We spend our last full day in Cagliari on a simple walking tour that I put together that included the following sites: Mercato di Santa Chiara, Torre dell’Elefante (elephant tower), Palazzo Regio, Cattedrale di Cagliari and another visit to the Mercato di San Benedetto (as one day was not enough). We also stumbled upon the Cripta del Santo Sepolcro with a frightening image of the Grim Reaper on the ceiling while on our way to the Palazzo Regio. After lunch and a brief rest, Henrik decided he had to get some work done, so I went out to explore and found the Bastione di Saint Remy that was unfortunately closed for renovations. The three days we spent in Cagliari were over too soon and it was time to catch our flight to Pisa. It was also time for us to leave Sardegna.
Meredith’s Guide to the Big Islands of Italy
If you love Italian food and want to have an amazing time, go to the islands of Sicily and Sardegna. They are very different from each other but they both have a lot to offer in terms of food and scenery. A good time of year to visit Sicily is mid-April and pretty much all of May. For what we wanted to do, April was perfect for us as we are not big tour group people (they all seem to really get rolling in May) and the weather was perfectly warm enough in the South in late-April. I admit we mistimed our stay in the *Puglia region of Italy; we were too early, but this allowed us to arrived at almost the perfect time in Sardegna.
Go to Sardinia from mid-May to mid-June (if going North you should be fine for all of June). As mentioned above, we were a little to early for the Northern markets and attractions, however it was warm enough for Henrik to swim in the sea. Now that I think about it, we probably should have reversed our stays and gone to Cagliari first and then Alghero. It would have been perfect weather wise, but then we would have missed the excitement of the Giro d’Italia. Also, the Ryan Air flight into Cagliari was early enough in the morning that we could get a good train ride north before it got too late in the day. Now we could have travelled to and Sardegna via a ferry and eliminated a really early flight and some backtracking but then we would have bypassed the Puglia region all together as ferries to Sardegna leave from Rome, Genova or Palermo. Need more information or help planning your Italy itinerary – send us an email we would be happy to hear from you.
*A note on traveling in the Puglia Region: I would imagine that from mid-June to mid-July this region would be a lot easier to visit without a car, as Trenitalia services very few towns and only goes as far south as Lecce. The region’s bus/rail service FSE, Ferrovie del Sud Est, offers limited service in the Spring, making it impossible for day-tripping and the SalentoInBus that will take you to towns such as Otranto and Gallipoli only runs June 15 to September 15. We were just too early in late-April.
[/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][et_pb_column type=”1_4″][et_pb_image admin_label=”Image” src=”http://[2600:1f13:e3b:9100:ae18:b451:18d2:e990]/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/IMG_20170511_202627.jpg” /][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”] A reminder of home in Cagliari [/et_pb_text][/et_pb_column][/et_pb_row][et_pb_row admin_label=”Row” custom_padding=”27px|0px|2px|0px”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″][et_pb_text admin_label=”Text”]
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