We were just getting our dock-side sea-legs when AirBnB was reminding us that our next destination beckoned. Knowing that it would be a long day on various modes of transportation, we threw originality in the trash and went back to the same Pizzeria that we had dined at the night prior. This despite the a plethora of enticing options brought to our attention by our superb host, Mimmo. That’s Captain Mimmo to you (and, well, us…) Those restaurants were just too far away despite some rather impressive pedigrees such as a pizzeria dating back 300 years if we’re to believe our source.
Our May 2nd travel day would be long, we knew that. Starting with being driven by our host to the airport, we proceeded to take our first RyanAir flight ever. While this airline apparently doesn’t appeal to everyone, the no-frills, no quarter-asked-no-quarter-given type cattle herding resonated with me in an odd way; They took us safely from A to B on time. What else do you really need (not want) from an airline? Even the not so polished experiences are what you make of them. The bunker of Brindisi and bobbing of Bari proved that.
Our flight was to Cagliari on Sardinia. The locals pronounce Cagliari in a way that sounds surprisingly similar to “Calgary”, so before our collective brains had caught on we exchanged one brief, stunned look as if one of us would have to traipse up to the captain to tell him that the flight would really be a lot longer than 85 minutes. We know; we’ve been there. It’s far, ok?
Just as our flights had been no-frills, the train station attached to the Elmas Airport, was little more than some slabs concrete making up the platforms around the track. That didn’t stop us from being utterly confused for a moment that wasn’t quite brief enough. You see, in an attempt to be proactive, we had pre-purchased our train tickets from a Trenitalia kiosk in Bari, thinking it would save time and effort when we were laden with luggage and short on both patience and energy. Problem was that, knowing the name of the airport was Elmas, we had bought the train ticket from Cagliari-Elmas stop to our Trenitalia destination, which was Sassari, Cagliari-Elmas was not the airport. Nope, Cagliari-Elmas was a rinky-dink suburban sleeper north of the airport that our train would not even stop at so our tickets had us going in both directions before shuttling us, on a very crowded train towards Sassari. Suffice to say we skipped going to Cagliari-Elmas. Confused yet? If so, you’re in good company. Finally on the train to Sassari, it was standing-room only for a good hour of the three we’d spend on it, which perhaps explains why no one bothered to come and check our tickets.
The Vancouverites, and others, who have hiked to the Lions from Cypress will be familiar with Mount Unnecessary; the grueling elevation gain in the middle of the hike that you have to undo and then redo again as you make your way up the Lions-proper. Sassari was our Mount Unnecessary on this trip. As Trenitalia doesn’t go to Alghero, we had to first stop-over in Sassari before hopping on a commuter train that could have come straight out of a Bombardier commercial. Disregarding annoying adolescents (I told you earlier we’re getting old) we were rewarded after some 40 minutes on this thing. Honestly, it almost felt like it did when we took the commuter-regional from Napoli to Sorrento. What I mean is: Even though you’ve been traveling for the better part of a day and you’re figuratively running on fumes, the train stations before your stop are sufficiently, shall we say rustic, that you nonetheless hope that your stop is very far from where you currently are. Again, similar to when you round that mountain-bend and Sorrento lays before you in its glittering beauty, Alghero felt like a prize won.
In addition to the town being in generally good shape, we made up for all the slight bumps of the previous two locations. Our apartment isn’t new, but it’s well-equipped and most importantly, it has a west-facing balcony where we can sit and just stare at the timeless Mediterranean. It was easily worth the 12 hours we spent getting here from Bari.
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