Friday was the introduction day for new arrivals to the scuola materna in Fertilia. We arrived, all excited, but oops! an hour early – the lady on the phone had told us 8.30 but in actual fact it was 9.30 for the first day. That at least explained the lack of other children!!
Other than that hiccup all was fine, no tears, no tantrums 🙂
In the afternoon we got an ice cream and played in the square above the Marina.
Posada: 6 Nights
Lot of midges! They drive us crazy with their feeding frenzies. Campsite is nice, basic but right next to beach and river. Beach is very long, we estimate at least 5km, a long white curve, but Manu’s not very impressed by the underwater life. La Caletta little port town, we get some camping supplies. Nice pine groves behind the beach at San Giorgo + Orville beach, perfect for picnics. We cycle up to Posada tower one afternoon, very steep but super views. The castle is closed as we’re late. Good restaurant (Marco+Caterina), although a little pricy, food is good. We had spaghetti with bottarga, malloreddus + pizza. We take the car to Porto san Paolo one day, then the boat to Tavolara island (marine park). Here there are lots of fish!
Villasimius: 3 nights
Bit of a shock when we arrive: big busy campsite. Worst part is the loud (bad) karaoke coming from the campsite bar! Set up camp again, then to the nearest beach. Big granite rocks in strange shapes adorn the beach. Notteri beach/Stagno is very cool: the beach divides the sea from a small protected lagoon where flamingoes live. But so busy that you can’t even really see the beach, obviously a place that’s be better off season. Bike to Cava something one afternoon, much better. The beach is not so picturesque but is down a dirt road, so much quieter. Big posidonia fields around, Manu’s happy too! Next day we take the kayak back here and spend the morning kayaking, we make it to Isola di cavoli but dark clouds and distant thunder mean we cut it short and head back. A quick cycle trip into Villasimius town shows us that it’s very touristy, not sure what it would be like living here. On leaving day we make a detour to 7 Fratelli mountain, super road following a river through a valley, very wild + dramatic.
Barisardo: 8 Nights
We breathe a sigh of relief as we get to our Barisardo campsite, it’s right at the end of the beach and although there’s plenty of people camping here it doesn’t feel so busy (+ loud!). Set up tent, supermarket run, manu and kids check out beach while Fi makes dinner. First day we chill out, morning at the beach just in front of us and afternoon at the other end by bike. Sand is coarse quartz grains here, and entrance to water very steep. Kids make us laugh by “jumping” in the water, Sofia still needs to get the hang of keeping hold of her float though, she sinks about 50% of the time!
Meet up with Manu (Sofia’s nursery teacher from bologna) a couple of times, go for dinner in Tortoli, mostly spend days at the various beaches around here, outside campsite, at Bari tower, towards Cea, Perd’a pera. Small train trip sounds cool but timetable isn’t great so we decide to drive to see Su Marmuri cave instead.
Torre di Porticcolo / Alghero
Bosa / S’Archittu
