the first customers and left before the Italians arrived for their dinner :).
written and photographed by
NORA VRBA