Blog Eight: Palau, Sardinia, Italy
Palau, Sardinia [10-15 October]
After a short flight from Verona to Olbia in Sardinia, we are picked up by a driver who takes us up the long and winding road from Olbia airport to Palau, on Sardinia’s famed Costa Smerelda. First impressions are very positive – contrary to the weather forecast it’s a beautiful day. Sardinia offers a wide, expansive vista of green hills, small bare mountains, sea and islands, with the odd intriguing fortification visible on hilltops from the road.
Our driver hurtles along at all times three feet behind the car in front, even when it is the only vehicle in sight on our side of the road, and when there is no possibility of overtaking due to the oncoming traffic on the endless tight bends. I nod off intermittently, probably as a stress mitigating reaction to our hairy journey. It confirms our decision not to hire a car for our time in Sardinia.
We are finally safely deposited at our apartment – the Charme House – which is situated even further up the steep hill from Palau’s port than we had anticipated. As Gabriella shows us round the small but very nice living space, I immediately drift over to what attracted me to this place initially, the fabulous view from the large bacony down to the port and across the sea to a number of large islands – it is idyllic.
Once we have organised ourselves a bit, we walk down the steep winding road from the apartment towards the port to explore. It is apparent that a lot of concrete has been used in the building of Palau. The terracotta coloured buildings, which appear quite attractive from a distance, are fashioned from concrete and painted rather drab shades of brown, orange and ochre.
When we reach the waterfront, we sit on the rather jaunty blue concrete benches and take in the scene. The main feature of the port is a large yellow painted concrete Italian police station, which looks to be of 1960s vintage. For the short trip down to the port, think a cross between 1980s Wester Hailes and 1960s Portobello.
There are no restaurants or bars as we expected of a Mediterranean marina, just bare dockside and a couple of small, nondescript offices. One of these houses the Centre for Psychology. Three or four sad looking restaurants huddle together a couple of hundred metres away, behind a large car park and a children’s playground. None of them look worth a visit.
After a bit of a silence, the conversation goes something like this.
Fiona: “Palau is a bit of a shithole, isn’t it?” Me: “Yes it is.” Almost literally, as we have had to dodge the extravagantly dog poo smeared pavements beside the rubbish strewn scrub areas on the way to the attractively spray painted waterfront.
As we sit on our blue concrete bench a number of glum looking, mostly German, couples and families trudge past us along the dockside. We presume they are in transit between their places of residence and the Centre for Psychology, where they have arranged counselling appointments, during which the conversation begins something like:
Tourists: “Why, oh why have we decided to come to this dump for our holidays?”
Therapist: “Why do you think you’ve decided to come to this dump for your holidays?”
Normally, in the course of one of our long trips, we arrive at a destination which proves to be a little ill-judged. This is generally at my instigation and against Fiona’s better judgement. Palau is no exception, and in fact it could be said to take the biscuit in this regard. Must listen to Fiona in future.
We spend a couple of days without crossing the threshold of our apartment. The first is a day of torrential rain, the second starts badly but brightens up in the late morning. We book a boat trip around the islands, and turn up sharp to join an already busy boat.
Bad weather threatens but moves on, and we have a lovely day trip around the islands of La Maddalena, Spargi, Santa Maria and Budelli. This finally lets us see why the Costa Smeralda is so named – Spargi, in particular, has idyllic beaches with white sand, blue-green crystal clear water, and unusual rock formations. It rivals any beach we’ve been to anywhere in the world for natural beauty.
It’s a bit windy, but some brave souls take the opportunity to swim in the sea at each stop. We settle for admiring the scenery and taking lots of photos. The well organised trip includes the option to buy lunch – surprisingly good seafood pasta brought to your seat. We begin to appreciate Sardinia a little more.
Next morning we are picked up twenty minutes late for a transfer by car, which had obviously forgotten us, to the ferry terminal at Santa Theresa, where we board the slightly aged-looking ferry for the fifty minute trip to Corsica, finally leaving Italy behind for country number six: France.
My dozen favourite images from our stay in Palau are included in the gallery below. Click on a thumbnail to see a bigger image. If you’re using a mobile phone, turn your screen sideways to see the bigger image to best effect.
Image Gallery
