Did you know that there are islands in Italy? In fact there are three big islands off the coast of Italy: Sicily in the south and Sardegna to the west. We couldn't say that we lived in Italy for a year and not go to at least one of them, so that's what we did. We packed our bags and set off to the airport for a quick flight to Alghero, Sardegna. Sardegna is known for having beautiful resort towns, pristine beaches and miles of mind-blowing landscapes. I'll tell you what, we definitely weren't disappointed! This is one of the beach areas that was just outside of town.
Sardegna is still very much Italian, but since it is separated from the mainland, it is also influenced by neighboring countries, like Spain. You can see some Spanish influence in the beach homes like this one.
Pretty cool, huh? I'm sure you can see how a house like this would stick out like a sore thumb in some of the more antique Italian cities like Siena! Alghero, like many other Italian cities, is split into two main areas: the old city, and the new city. We stayed in an apartment in the old city overlooking the sea. Someone must have known that we were coming because they marked our room with a smiley face!
And from the inside, we had a perfect view of the sun setting behind the sea.
Che bella! When you are in a place like this it is hard to focus on anything else - except for food, of course! We found that the best food in Sardegna comes from the most unexpected places. One night we were just wandering around the city looking for some grub when we stumbled upon a spaghetteria, which is exactly what it sounds like; a spaghetti restaurant. The building was pretty plain looking, boring even, but their menu looked appetizing. So, taking a chance, we had a seat and enjoyed the best Sardegnan meal ever! Sardegna is known for its seafood since it is surrounded by water and this little spaghetteria had the best grilled fish I have ever eaten! It was tender, flavorful and so fresh the chef let us pick out the fish we wanted to eat from a plate of the day's catch.
Another Sardegnan treat is a warm, honey-drizzled, deep-fried cheese pancake called seadas. While fried cheese as a dessert may not sound like a good idea, I assure you it was surely tasty! In fact, I think we had seadas at least twice every day. Tell me that doesn't look good enough to eat!
Another perk of being so close to the water are the sail boats. The Italians love their sailboats and there were plenty to check out in the Alghero marina.
What next? How about more beaches! There are many beaches in Alghero and they come in all shapes and sizes. This one was in a small cove surrounded by rocks. It was so small that even though there were only a dozen people there, it still felt crowded!
It was also pretty rocky as you can see at the bottom of the picture. This was cool because where there are rocks, there are nifty sea critters like crabs...
and fish (you may have to look closely to find them)...
and hermit crabs...
and red coral (yes - even coral is a critter, although these are just dead pieces that broke off from the sea currents and washed up on the beach) - look for the red pieces...
and the rarely seen Mercat; half cat, half fish!
OK, so maybe that's just a normal cat but it must be part fish because it doesn't seem to be afraid of the water like some other scaredy-cats that I know...
I definitely had some fun in the sun on our little island adventure in Alghero, Sardegna. It's too bad we had to leave so soon. Oh well, on to the next adventure - I'll meet you there! Ciao, amici!
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