Typical Sardinian breakfast at La Petite Café… cappuccino and Pizzette Sfoglia Sarde, the love child between puff pastry, a slice of tomato pie and a Totino’s Pizza Roll, and the only non-sweet pastry on offer at most coffee bars in the area.
Today we’re exploring south and west of the city, starting
at the Nora Archeological site a few dozen kilometers from Cagliari. It’s perhaps Sardinia’s most important ancient
remnants, initially Phoenician, then Carthaginain, then finally Roman before
being lost to the ages. Think a compact
Pompeii, less the nasty volcano part there at the end. It’s also a testament to the durability of my
people’s masonry work and yet another example of mankind’s call to be at the sea.
Next we’re on to Su Giudeu beach in the Tuerredda area. The plan was to just check it out and
continue on, but the sun and the sand and the blue green of the water had other
plans for us. So here we are, in the loungers,
under the local version of a thatch umbrella, beer in hand, forgetting that
there’s anything else in the world except for Sunday Funday with the locals. We lunch at the Garden Club, a beach adjacent
covered deck, half open in this pre-season week, then back to the sun. The quiet murmur of splashing waves and non-english
languages lulls us into peaceful naps. The
beach’s rustic concession stand has a $9,000 three head espresso machine, a must
at even the most basic establishments here in Italy, so a few proper cappuccinos
bring us back into consciousness.
After a few hours, we pull ourselves away, but only for the
promise of another beach. Specifically Chia
Beach, pronounced Kia, like the car, not chia, like the as-seen-on-TV pet. It’s a long beach, maybe 2 kilometers, but
less protected then Su Giudeu, so windier here belying the spring chill. This beach is a special place because of the
shallow salt ponds between the beach and the road, home to hundreds of the indigenous
flamingos. This area of Sardinia is the
most important nesting grounds for flamingos in Europe, the ankle high water
providing an ample supply of pink salt shrimp that give the birds nourishment
as well as their signature color.
Drive back, nap, shower, head out. This time we drive Poetto Beach, that 4 mile long stretch of beach right here in the city of Cagliari. It’s beach, boardwalk and promenade, including everything from dayclubs to food trucks to an amusement park, and a point of immense pride for the residents here. We dine at Antica Cagliari Lungomare, a pescheria serving bounty from the very water we’re overlooking. Fresh fish, local white wine, regional pasta, all done very nicely in a space that’s conducive to settling in for the evening.
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