So where was I with Sardinia? Oh yes, at that lovely hotel set in a fabulous old bourgeois house. The dinner was amazing, so was the breakfast - a buffet of delicious things to eat - cheeses, olive oil, tomatoes, fresh bread, jams, honey, Italian cakes and wedge-shaped boudoir biscuits - plus a juicer to make apple and/or carrot juice, and an orange squeezer to rustle up your morning's freshly squeezed orange (and lemon) juice.
I had to squeeze myself into my leather trousers for our journey south. The road down took us through a dankly mysterious wild oak forest in the midst of which were a couple of spiritual centres, obviously at one with the dark forces that inhabited the natural environment. Actually, they looked closed, so maybe not...
At Cuglieri we got an attendant to fill up the petrol tank, at €1.79 per litre! To give you an idea how much this hurt, just last week, petrol was €1.50 per litre at the local supermarket.
After a blustery ride across the plains (it did my 'ead in it did, all that wind), we came to a section of road porn. It started after Guspini at the foot of Mont Linas, along the N126 (in case you're interested...) towards Arbus and down to the marvellously named Fluminimaggiore (or Flumin'eck for those who can't get their head around the 8 syllables). My DB got the bit between his teeth and rode it like a bat out of hell (as it were) taking the corners like a jumping bean and roaring down the straighter bits.
You won't be surprised to know that I did not take any photos during this action scene, or that I felt a tad queasy at the end of it. I did admire though, the scenery of grey granite rock with stunted forests and sweet-smelling gorse. There was a nice little gorge with high sides and a road that lovingly followed every twist and turn of the brave little stream that had cut its way so effectively through the tough old rock.
After a short break at the end of the mountain section, we carried on and came to another section of biker's wet dream. So off he went, unable to resist the call of the road. I was very relieved when we got to Iglesias because I was tired and dying to use the loo. We found an unassuming little bar which had beautifully clean loos, and enjoyed a surprisingly delicious home-made sarnie or two each plus a decadent hot chocolate (me) and coffee (him), and got a bottle of water all for €10.20. Bargain or what!
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| Unassuming bar that turned out to be a gem |
Much refreshed, we rode on to the island of S Antioco at the south-western corner of Sardinia which you get to via a bridge. It's not a big island but it's big enough to have two towns, one of which was Calasetta, near where we had booked our hotel for the night. Unlike most of the other Sard villages, Calasetta was all in whites and blues - very nautical, and laid out in a grid so it was very easy to get around. It had a little port where you could take a ferry to the smaller island of Isle di S Petro, just to the north. We didn't have time for that though, and the weather was so wet there wasn't any point. We did notice, however, the mini beaches of white powdery sand and turquoise water. Lovely.
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| Mini beach |
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| Calasetta port |
We had booked into the Michelin recommended
Hotel Luci del Faro, the lighthouse hotel. Sounds very romantic, doesn't it? It wasn't really. You couldn't see the lighthouse from any part of the hotel; it's actually located a few hundred metres out to sea and you have to walk to the beach to see it. When I say beach, I actually mean the basalt rock at the water's edge. It's a lovely dark pinky brown and, a few metres inland, was full of wild rosemary. In front of the hotel you could visit a little historical site and see the vestiges of gun emplacements dating back to WWII, and a disintegrating gun-aiming station. All were a bit the worse for wear because the basalt bricks have not stood up well to the pounding they get from the wind, rain and salt.
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| Lighthouse out to sea |
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| Gun aiming station |
Still, it was very wild and woolly on the coast, and totally isolated. The wind blew in squalls and the air was heavy with moisture. Outside the hotel it was much more romantic in a 'Wuthering Heights' sort of way (in April at least).
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| Hotel Luci del Faro from the 'beach' |
The hotel was nice enough but dinner was a sorry affair despite being part of the Michelin recommended hotel. Bland and boring is how I'd describe it, and at €15 for a main course, this was over-priced. Even the wine was bland. Our first bottle of white had no taste, it was like drinking sturdy water. We sent it back and got a bottle of organic red called Le Sabbie which turned out to be the only good thing about the meal.
It was probably due to the uninspiring food, you know how it is, you're frustrated with what you're eating (and paying too much for) and take it out on the person nearest to you, well my DB did.. This did nothing to improve dinner in general although the wine helped... Anyway, dinner was a flop, but we made it up later...