Sardinia, Italy All photos by Hetty
Link to my interactive map of Sardinia
We stayed 5 nights in CAGLIARI, the capital city, 9th to 13th September 2019
9th Sept. We caught the 10.02 train from Olbia to Cagliari arriving at 13.27, then bought 24 hour bus tickets and by 14.00 we were at our accommodation. It was near several bus routes with a mini supermarket a couple of doors away, and it had a small garden so we enjoyed eating outside.
Cagliari – Google maps
My interactive map of Cagliari Link to my interactive map of Sardinia
The city buses are frequent so it was easy to get to Parco di Monte Urpino (A on map), where there is a 360 degree view from the Punta Panoramico. There are a series of ponds that used to be salt works where flamingos live now, which are separated from the sea by the 5 mile long Poetto beach
Close up of the Sella del diavolo point, where we will go another day
Looking south to Nora on the point – an ancient town to visit another day
Francis of Assisi is at the top
Panning round is the Castello area on top of a hill where the original castle was built, and St Michael’s castle hill
Back in the city centre, grand buildings on Via Roma. On the left is the Town Hall, near the railway station.
The Town Hall has Tourist Info
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10th September 2019 – A day in the city centre
We walked into in the city centre along the well-named Buon Camino (good walk), with more great views
to the Castello area (B on map), high on a rocky hill, where there are several museums
The National Archaeological Museum (7 Euros each) has most of the information in English and was very interesting
Items from the Stone Age
including decorated pottery and pots on legs (yes Stone Age)
Copper Age (c.3000 BC)
Bronze Age
These are models of towers developed during the Nuragic Civilisation, between 1700 and 930 B.C – we will see the remains of one later in the holiday
We were surprised as the number and quality of these Bronze Age figures from c.2300 to 1000 BC
6th century column capital
6th to 8th century AD
These figures indicate different medical problems – Punic Age 1st to 3rd century BC
Roman soldier
Nearby is the Museo d’Arte Siamese (7 Euro or free on Tuesdays 10.00 -14.00) – which has lovely things from a 19th century traveller’s collection from Thailand and Japan.
The Castello area is very high up
The Palazzo Regio was the residence of the king of Sardinia’s representative
It is very grand inside
The cathedral
The crypt is built like a Roman bath
The old Town Hall
At the Bastione San Remy there is a lift to get down to the bottom
or steps down
Views from the Bastione
The Elephant Tower
St Michael’s church was closed when we passed by
The Botanical Gardens were a little disappointing
but you could just see over to the Roman amphitheatre
From here it was a short walk back to ‘home’
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11th September San Sperate – town of murals
It is only a 30 minute bus ride from Cagliari to San Sperate. We got off the bus by this mask
We liked this one
A lot of the murals are of traditional scenes
A lemon tree painted on the wall
On returning to Cagliari we called in at a large supermarket behind the station and took the shopping home, then took a bus to St Michael’s Castle (C on map), and walked up the hill to see more views all the way round
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12th September To Nora – ancient city
A bus from Cagliari bus station (9.15) took us past flamingoes to Pula (10.09), where we walked to Nora (about 40 minutes).
The lagoon at Nora didn’t have any flamingoes today
The beach at Nora
The archaeological site at Nora has the remains of the earliest city of Sardinia, founded by the Phoenicians in the 8th century BC, on a promontory. It was taken over by Carthaginians then Romans, but was abandoned in the 8th century AD
A Roman road
Amphitheatre
It is a large site but was much bigger before the sea claimed part of it
The beach at Nora has a tiny church
Back in Cagliari we walked along the water front to Su Siccu and the Basilica di Nostra Signora di Bonaria, where we caught a bus to ‘home’
In the evening we walked up to Buon Camino to see the sunset
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13th September Poetto, Calamosca and Sella del Diavolo
We went down to Poetto Beach (D on map) and went to look for flamingoes in the ponds. They weren’t in the first ponds , but there were lovely reflections
Sadly the big ponds where the flamingoes were had tall reeds all around the edges and the bird hides were locked. So the best view of the flamingoes was from the bus from Quartu Sant’ Elena all the way along the Poetto Beach.
Then we made our way to Calamosca Beach (E on map)
We walked past the beach to the headland for our picnic
then back near the beach we followed a trail up the rocky hill to Sella del Diavolo, which has fine views over Cagliari
and several view points over Poetto Beach
Back in town in the evening, the bus took us to the bottom of the Bastione and we walked up to see the sunset
The bus back stopped at Buon Camino
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14th September 2019
At the railway station -old and new trains
The 10.40 train from Cagliari arrived in Sassari at 13.39
Next: Sassari and north-west Sardinia
Back to introduction to Sardinia