Day 13: Sardinia & Bella Italia!

Up and into town under bright sunny skies this morning. The weather ahead looks quite brilliant.

We stopped at our ‘usual’ breakfast bakery and while enjoying the moment we kept one eye on the clock so that we wouldn’t miss our ferry. Now sitting here an hour ahead😂! The views back to Bonifacio should be amazing as we slip out of the harbour. Will let you know how that works out.

Last night we booked a place in a small town down the east coast of Sardinia. We will be in Olbia tonight then pick up our car at the airport tomorrow morning. Of course we are going to be in Italy so an opportunity to continue to refresh my rudimentary Italian. Molto bene!

Ah, the ferry has arrived! The anticipation is building! Actually the way it backed in and was wallowing I think this will be a fun crossing in the windy conditions prevailing today. Oh boy!

Now on board while they load up the ferry. There is only the rear gate so all the vehicles need to back on which is quite common on many mediterranean ferries.

Later: Now in Olbia after some unexpected chores, but back to our trip out of Bonifacio. And yes Carol, Bonifacio was our favourite stop as well!🙂

It took a while to steam down that long harbour, but then we cleared the entrance and the wind was ripping!

The ferry was kicking around quite a bit, but not as badly as I thought it might. The bright, sun on the high pale cliffs kept the Bonifacio shoreline clearly visible all the way across to Sardinia. Very similar to the white cliffs of Dover when you’re on the ferry across to Calais.

The ferry completed a neat pivot move and backed up to the quay to unload. We only had 30 minutes to walk up to the small bus depot. We were first off and kept on going!

We figured out that it was bus number 601 that would get us to Olbia and a quick chat with the bus driver sent us hurrying over to a nearby bar to buy our bus tickets. We managed to get back to the bus on time! The two hour bus ride was uneventful, taking us through some pretty areas. We stopped in a number of villages to pick up and drop off locals, and we both found that this added a nice feel to the bus trip.

We came back down to the Mediterranean at Palau which we will return to in about three or four days when we have a car. As can be seen in the photo below there is a ferry boat which will take us across to a national park called the Arcipelago della Maddalena (top right on the map). The island group is a World Heritage designated site. We hope to spend a couple of days there.

We discovered a bit of a problem when we arrived in Sardinia. It turns out that the EU SIM card we purchased on Corsica stopped working when we arrived in Italy. This was very disappointing given our research and the cellular company we purchased the SIM from confirmed that the SIM would function properly throughout the EU. We had a list of chores to complete Olbia, but this went to the top of the list!

After checking in to our small well located B&B and eating a very late lunch, we went to the tourist information who fortunately directed us to a TIM cellular business that had not come up on my Google Maps search. Thankfully I had thought to bring my TIM SIM card with me at the last minute when leaving home. I’d used the card on both my treks through Italy this past year. The fellow running the business was super helpful. He made a couple of phone calls on our behalf and was able to provide us with a two week plan for €14. Not too bad, and it saved us a lot of trouble. With the roads on these islands it’s very helpful to be able to plot a driving route on the car’s navigation screen.

Chores finally done we set off to have a look around Olbia. We found some interesting and fun things along the way.

Needing a little exercise after sitting much of the day, we decided to walk out the harbour along the massive wharves. We could see a square rigger, three masted sailing ship in the far distance where the ferries and cruise ships dock, so we headed off in that direction.

There was plenty to see along the way.

We don’t take very many organized tours when we travel, but over the years we’ve learned how to experience a place to get a good feel for it. There’s a great deal to be seen if one is prepared to walk into areas where most tourists typically don’t go. I think Paul calls it a self guided tour.😏

Unlike others, the ferry companies here seem to have a well developed sense of humour!

We finally arrived at the business end of the port.

We spoke with a security guard, carrying a very big gun, who told us that we couldn’t take any photographs. He had pretty decent English, so we were able to have a nice chat with him. He told us that all the ships there were ferries, except for the square rigged sailing ship. That particular ship was a very new cruise ship! He told us that it costs about €3000 per person per week. The ship only carries 150 passengers, which means that there’s probably three times that amount of crew based on some research I conducted on similar types of cruise ships once upon a time when I was interested in that type of thing. I think they are called the Windward Ships. Correct David?

We walked all the way back to town, and began looking for a place to have our first Italian dinner on Sardinia. We located a fairly decent restaurant away from the harbour area and enjoyed a very nice meal!

Tomorrow morning after a quick breakfast in a local café, we will take the bus out to the airport and pick up another car. From there we will head south to the Gulfo di Orosei to the town of Dorgali where we have just booked a nice B&B for three nights. It appears that there’s lots to do in that area. We shall see.

Cheers!

Geoff🍷