Thursday October 10 started out cloudy in Bonifacio. We had an 8:30 a.m. ferry to catch to Santa Teresa di Gallura at the northern tip of Sardinia. We left our apartment at about 7:40 a.m. and started to walk down a very steep road (we wanted to avoid any stairs). A very nice cab driver picked us up and dropped us a couple of minutes away at the ferry docks (no charge).
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| Moby Ferry |
We sat out on the deck for most of the trip, though the diesel fumes began to get to us. It was great seeing all the wonderful limestone rocks as we left the port of Bonifacio.
It is amazing to think that we went from "bon jour" to "buongiorno" in just one hour. Every time I wanted to ask a question, I realized I was still thinking in French. Thank goodness for Google Translate, as there is not a lot of English in Sardinia. Alain is now Alonso, as we are in Italy.
The bus left on time and we pulled into Sassari (the second largest city in Sardinia) just after 1:05 p.m. We knew that there was a bus leaving for Alghero at 1:10 p.m. and a later one at 1:50 p.m. We rushed over to the bus, which we caught just as the driver was ready to pull out.
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It was raining on the way to Sassari-- we passed through a number of small towns;
some in better shape than others. |
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| Large town on a hill en route-- we saw a number of uncompleted buildings. |
The weather started to clear as we got closer to Alghero. It was only about a 50 minute bus ride from Sassari to Alghero, which is located on the coast. We arrived at 2:00 p.m. at the Alghero bus station (more of a series of bus stops) on one side of the public gardens. It was a beautiful sunny day and warm- high of 23C. Our host, Andrea, and his wife, Giovanna picked us up at the bus stop, which was wonderful. It was a short drive to their apartment, and though quite walkable, it would have been tricky finding the correct route. We are in a large studio apartment on the ground level on a four story building.
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| The apartment building. |
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| Well equipped modern kitchen area- lots of light |
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| Bedroom part of the studio |
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| View of large studio apartment-- separate bathroom and another small room with a dryer and closet. |
Bathroom with clothes washer
Andrea and his wife offered to give us a quick tour of the town and drop us at the nearby supermarket. Andrea is a retired Carabinieri. He does not speak a lot of English, but we managed to communicate well. His wife, Giovanna spoke a bit more English and was lovely. They showed us the nearby beaches, pointed out a few eating spots and gave us the general lay of the land. Andrea has kindly volunteered to pick us up early Sunday morning and take us to the train station for the last leg of our trip.
We walked back from the supermarket and then decided to go for a walk along the waterfront and then go for a coffee before heading to the historic centre.
The history of Alghero is a fascinating one. Also known as 'Barceloneta', little Barcelona, it is the capital of the Coral Riviera part of Sardinia and preserves the language and traditions of Catalonia. L'Alguerium (named after the algae that washed up on the coast) started as an 11th century fishing village. Precious red coral is present in great abundance in the waters around Alghero and it is of such economic importance that a branch of coral is included in the city's coat of arms.
Alghero was founded by the Genoese Doria family in 1102 and the Genoese managed to retain control until the mid 14th century. They were finally ousted by the Aragonese who took the city in 1353 after a naval battle at Porto Conte. Catalan colonists were encouraged to settle in the town and after a revolt in 1372, the remaining Sardinians were relocated inland. The town became known as Alguer and it thrived under its Iberian rulers. In 1501, Alghero acquired the title of Royal City, thanks to King Ferdinand.
The Kingdom of Sardinia then passed into the hands of the Piedmontese House of Savoy in 1720, but Alghero did not lose its Catalan identity. The next couple of centuries proved hard for Alghero and by the 1920s its population had fallen to just over 10,000. It was heavily bombed in 1943 and remained in pretty poor shape until tourism arrived in the late 1960s. Today, the population is around 45,000.
Approximately 20 per cent of the inhabitants speak a kind of archaic Catalan, and although it is not an official language, the Catalan of Alghero has been recognised by the Italian Republic and the Autonomous Region of Sardinia as a minority language and as such is subject to protection.
Alghero is one of Sardinia's most beautiful medieval cities. It is also the main resort town in the northwest. Its historic centro storico (historic centre) is one of the best preserved in Sardinia. The historic centre is enclosed by sea walls and is an enclave of cobbled lanes, Gothic palazzi and cafe-lined piazzas.
Our apartment is just about a ten minute walk from the historic centre.
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| Our apartment is also just one minute from the water. One can walk along the sea wall in both directions. |
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| We passed a number of beautiful homes, which we found out later are Art Nouveau homes from the 1920s (known as Liberty style in Italy). |
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| Walking towards the historic centre |
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| View in the distance of Copa Caccia- an imposing limestone promontory, which is the westernmost point of Sardinia; the Algherians call it "lu fruntini", which means "the big forehead." |
We first stopped at the Tourist Office which was located at the edge of the public gardens just around the corner from the bus stops.
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Giuseppe Manno gardens. Giuseppe Manno (1786-1868) was an Italian magistrate, politician and historian. He was elected president of the Senate of the Kingdom of Sardinia,
and later of the Kingdom of Italy. |
We decided it was time to go for a coffee. We went to a very modern café on Via XX Settembre, called Caffè Via XX.
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| We sat outside and had a coffee |
On the way back we stopped at Cafè Royal, a lovely old cafe with lots of treats.
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| Cafè Royal with Sardinian cookies and pastries |
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| Old style tables and decor |
We headed back towards the water and decided to walk a bit near the Marina before heading to the historic centre.
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| Walking near the Marina---Copa Caccia in the distance |
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| Art on the waterfront |
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View of the walls and towers of the historic centre.
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| Torre di Porta Terra- one of a number of towers |
We explored a number of streets in the historic centre and checked out a wonderful clothing shop-- Efisio Marras.
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| A wonderful store- both women and men-- Alonso made a purchase. The owner is the son of a very famous Italian designer, who has an extremely high end store in another part of the historic centre. |
We decided to have dinner at Lu Furat, which was one of a number of restaurants recommended in our Lonely Planet guidebook. It had a nice vibe and there was both outdoor as well as indoor seating. As it was starting to cool down, we opted for indoor dining.
Outside of Lu Furat
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| We liked this Virginia Woolf quote on one of the walls. |
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| Cheers-- lovely dining room |
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| I had a wonderful spaghetti with a delicious tomato sauce and mussels |
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| Alonso had ravioli with smoked ricotta cheese |
It was a very relaxing meal in a lovely setting. We had been looking forward to some excellent pasta in Sardinia. Lu Furat did not disappoint.
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| We wandered back through the very quiet streets of the historic centre. |
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| Our apartment at night. |
It was a lovely first afternoon and evening in Alghero. We are in an excellent location-- very quiet and so close to the water and a series of beautiful Art Nouveau homes. Yet only a ten minute walk from the historic centre.
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