Sardinia Island

A voyage over an emerald sea, past characteristic coves and beaches of snow-white sand … this is Sardinia, an island that strikes its visitors with natural contrasts, the lights and colors of a region that boasts old traditions and a wild and pure nature.
Situated in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Sardinia is a mainly mountainous region, without high peaks, with a vast and charming, yet bittersweet, natural environment. In fact, the presence of man does not seem to affect this territory; great surfaces still preserve their natural composition, luxuriant woods with even millenary trees, small desert areas and marshes inhabited by deer, wild horses and rapacious birds.
Unique local customs and traditional festivals, attractions you’ll find no place else, a cuisine that’s quite distinct from the rest of Italy, even a different language (although everyone speaks Italian and many speak English) make Sardinia a one-of-a-kind destination.
Sardinia is the second-largest island in the Mediterranean Sea (after Sicily and before Cyprus), with an area of 24,100 km2. The coasts of Sardinia are 1,849 km (1,149 mi) long. They are generally high and rocky, with long, relatively straight stretches of coastline, many outstanding headlands, a few wide, deep bays, and many inlets and with various smaller islands off the coast.
The climate of the island is variable from area to area, due to several factors including the extension in latitude and the elevation. During the year there is a major concentration of rainfall in the winter and autumn, some heavy showers in the spring and snowfalls in the highlands. The average temperature is between 11 to 17 °C (52 to 63 °F), with mild winters and warm summers on the coasts 9 to 11 °C (48 to 52 °F) in January, 23 to 26 °C (73 to 79 °F) in July, and cold winters and cool summers on the mountains −2 to 4 °C (28 to 39 °F) in January, 16 to 20 °C (61 to 68 °F) in July.
Sardinia is undoubtedly best known for limpid turquoise sea and exquisite beaches on the Costa Esmeralda, but there are plenty of those elsewhere on the island too. Food is just as important here as well – the island is a designated ‘Blue Zone’, a region where the people live longer and healthier lives than anywhere else on the planet.
But unless you’re a fan of the History Channel, you might not know that Sardinia is one of the most mysterious places on earth. The oldest landmass in Europe, it has archaeological sites, discovered in the 1970s, that date from between 1900 and 730 BC (Sardinia’s Stonehenge). Little is known about the Nuraghic civilization, but there are over 7,000 stone fortresses (the oldest in Europe) around the island, and some of the giant statues created are over eight-feet tall, giving rise to the notion that Sardinia might really have been a ‘Land of the Giants’.
The Giara, located in the center-east of Sardinia, hosts a rare herd existing in Italy and in Europe of little wild horses and a park with cork oaks forests and Mediterranean maquis. This area is well known also for its archaeological monuments such as the famous Barumini Nuraghe, so called “Su Nuraxi” declared Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Remains of literally thousands of these stone towers scatter throughout Sardinia, most in complete ruin, but this is the best preserved and most complete. It is also the closest major one to Cagliari, and the best interpreted, with 30-minute tours and English-speaking guides. If you can see only one, see this one, which UNESCO cited as one of the best restorations anywhere in the Mediterranean.
Consisting of 7 major islands, Maddalena Archipelago is another Unesco World heritage (declared in 1994) of Sardinia. Its waters are clear and clean, and each year welcome snorkeling buffs in search of the unspoilt seabed of the Mediterranean. Full day or half day boat excursions are organized: they allow you to visit some small beaches and coves only reachable by boat, whose nature is still preserved and whose beauty is breathtaking. Apart from the beaches, the most remote of which are reached only by boat, tourists come here to cross over the causeway and bridge to the neighboring island of Caprera.
The Gulf of Orosei, in central-eastern Sardinia is one of the most beautiful spot in Sardinia. Famous for the Bue Marino Caves, made of stalactites and stalagmites that reflects in the water giving us amazing trick of the light.
Situated on the North West coast, Alghero still shows traces of its Catalan past, whose use has been preserved in the variant of the “algherese”, and spoken nowadays in a small percentage. Don’t be surprised if the language you hear around you in this lively seaside city sounds a bit different-almost like Spanish. It is, and you may still find some signs and labels in Spanish, too. A 14th-century Pope gave Sardinia to the King of Aragon, hoping to wrest the island from control of Pisa and Genoa.
Neptune Caves are the most popular caves of Sardinia find in Alghero and are dedicated to the sea God Neptune. They extend for some 6 km and have been dug out over thousands of years by freshwater. They are both reachable via ferry boat and through a 600 steps staircase, offering stunning views over the sea and the coast.
Those who prefer the mountains can explore the area of Gennargentu, the vastest mountain range in Sardinia; with its peculiar landscape, it proves that the loveliest painter of them all is Mother Nature herself. This region is rich in flora and fauna, with its golden eagles, Sardinian deer and several other species now threatened with extinction.
Car ferries connect Sardinia to mainland Italy, 193 kilometers away, and less frequently to Mediterranean ports in both France and Spain. Ferries leave from Savona (on the western Italian Riviera), Genoa, Livorno (near Pisa), and Civitavecchia (Rome), arriving at the Sardinian ports of Cagliari (the capital in the southern part of the island), Arbatax (on the east coast), Olbia (Costa Esmeralda), and Porto Torres (north coast).