An island to explore…
GET COMFY...
Grab a cup of coffee, find the cozy spot in your living room and settle in for a long one 😉
After having to leave Germany in a hurry to get back to Denmark, we decided to skip Austria, when we took off again. We had really been looking forward to going to Austria, since we knew that there would be some good mountainbiking and some very nice mountains 😉
Prior to us driving home, we had just entered Austria and spent one night there, but then life happened, and we had to drive home. During the weeks in Denmark, the weather in Austria turned from pretty nice to really bad and cold, so we decided that it would be the best for us not to restart the trip in survival mode.
Therefore, we booked a cozy cottage in Tuscany to see, if we could find the spark again and see ourselves riding around in Molly. Per, Jakob’s stepfather, loved our idea and would have wanted us to continue our journey – so we did. And actually, it felt really good, when we first started out in Molly again. The week in the cottage was good for us but also tough, but it felt like we had mentally recharged the batteries a bit, so we decided to give it a go. One of our friends had recommended Sardinia and said that it was a perfect place to drive around in a car like ours.
So after having played tourists in San Gimignano and Pisa, we headed towards the coast and took a ferry from Livorno to Sardinia.
Tuscany…
The North
How can it be that we have never travelled with a cabin on a ferry before? This was so easy! Board the ferry in the evening, drink a beer, take a shower, sleep eight hours, wake up and bam, you are in Sardinia! Arriving here was magical, and we could almost immediately feel the tempo slowing down… We started out with a sunrise, took care of some basic Molly stuff and then headed towards the beach! Almost alone and a little bit corona scared, but we could just feel that this was the right decision.
We found a nice spot near San Teodoro and actually stayed in this area for three nights. It was a great campervan spot right on the beach. Clear sky full of stars in the evening.
Started out with buying a bunch of beach stuff, since we were expecting to hit the beach quite often. The wetsuits for the girls was the perfect investment, since they could stay in the water for longer – we were now in the beginning of October and it was warm but not Asia warm 😉 Also bought a SUP board, and the girls had a blast with it! Thanks “Wet Dreams” (really nice shop and owner).
After the nice days in San Teodoro, the weather turned a bit colder, so we thought that we might as well could see some of the inland things. We used the park4night app again and found a little spot, where there was some natural hot springs. Needless to say, that the girls liked it 😉 A bit cold outside and a bit of rain – but you could still just sit in the water for ages. Also caught our two only fish for the entire trip here 😉
Went for a pizza in the town one night – only a few kilometres away. But while we were eating, the rain came, and it was just pouring down! So, I asked the owner, if they had taxis, but they did not – or he did not get me – Italians are not the best at English – and we are not the best at Italian… But the upstairs neighbour said that he could drive us. I offered him some money, but he rejected that. Really nice guy and he saved our asses! It was raining so much that I was out a couple of times during the night – afraid of the river flooding the area.
We needed some beach time again, so we headed towards Porto Pollo, which is a surf and kitesurf spot in the northern part of Sardinia. We decided to stay for only one night but had seen enough to know that we needed to come back 😉
Instead, we took a ferry to Isola Maddalena – small island just off the northern coast of Sardinia – where we found the best spot of the entire journey.
Sardinia are starting to shut down wild camping, but this year they were just so eager to have tourists that they had decided to turn the blind eye to it. Just not on Isola Maddalena 😉
Well, we found a spot and parked Molly – hoping not to have to leave any time soon, since the road to the spot was… tricky…
We had this amazing lagoon to ourselves. Perfect, blue water, plenty of sun, moon-like surroundings to explore and a spot two metres from the water. Stayed three nights and could have stayed some more… But the police decided to drop by. I was out on the bike (maybe it was a good thing), but Katrine managed to lie as if it was a fulltime job, so she avoided getting a fine and was also allowed to stay for the rest of the day. Did we camp there? “No, no Mr. Officer… We have only just arrived a couple of hours ago…” She said, while our laundry was hanging all around the place, the table and chairs were up, the roof on Molly was up and the SUP was inflated 😉
During the time on Isola Maddelena we had seen a lot of boat renting signs – so of course we needed to try this. It was a perfect day with swimming and soaking up the sun. The temperature was not actually really high, but with the wetsuits on and some spare clothing, the girls managed to keep warm the entire day. We saw a lot of different small islands and just really enjoyed life on the water. We could definitely have brought more snacks, but the thing missing the most was a cold beer 😉
Local food market…
We had a little visitor – who was eating our breakfast… But we got him!
Back on the mainland of Sardinia, we headed towards Porto Pollo, because now the girls needed to try windsurfing. We booked a spot at a campsite – actually our first campsite since Norway – and stayed there for three nights.
We booked a windsurf lesson for the girls, and they loved it! Sofie managed to go a bit on her own, and Lærke just enjoyed having a ride with an instructor 😉
We took in the beach vibe for some days and actually wanted to go kitesurfing, but the wind was bad, and they would not rent out equipment – you needed to book a class. So, we decided to save the money but promised ourselves to find a proper kitesurf spot later on to give it a proper go.
The West
The scenery changes very much in Sardinia. From nice, smooth beaches on the east cost over the moon like landscapes up north and to some very rough, rugged terrain on the west coast. The first night we drove to a remote gravel road near Cala Ebi Dozzi, and we could only hear the rough sea, since we came in the evening, but the next morning we woke up and had the most spectacular view over the ocean with these majestic cliffs rising up from the water.
It was such a beautiful spot, and the girls went for a hike, while Jakob had the best (and most exposed) trail run of the trip.
We visited the Neptune’s cave, which is a very old limestone cave with a really nice dramatic hike on stairs leading to it. Same evening, we enjoyed a spectacular sunset on some cliffs while eating rice pudding and dhal.
In this area around Alghero we stayed for a couple of days and enjoyed the scenery + did some mountainbiking. We went for a walk and an icecream in the old center of Alghero, which is a really nice, picturesque city – though, almost completely shut down due to the lack of tourists. It is crazy walking around in these touristy cities without meeting any tourists. Both really nice and also sort of frightening in an apocalyptic kind of way.
Katrine went for a MTB ride one day and met this Austrian guy, who showed her a crazy downhill trail in the area, and Jakob went for a long ride with some local guys, who had invited us on a trip – you can read about this in a more MTB related post from Sardinia.
We had decided to take the last ferry to Sicily – which was the last ferry, since they had decided to cancel the route due to Corona – so we had to move south maybe a little faster than intended. We spent the last night on Sardinia with watching the best sunset of the entire trip – it was nothing less than magical – and a proper “until we meet again” to Sardinia.
Ate some good pizza in Cagliari the day after, before boarding the ferry to Sicily. Exited, but also a bit sceptic about finding out, if Sicily could live up to these three weeks in Sardinia. But you will just have to read the next post to find out 😉
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