Sardinia Travel Guide: What We Learned From Three Trips

In this episode, we’re taking you to one of our favorite repeat destinations - Sardinia. From a quiet beach escape during the 2020 pandemic to a luxury stay in Porto Cervo and a full month exploring the island in 2024. We’re sharing everything we loved, where we stayed and the beaches worth planning a trip around. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hello and welcome back. I'm Lisa. And I'm Erin.

SPEAKER_00 0:02

And this is the Getaways Podcast. It's warm outside. Thinking about summer. So let's just keep talking about summer until it gets here.

SPEAKER_01 0:14

And this is one of our favorite places, somewhere we've been three times.

SPEAKER_00 0:18

It's yeah, I love it so much. We're gonna talk about Sardinia.

SPEAKER_01 0:21

Sardinia, which I think everybody is aware of Sardinia because it does have some of the most incredibly beautiful beaches in the world. Like it's it's unmatched of places that I've been of stunning beaches, wouldn't you say?

SPEAKER_00 0:35

I I would say so. I guess the only thing that it does lack that like Hawaii and the Bahamas had were the colorful fishes.

SPEAKER_01 0:44

Right, right. No, and because it's different, different temperature of sea, right? Yeah, it's colder, right? Yeah. So but the beaches themselves are absolutely ridiculously breathtaking.

SPEAKER_00 0:56

The the water is so clear and blue, and some of the beaches are so wild that you have to hike for a long time to get there. But they are like, I'd say yes, I'd say the best in the world.

unknown 1:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:08

So we've actually so like I said, we've been there three times, and the first time was COVID summer. COVID summer, and we could finally get out of the house. And I think that we would have loved anywhere we went.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 1:20

But um, but this was a particularly special trip. And the way getting there was not so special.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Yeah, it was our first like overnight traghetto, which is uh what they call the fairies in Italy. So we were going out of Genoa to Sicily first. We went to Sicily for three weeks before we came to Sardinia, and everybody was already on edge because of COVID. We all had to wear masks, and it was everybody in Italy's first time to really get out since lockdown started.

SPEAKER_01 1:49

Yeah, and it was a little banana's that the boat was very, very crowded. I mean, literally wall-to-wall people. And um, but we had cabins, so you guys had a you guys had a fancy cabin.

SPEAKER_00 2:01

We had a fancy cabin. We had like a whole little lounge area and a big bed and a bathtub. It was it's fancy. I've never had one since like that, but that one was nice.

SPEAKER_01 2:10

Yeah, and Cash and I were just in a regular old room with no windows, with no windows. And um we got a wake-up call in the middle of the night.

SPEAKER_00 2:19

3:30 in the morning, they start making announcements. And um, so I opened my door. They make the announcements in Italian and then in English, and what I've made out of it was that there was a problem with the boat, and they were turning around and going back to port. So I got a little panicked. I went and woke Lisa up and then I went down to the the reception area. Is that what it's called? Yeah, were you with me?

SPEAKER_01 2:40

No.

SPEAKER_00 2:41

So I went down to the reception area and it was already packed with people like yelling and screaming, and they had their masks down, and I was just like, ooh, I just wanted to make sure we weren't gonna sink. So I went back to bed. And then in the morning I went back down there. Did you go with me then?

SPEAKER_01 2:56

Yes, remember that's when the guys were screaming over me, and I was like, This is my worst fear, just got of COVID.

SPEAKER_00 3:01

Yeah. So, so we just decided to bail. We got our suitcases, we weren't gonna rebook there because it was just it was too much. It was a lot. So we packed up our bags and we drove to Florence for the night and decided we were gonna go out of Naples. So that's what we did.

SPEAKER_01 3:19

Yeah, and that is not a regular situation. We have taken the ferry numerous times since then, and it's all been fine.

SPEAKER_00 3:25

And they're safe, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 3:26

They're totally safe, but it was just like it was a little, a little glitchy stuff because we like you to know that all of our travel is not perfect. At all.

SPEAKER_00 3:35

At all. And the Trogettos are they're they're they're a funny thing.

SPEAKER_01 3:40

They're they're get a little bit crazy because people we've talked about this a bit before, but you don't have to get a room. Um, so lots of people camp out in the hallways with they'll bring blow-up mattresses, they'll bring literal tents and sleep in the hallways, and you kind of have to step over people and over dogs and toys and all sorts of things.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

And it's all great though, because at the end of the day, you're landing on a beautiful island with beautiful beaches and it makes it all worth it. And the food on board's always pretty good, too.

SPEAKER_01 4:10

Yeah. All right, so let's let's get there.

SPEAKER_00 4:13

We're there, we're in Sardinia. We come into Olbia. Okay, that's all I had to say about that.

SPEAKER_01 4:20

It was so headed somewhere. Um, and then our first the first place we stayed was a very small little town. I don't know what coast it's on the.

SPEAKER_00 4:30

It's on the east coast.

SPEAKER_01 4:32

Okay. And it was, it's a super cute little, like, it's almost like track houses. Like yeah, a little area that's very neighborhoody, dirt roads, and then a path to the beach. And we had a little place with in outdoor seating, a big decent sized yard.

SPEAKER_00 4:50

Big yard. Yeah, and big outdoor kitchen. Yeah, and um, outdoor shower, a big veranda to eat dinner on, which we ate dinner on every night.

SPEAKER_01 4:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:58

Um non-potable water. That was fun.

SPEAKER_01 5:02

Yeah, we got used to it pretty quickly. Yeah. Um, and like I said, we could walk to the beach and there were services on the beach. There was a nice little restaurant where you could get anything from a full dinner to grab ice cream and go.

SPEAKER_00 5:13

And a butcher slash kind of uh like a deli-ish place right on the corner.

SPEAKER_01 5:19

Yeah, it's kind of like a general market. Yeah. Like in the in the little neighborhood thing where you could get, you know, a rotisserie chicken, a sandwich for lunch, or, you know, they had some sort of meats to prepare and and things for a bigger meal, like a dinner.

SPEAKER_00 5:34

Yeah. The town's called Tartania, but it's a that's the bigger town up on the hill. It's just kind of an offshoot of it. That's like the beach community for it.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Yeah. But um really cute, fairly isolated, but that's could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on what you're going for. Um, I had to work the whole time we were there, so the internet was not great, and that was a problem. It was a bit better. We've been there back there since, and it was a bit better then, but just something to be aware of if you work remotely in these islands, and honestly, in a lot of Italy, you have to ask how the Wi-Fi is.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Yeah, like fiber optics is not it's not quite there yet everywhere.

SPEAKER_01 6:12

Yeah. Um, but super relaxing, peaceful, remote, beautiful getaway.

SPEAKER_00 6:20

Yeah, and steps, like like a two-minute walk to the beach.

unknown 6:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:25

To to a beach, a beautiful beach, but not like not the Instagram beach, but but I went out there and swam every morning.

SPEAKER_01 6:34

It's I mean, it's just it's great. And like, you know, it's pretty still water. We've had a couple days that had waves, but you can swim out really far, you're by yourself. It's it's pretty cool. It's beautiful.

SPEAKER_00 6:46

But when we were there, we spent a day in Cagliari, which was nice.

SPEAKER_01 6:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 6:51

We had to go because Lisa had a Zoom call, so we had to go stay at a hotel.

SPEAKER_01 6:55

Yeah, because I needed the Wi-Fi. But Cagliari is like a big city. There's a port there, there's an airport there.

SPEAKER_00 7:01

Historic city.

SPEAKER_01 7:02

Yeah, but it's it's got all the resources you could possibly need. So that is another, and lots of tours go out from there. We did um a really great Jeep tour twice, actually, out of Callieri.

SPEAKER_00 7:15

I'll put the link on the website, but it's called Bitan, and it we've did that we did them both times, and it was like we loved it.

SPEAKER_01 7:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 7:22

Even the second time, there was not diminishing returns.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Yeah, no, and it takes you to, it was just us and the Jeep, and it took us to five different beaches that were sort of off the beaten path that we wouldn't have found had we not been on the tour, and you get to stop and swim and hang out.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

And I mean, some of the beaches were like a good 10-minute drive on dirt roads that you're not and that are not accessible.

SPEAKER_01 7:44

So in a totally power hike to get to these beaches.

SPEAKER_00 7:47

So they were it was very special.

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Yeah, yeah, definitely worth it. And it wasn't expensive.

SPEAKER_00 7:52

No, no.

SPEAKER_01 7:54

Um, okay, so Callieri, big thumbs up, lots of things to do, lots of all good restaurants, shopping, all the things you want out of a city that gives you still great beaches, but a little bit more city life.

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, we're only going to talk about a couple beaches on this podcast, but I do already have a uh blog post up about all the beaches we've done in Sardinia, so you can check it out there because there are there are more than 20 minutes worth of talking about here.

SPEAKER_01 8:19

Yeah, for sure.

SPEAKER_00 8:20

And then also on our first trip, we spent the last two nights in Porto Cervo, which is it's the rich part of Sardinia.

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Yeah, it's it's the Beverly Hills of Sardinia or Bel Air of Sardinia, right?

SPEAKER_00 8:31

Yeah, I mean it's like the Bugattis, the Ferraris, the giant yachts. That that's where you'll find all that.

SPEAKER_01 8:38

And we stayed in a really great Airbnb. It's not still up though.

SPEAKER_00 8:42

It's not, no.

SPEAKER_01 8:43

Um, and we did probably my favorite boat tour of life.

SPEAKER_00 8:47

Not mine because I almost drowned.

SPEAKER_01 8:50

But it was beautiful. But it was, I mean, the water is you you can't beat it there. I mean, and the there's fish everywhere, and they're not colored, but it's still there. Dylan and I swam to an island from the boat, and we just swam through these enormous schools of fish, and they're, you know, as probably close to two feet long, and they're just you're just swimming along with them, and it's just beautiful, and the water is crystal crystal clear. You can see, you know, if you have a chip in your toenail polish as you're swimming, like it's it's ridiculous.

SPEAKER_00 9:26

It's funny because it took us to a beach called Calacalicchio, I think is how you say it, which is actually part of La Maddalena, which we're gonna get to because we went there last year, but it's part of that archipelago, archipology? It's part of that island system of Mo Maddalena. So yeah, but that that was even from where I was on the boat, stunning.

SPEAKER_01 9:50

So yeah, Porta Chervo is it's small, the area is quite small. Um a completely different experience from the rest of our experience in Sardinia. It's it's the fancy, it's things are more expensive, things are very polished.

SPEAKER_00 10:07

Yes. Yeah, we went back this last time too for a night, which was great. But I I like the more wild side of Sardinia. Not wild side, the more local side.

SPEAKER_01 10:16

Right. I I like a little fancy every once in a while, but um, but yeah, that's it's definitely and like the shopping there, it's like you know, it's it's high end, high, high end. And you gotta go to the port in Porta Chervo, too, which has the biggest yachts docked that I've ever seen in my life. Like you can do you just sit there and gawk with a big open mouth because it's it's pretty crazy. So then we were headed back to get back on the ferry to get back to the mainland, and we stayed the night in Olbia at a really nice hotel.

SPEAKER_00 10:52

The Grand Hotel Presidential, yeah, which was lovely.

SPEAKER_01 10:56

And it was on very, very close to the port, like 10-minute drive with that, right? And um, and Olbia had this super cool market right in front of the street that kind of wrapped around. There's it's a very active, cool touristy, yes, but like lots of restaurants, lots of walking around, lots of culture. I mean, it just it's it's a cool place. I mean, I don't know that I'd want to spend any more than a night there, but it was definitely worth seeing and and we got some good stuff at the market.

SPEAKER_00 11:26

We did, we got great baskets. So then we went back home. That was our last stop on that trip. We went back home, and then we went again in was it 2021? We went again in 2022, and this time we brought our friend Katie because we wanted to show her Sicily in Sardinia, and we spent a week closer down to Caglieri on the south side in a town called Quarto Santa Elena, which was really nice. And we again, like like a two-minute walk to the beach. I didn't love that one, that beach so much.

SPEAKER_01 12:00

I just remember the sunsets at that beach were unbelievable.

SPEAKER_00 12:04

Amazing.

SPEAKER_01 12:04

Um, but that's something that we do pretty much everywhere we stay during summer is do an after dinner swim and watch the sunset. And uh every night. Yeah, get a and it's easy to take the dog down there because we're usually the only ones there. So that's uh that's a highly recommend because that's that's one of my favorite things about our summers.

SPEAKER_00 12:24

Because we still uh have the American eat early-ish dinner. We can't wait till nine or ten o'clock at night to eat. Sometimes, but we call that second dinner. But we did find one of our favorite beaches on in southern Sardinia on that from that house was the uh what's it called? It's Calais de Moro. It's at the storm. The storm beach.

SPEAKER_01 12:51

Yeah. So we went to this. I mean, because usually what we'll do is we'll have the place that's near the house that we'll go at night after dinner, and then usually we'll explore during the day and go to a beach we haven't gone or one of our favorites. And so on this particular day, we went to the weather was great when we left.

SPEAKER_00 13:09

The weather was fantastic.

SPEAKER_01 13:10

And um, and we got to this really beautiful beach, and we were out swimming, and we kind of turn around and look at the shore, and there's the darkest, blackest cloud rolling in, and we could have counted to 10, and it just started pouring on us.

SPEAKER_00 13:24

And lightning and thunder. I've got video of it, I'll put it on YouTube, but it was it was it was really cool.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

It was so cool because it was just so unexpected and probably you know, maybe not the safest thing to be in water when you're having lightning. But nobody got out. Nobody got out, so we figured, well, you know, we had company and whatever was gonna win in Rome. Um, but yeah, and it was just kind of a cool moment in time. Yeah. But the area that we were in too had that mean, there's just there's beaches where we're along coast. So everywhere. And all of those beaches have really great services. We had a really good lunch at that at one point.

SPEAKER_00 14:02

Oh yeah, the big beach.

SPEAKER_01 14:03

Uh yeah. Yeah. So, you know, you'll just go and a lot of times, like we'll kind of take the morning a little bit slow and then go to a beach that has services, have lunch, and then go swim in the afternoon. Yeah. Which gives you, because we eat a lot faster than Italians, so that gives you a little bit of a free beach because everybody's eating lunch until like three or four. Yeah. And so you kind of get the beach to yourself and and are able to enjoy it without the crowds.

SPEAKER_00 14:31

Which I'm gonna say something, but I've kind of found it all over Italy. They like to stand a lot of the people just kind of stand with ankle deep. And if you go out a little further, like chest height, nobody's out there.

SPEAKER_01 14:44

Right. That's absolutely true. And I think for a lot of the Italians, it's a social thing, and everybody kind of stands around and catches up with their family and friends that you know they don't really have time to do a lot of the year and take that time on vacation. Um, but yeah, that sort of gives a quiet and empty rest of the sea. So it's kind of a an easy, easy way to explore.

SPEAKER_00 15:08

And again, we went in and out on the Trighetto. Easy, no problems that time.

SPEAKER_01 15:13

Right.

SPEAKER_00 15:14

Um, and then our third time, we just went back last summer.

SPEAKER_01 15:17

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 15:18

And we decided to really, really dig deep for Sardinia last summer and spent four weeks there in four different houses. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 15:27

And the first one, well, we should say too that Dylan was at his friends. So the first one.

SPEAKER_00 15:31

Yeah, one of Dylan's friends has a house in Sardinia. So he was with like 10 friends.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

So so we didn't explore so much like teenage stuff, although he loved, he loves the sand beach that where he can skimboard. But um, but the first place we stopped at, the first house was in Arbitax, which is on very close to Tartenia.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

It is. Yeah. About a 45-minute drive from where we stayed our first time.

SPEAKER_01 15:55

And we were a little bit up the hill, but it was still like a 10-minute walk to the main beach. Um that had services again, like a great ice cream place on the corner. Um, but what I loved most about that area was the tower.

SPEAKER_00 16:11

The tower was great. You hiked there every morning. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 16:14

So Rex and I would get up when it was still cool, and about it took about half an hour to get up. But um, but we kind of there's this old like ruins of this tower that you could climb up to and there's trails and stuff. Um, and we would go up there and just kind of like enjoy the view and kick around up there for a bit so that we both kind of got some walking in and some energy out before the day started and before it got too hot. But that was really cool.

SPEAKER_00 16:39

And I will say for the kind of the middle section of the east side of Sardinia, Arbitax is a great place to stay because that's where all those beaches are. Like all of the beaches that we love. We would drive from Tartania up to Arbatax. I mean, some of the best beaches. They're just all beautiful. I've got them all listed. There's just too many to talk about. But my favorite beaches were in the next stop. Definitely the most beautiful beaches in Sardinia are in the next stop.

SPEAKER_01 17:08

Yeah. So the next stop was La Madalena, which is you have to take a ferry to the islands, um, but short, like 30 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 17:17

Yeah. It's in northern Sardinia. It's kind of between Sardinia and um Corsica.

SPEAKER_01 17:23

And there's a series of islands, and a lot of them have are also like very rustic. I don't know if that's the world, wild. Yeah. But they have like tons of hiking inside. A lot of the beaches you have to hike down to, or um, you know, you park and and sort of make your way down to the to the water. And and it's my favorite. I love it there the most. I think that the the beaches are incredible. The water's incredible. I love the ruggedness of the interior of the island and being able to hike around and and sort of find your special spot. Like yeah, it's it's my favorite.

SPEAKER_00 18:02

It's every beach was every beach was really magical there. Because I want to say my favorite beach was the Kala di Napoletana Napolitana, uh-huh, which is like it was almost an hour hike.

SPEAKER_01 18:15

It was an hour hike. And it was hot. So you are so happy to get in the water when you get there.

SPEAKER_00 18:20

But I really also like that other beach that we we kind of it wasn't a very long hike, but it was a steep hike down where like we swam in the schools of fishes. Uh-huh. I loved that beach. Oh, I loved them all. Yeah. And there were beaches with some good waves there. Especially the next our next week was the big waves.

SPEAKER_01 18:38

Yeah. Yeah. It was almost too big. Um, but you know, and there again, like I know we keep talking about the snorkel mask, but so made made the trip because just going around and being able to see everything. And I saw starfish, I saw octopus, I saw, I mean, it's like it's like, you know, it's incredible the kind of stuff you can find.

SPEAKER_00 19:00

There's small islands, you could literally drive around it in like probably 30 minutes, 45 minutes, but there are it is packed full of beaches.

SPEAKER_01 19:08

I think that that might be, yeah, I know I I said Croatia was my favorite, but but if I had to pick somewhere in Sardinia, it would definitely be these islands. I just think they're incredibly, incredibly amazing.

SPEAKER_00 19:19

Yeah. So if you're thinking about Sardinia, definitely like think about La Modalena. You could also stay just right on the other side in northern Sardinia and take the ferry over because all the kids did that.

SPEAKER_01 19:30

What's the city?

SPEAKER_00 19:32

Palau. Palau. But yeah, that was great. That was a great second week. Dylan wasn't with us at all for that week.

SPEAKER_01 19:38

But funny enough, he went there on his own with his press.

SPEAKER_00 19:41

Yeah, he did. It's funny because I I have him on Live 360, and uh, we were sitting in a restaurant um on the beach, and I looked at it and he was they were right down the street. They were heading our way. So we got out of there. And we weren't even spying on them. No. So they came to that same beach that we were just at, which is just makes me laugh.

unknown 19:59

And

SPEAKER_00 20:00

So then we move on to week three, which Dylan joined us a few days in.

unknown 20:04

Right.

SPEAKER_00 20:04

And that was uh Isla Rosa or Calarosa.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

Calarosa, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:08

Oh well we had this we stayed in this like vacation village, which was a cool village, but it's like it had all like it was halfway bankrupt because all the pools were empty, remember? Oh yeah. But we had this really nice apartment and um or little house. It was an apartment, and the the village was pretty full. So like I don't know why the pools were all closed, but they were drained and closed. But we were about probably a 10 or 15 minute walk to a beach, but it wasn't really a swimmable beach, it was more like um that place where you where the natural pool is.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Yeah, but there was a swimmable beach right next to it. I mean, I would say and there were trails everywhere. I did. You did?

SPEAKER_00 20:52

Yeah, okay.

SPEAKER_01 20:53

Um, but that's right straight out from us. So you had to take like a trail, which is actually quite a nice walk.

SPEAKER_00 20:59

Yeah, it was a beautiful walk.

SPEAKER_01 21:00

Rex and I did it a couple times ago. Yeah. Um, but we went out there and um I went the first time by myself, and I saw so much wildlife. I mean, it was and there everything from jellyfish to starfish to I mean, that was where I saw the most sea life. Yeah. And so I was like, Dylan, Dylan, Dylan, you gotta come back with me. Big mistake. And so I dragged him down there. And the water was so rough that like you couldn't swim and you couldn't you can't walk because the rocks are too, you know, that's where everything was hiding. So you couldn't really walk on the rocks. So unfortunately, I was the only one that got to experience the magic of that.

SPEAKER_00 21:37

You never made it into the pool, right?

SPEAKER_01 21:40

Well, no, because no. There's a natural pool there that is supposed to be beautiful, but I mean, you could see it, it was beautiful, but we just didn't swim out to it because it was pretty far.

SPEAKER_00 21:50

A funny thing about I will say about Sardinia and about this particular place we were, is Lisa and I went to the grocery store one day and left Rex and Dylan home sleeping. And we opened the door and I look across the room and I was like, oh, there's a snake trying to crawl up the wall. And there was a snake in our apartment.

SPEAKER_01 22:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:10

We got it out. Rex didn't panic.

SPEAKER_01 22:12

No, and I didn't either, which was a big, big move for me. Um, but yeah, kind of creepy. That was fun. But um, but it was, I mean, talk about having a lot of hiking around. I mean, we we did hours and hours of walking coastally um through the that whole area.

SPEAKER_00 22:34

We also we went to a really cool beach that was uh like a hike on on the side of the cliff, and that's where doing uh jumping off the rocks.

SPEAKER_01 22:41

That was a cool that was a great beach.

SPEAKER_00 22:43

And what another thing we did in this area, and it was up from the beach a little bit, is we had the best wine tasting, I think, that we've ever had. Not so much the wine, the wine was great, but the the chakuler reboard that they gave us was like the best I've ever had.

SPEAKER_01 23:01

It was so good. Well, and the setting was really lovely because we were in this villa basically doing the tasting, and the back doors were open, so we were kind of out on the terrace, and the vineyard was right in front of us, and then beyond that was the sea. So it was like the bluest of blue, the greenest of greens. Like it was and then we were the only ones there. Yeah. And um, and that was yeah, that was definitely really special.

SPEAKER_00 23:24

Um we tried to recreate that charcuterie board with the croutons and everything, and it was not successful, it was not as great.

SPEAKER_01 23:32

Um, but there's also like that part of town. I felt like they had a lot, like you could stop every couple blocks and get like cheese from somebody's house that they make. And like, yeah, I mean it's a it's a very it's rural, but it's it's very there's a lot of agriculture, there's a lot of you know, artisanal food, and um, and just it feels very authentic.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

Yeah. And then we went down to that beach the next day or a couple days later, and it was virtually empty.

SPEAKER_01 24:01

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 24:02

Well, there was also high winds. There was I think it might have been. We had some red flag days when we were there.

SPEAKER_01 24:08

And they don't mess around there. I mean, but people were still in when it was on that one area that was red flag, but I mean, people were getting knocked out left right. Yeah, it was pretty strong.

SPEAKER_00 24:20

And then our final week. We went back to we went back to what we know. We went back to where it all began in Sardinia. Same house, same beach, did it all over again.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

Tartania.

SPEAKER_00 24:30

And yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:30

And um, and we do really love that area. I know that we talked about the you know, it being rural and stuff, but there are towns that are within half an hour drive that have all the services and all the big grocery stores and restaurants and all of that. Um, but yeah, it just kind of that place kind of feels like home because we really like the house and having the beach right there, and it's nice to walk the dog. Um, and the dog can swim at night.

SPEAKER_00 24:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 24:59

Um, so yeah, okay. Well, I said my favorite. What's your favorite? If you had to go back for a week and only one place, where would you go?

SPEAKER_00 25:06

La Modalena.

SPEAKER_01 25:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 25:08

Hands down.

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:10

I will say that finding places to stay on La Modalena is not the easiest.

SPEAKER_01 25:15

Right.

SPEAKER_00 25:15

And because they don't have big hotels. Like it is an island where they are like preserving the island. So there's not a lot of new builds, there's nothing, there's no big apartments, no big Airbnbs. But when you can find a place there, it is it's magical there. The whole island is magical, the town's magical.

SPEAKER_01 25:32

Um, okay, so the Airbnb that we stayed at was like a zoo front. And we got so nervous when we found out on the way because Rex doesn't always love like other animals.

SPEAKER_00 25:43

We didn't read the reviews until we were on our way to that house.

SPEAKER_01 25:47

And so we were on our way, and it's like, well, the ducks and the bunnies and the geese and the turtles, giant turtles right outside the window.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

So Rex could smell everything that was going on. And there were like 500 cats. 500 cats. But that's that's Italy.

SPEAKER_01 26:05

And but it was all it all turned out to be fine. But um, but just to just to take the the limited amount of Airbnbs and places to stay, is that you know, sometimes sometimes you have to share it with ducks.

SPEAKER_00 26:17

Now I'm gonna give you a a tip because it's not as important to Lisa. When you're doing your Airbnbs, you've got to check air conditioning because there's not, I'd say 70% of houses don't have air conditioning in Italy. And so, and it's hot. It gets hot.

SPEAKER_01 26:33

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:34

So it's definitely good to make sure you check that.

SPEAKER_01 26:37

And if you're going to one of the areas that we sort of referenced as a little bit more rugged, make sure you have your watershoes and um and you know, always look at the boat rides too, because they're so worth it and they tend to not be expensive. They also tend to be cheaper if you do them in the place that you are, like on the day or the day before, instead of one of the services.

SPEAKER_00 27:00

Yeah, if you find a port or a harbor, there's always going to be like stands there that'll be like, oh, boats for this.

SPEAKER_01 27:06

And then yeah, I think that's oh, I know what I wanted to talk about. There is a pasta that I always have that has like crispy fish eggs on it, batarga, which is it sounds weird, but it's delicious and not fishy. But they will just put the on top of your pasta and it gives like a nice little crunchy texture, and it's delicious. And then the other thing is there's the regional pasta. It's called frigola. Fragola, which is it's almost like um Orzo. Like, but but fatter and shorter. It's like a little, like almost like a pencil eraser.

SPEAKER_00 27:43

Yeah, but a little smaller.

SPEAKER_01 27:45

Yeah, and so good. And they're it's really good. They toast them usually, yeah, and completely local to Sardinia. So you have to try that if you're there.

SPEAKER_00 27:53

And there's one other which one? What's my favorite? The bread. Oh, carousel. Yeah. Carousel is like a the crispy, like it's a cracker bread, but it is so thin and it always tastes a little stale, but it's not. That's just how it what it is. There's one other thing that is native to Sardinia that we have not tried yet.

SPEAKER_01 28:15

Oh goodness.

unknown 28:17

We're not gonna try it.

SPEAKER_00 28:18

We learned about it on our Jeep tour, and then we saw it on The Amazing Race. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:24

All right, you want to go or do you want me to explain it?

SPEAKER_00 28:26

I'll let you explain it.

SPEAKER_01 28:28

So we actually learned about it originally from our Jeep driver that we talked about in the in Cagliari. But it is a cheese that is served on special occasions that you have to order from the local shepherd um weeks, if not months, in advance. And it is a sheep cheese, and it has maggots in it. It's called Cassou Marzu. And it is not for me.

SPEAKER_00 28:53

And Italy's made it illegal.

SPEAKER_01 28:55

Yeah, because it doesn't pass like guidelines, but that's why you have to go directly to the shepherd, and it's kind of like on the DL, and you order it for you know Christmas or whatever, and then you go and pick it up and you have your maggot cheese so to each his own. And I am uh I'm happy for them that it's so delicious because everybody apparently loves it. You just spread it on bread and pop it in your pie hole. But um, we're gonna take their word for it that it's good.

SPEAKER_00 29:20

Yeah, we're gonna let them have that tradition. I would I would suggest everybody, well, A, we always say this that everybody needs to do an Italian summer. And there are many great places to do an Italian summer, but Sardinia, you cannot go wrong.

SPEAKER_01 29:34

Sardinia is where you go when you want a beach vacation.

SPEAKER_00 29:38

Beach. Because it's beach.

SPEAKER_01 29:40

There's not a ton of museums, there's not a ton of anything else. You you spend your day literally at the beach. And if that's what you want, Sardinia is your place.

SPEAKER_00 29:49

Definitely. Maybe we'll see you there because I'm certain we'll be back. We will definitely be back. But thanks for listening. We'll see you next time. Check out our website, www.thetawayswith.com. Bye. Bye.