SARDINIA

This beautiful little island nestled in the Mediterranean Sea is a must. It has nearly 2,000km/1243 miles of coastline, sandy beaches and a mountainous interior crossed with hiking trails. Its rugged landscape is dotted with thousands of nuraghi – Age stone ruins shaped like beehives. Although they speak Italian, Sardinian language, called Sardo is still widely spoken. It's a mixture of Latin, Spanish, and Catalan, reflecting the changing times of the island's past.

There is lot's of wineries, beautiful landscapes, beaches and of course some amazing cuisine.

We stayed in Olbia at The Local Porto Rotondo, a newly renovated hotel, which was beautifully designed and styled. We spent most of our days on the beach and on the water cruising around. Our favorite spot was the island of Spargi, which is situated between Corsica, and Sardinia. It is the third largest island in the archipelago, and is uninhabited.

The landscape is rugged , and pretty much shaped like a circle. The island's only source of fresh water is rainfall, and the coast is marked by coves and sandy beaches.

We chose Surrau winery, for our wine tour, followed by a lovely lunch on their outdoor patio, Cantine Surrau Arzachena. This area is famous for Vermentino white wines, which is a speciality of Surrau.

Our last night was at the Agriturismo Cabu Abbas, a local restaurant and accommodation (very popular in this region). Located on the hill with a beautiful view over Olbia, the sea, and passing ships on the harbor. Dinner is served at 9 o'clock and the menu is fixed. Price is reasonable for loads of wonderful food and wine, so bring your appetite! Most of the meat is Pig/Pig roast, so if you don't eat pork like me, or if you are a vegetarian, just let them know ahead of time and they will accommodate you. The vibe is like a big outdoor, family, dinner party. These farm to table restaurants are very popular in this region, which makes the food very fresh!

It is also a MUST to take a cruise around this island. Since we were with 2 other couples we decided to rent a larger boat and sale around the La Maddalena. There is so many tours, but the one we used was off the Viator.com website, but if you just go to the dock, you can literally have your choice of boat excursions. The only problem is parking. There are a few places to park "legally", otherwise you might have to take a taxi to the dock, or park a bit further to get there.

views from our boat tour of th eLa Maddalena

s