We have been enjoying ourselves in Alghero and still discovering new places.

We had heard about the most famous beach in Sardinia called La Pelosa about one hour from home so thought we should check it out and give our opinion.We googled a little about it and discovered quite a few obligations”about visiting. There is a limit of 1500 People allowed on the beach per day. It costs 3:50 euros per person and you can only book online 48 hours in advance to receive your QR code to enter the beach You must lay your towel on a straw mat, otherwise the “towel police” can fine you 100 euros. After reading all this we decided a drive by to see what all the fuss was about. Yes it was quite beautiful, the water was an amazing color but if you wanted to actually swim you needed to walk out a looooong way. It was very shallow! Give us our free beaches any day!

We decided to go to the 2nd best beach called Le Bombarde considered to be again one of the most famous on the island. It was stunning, even the coffee was good.

We decided we needed a mini holiday so we packed an overnight bag and headed north to the Costa Smeralda, known as Sardinias “millionaires playground” and includes the beautiful archipelago of La Maddalena. Our first coffee stop was at a cute little spot called Golfo Aranci, not quite in the area of mega ya hats and Ferrari cars, that was to come.

We attempted to have a look at Porto Rotondo and Porto Cervo but for us mere mortals there was no way we were getting anywhere close to the water. There were loads of massive homes built into the cliffs and many gated communities closed off to us plebs! Both places are “go to “ villages for international stars and celebs….. not us obviously, so we moved onto Baja Sardinia, a much more laid back resort type village and decided to have lunch.

Greg ordered a tagliatelle vongole and Rhonda decided to have a basic gnocchi with tomato sauce. Greg enjoyed his but Rhonda’s was disgusting. It had obviously been premade and reheated in the microwave. It was inedible. The restaurant owner asked if we enjoyed our meal and Rhonda said no! He took it back to the kitchen and agreed. We weren’t charged and later there was a rather loud argument coming from the kitchen.

We continued on around the rocky coastline with magnificent views around every corner until we came to our destination for the night, Hotel D’Orso near the resort town of Palau. We found a lovely beach nearby for a swim and between the beach and our hotel we stumbled across the Bear Rock Cafe for a well earned drink.

We decided to return for dinner and Rhonda’s meal was the exact opposite of lunch. She had the best parmigiani melanzane she has ever had. Greg’s curligiones we’re pretty yummy too.

The rocky terrain was amazing with the colors changing throughout the day. One particular rock is known as “Bear Rock” but to get the full effect of seeing the actual bear one needed to pay 5 euros per person. We declined!

The next morning we stopped off at the Palau Marina for a coffee and watched all the tourist pour onto the yachts for their day trips.

We now have Greg’s cousin Julie staying with us but before we drove to Olbia we decided that Harley was way too dirty so he had a great Italian wash, great value at 14 euros.

We have been showing Julie around a little , not too much though as she has been pretty busy touring around herself. We have had many drinks in the old town, and we have swum at our favorite beaches, Maria Pia and Le Lombarde.

We enjoyed a street food Sardinian style dinner in the old town one night. It was rather good.

We took Julie to Bosa as we thought she had to see it. Like us, the trip along the coast reminded us of the Great Ocean Road.

While Julie wandered the old town we sat at the bar and had a couple of drinks. We had to take more photos of the gorgeous colored houses plus a few more things we discovered.

Yesterday we spent the day trawling the Old Town here in Alghero. The town sea walls were built in the 16th century, the original wall once had 26 towers but now only 8 remain. The Torre Di Sulis overlooks the marina and was named after a Sardinian revolutionary who spent 22 years imprisoned within its 6 meter thick walls.

We finally found a spot to take a photo of the beautiful tiled dome of St Michael. Although the church dates back to the 17th century the tiles were only added in 1960 but that does not detract from its beauty. Every corner you wander around , you find a new vista and you must always remember to look both up and down. You do see some interesting sights.

On our wander we had decided to try a typical Sardinian focaccia and had decided on the place to go! Well we didn’t check it out very well and it was closed however we did find Tommy’s , a typical Sardinian Bottega. The focaccia and beer were both good and the ambience of the place was quite hilarious as you can tell by the photo!

We are still having beautiful sunsets from our balcony and Greg is still providing great food for us.

Sadly tomorrow we depart Sardinia so needed one last swim at our favorite beach,Beach Mugoni.We swim with the tiny fish and the odd whale😂

The weather is still fabulous, the drinks are still cold and the waistlines are increasing.

Tomorrow night we are on an overnight ferry back to the mainland. We have lived our time here in Sardinia. The weather , the beaches and the food have all been fabulous. Off tonight for a farewell dinner to have one last little suckling piggy!

ciao ciao for now, it’s time for a drink!

lots of love

Greg and Rhonda