A week in Cagliari

I spent a weeks holiday in Cagliari, and for once it wasn't an Erasmus stay. However I thought it might be interesting to share my experience with you because I had a really great time.

Transport

I left Belgium to get to Cagliari. I had been looking at flights from Charleroi airport since there were no RyanAir flights from Maastricht to Cagliari airport. The ticket costs around 70 euros, and I went in September which I believe is still the high season.

So we flew with RyanAir and we arrived in Cagliari without any problems. Once we got there, we bought a ticket for the bus from a ticket machine for 4 euros. We waited for the bus just outside of the airport. The first that arrived was going to the centre. We waited for around 15 minutes.

In the evening, the last bus for the airport is at midnight and the ticket costs again, 4 euros.

Accommodation

For somewhere to stay for a good price, we chose an apartment because there was a big group of us. We found an apartment on the page Homelidays. You can trust the hosts on this website, at least if you follow the security advice given by the website. That is to say, communicate well with the owner of the apartment, look at the comments from previous people that have stayed there, ring the owner, ask for a contract (although I didn't do this) etc...

Once we had chosen the apartment, we spoke to the owner many times before we sent him the deposit. I took the courage to ask for a discount because we were students, which we actually got!

Also it turns out that there were workers in the building of the apartment so we then negotiated a bigger discount! These kind of issues are unfortunately impossible to predict.

I would also recommend checking out Airbnb. This is a website where people sub-let their homes for certain periods. It isn't expensive either.

What to see in Cagliari?

Cagliari is a small town. You can see it all in a day. It's pretty because there are hills on one half of town which is where the old town is located (where you will also find the university, the belfries, watchtower and a square that has a panoramic view of the surrounding area). In the square, there is a café where you can sit outside on couches which is really nice when its good weather.

The view is amazing from the top. It is a full 360 degree view. The terrace is aligned with arches and street lamps, and is made up of different areas facing different directions of the city.

If you go down the hill past the university, you will get to a another square at the bottom which faces the main street. On the left is a newer street, so to say, the shopping street. It is quite long and the street parallel also has a lot of shops.

In the hills close to the university, you can also see the cathedral. It looks small from the outside but it is actually quite big, especially as there is two chapels on the lower floor with lots of paintings.

It is a very nice area to walk around, and there are some cafés too. There is also the archaeological museum here but I didn't visit it so I can't tell you what it was like.

Lower down, in the new town, you can go to the botanic gardens, I think the entrance fee is around one or two euros which you pay as a token which is the same for the Roman Amphitheatre. It was closed when I was there so I can't say anything about it. But you can see a lot from the outside anyway. It has been recently renovated (improved with new stones) and there isn't really much to see apart from the remodelled ruins. It is a bit of a disappointment but it's worth having a look at.

There are actually other ruins in the new town, those in the Tigelio villa. You can see them just from the outside, you can visit the museum there but I personally didn't want to. I just wanted to see the ruins.

You can also visit the port, next to the bus station. If you follow the embankment you will eventually get to the sea, but it is a good hours walk away. The best thing is to take a bus there. Either the P. D or the P. W (if I remember rightly), they leave every two hours for the beach.

The beaches

The beaches (called "Poeto") of Cagliari are beautiful because they are still quite untouched. The only complaint I can make is that all the beaches at the start of the stretch are private.

So you have to go a little further on the bus to reach the public beaches. It's really nice, and it's not too crowded (I was there in September). There are bars all along the beach and in the quieter areas. The water is clean and it is very pleasant. However do bring a small jumper because when the sun sets, the wind picks up very quickly and it gets quite cold.

Behind the beach are the 'salines' (an area with some salt lakes). You can go there and walk around but you have to enter it at the start of the stretch because I'm not sure if you can access it from the beach.

If you want to go on a nice day out, you can rent bikes in town and go to the salt lakes, then go to the beach. There are four or five stores where you can rent bikes from, including one next to the bus station.

Calamosca

Calamosca is a small beach in Poeto. You can access it by taking the normal bus to the coast and then walk for 20 minutes past the stop. Or you can take another bus that takes you closer, but I think these buses only run on weekends. Calamosca is a small, less busy cove. You might hurt your feet a little because there are pebbles in the water but it's a good beach because the walk there is nice and there are no crowds.

What to see outside of Cagliari?

Hiking in the mountains

There are several places where you can go hiking. I went walking to Burcei, well more precisely the mountain before Burcei called 'Sette Fratelli'. It is the same route as the bus to the beach but you have to get off at an earlier stop. It is a magnificent place but it isn't very accessible (there are buses that go there but the hours change frequently depending on the season so you have to do some research on getting there).

• The bus drops you off on the road in the mountains.
• Once you have got off the bus, you have to turn around and go down the road which is just after the roundabout (follow the signs).
• You will then get to a forest maintenance centre where you can get a map.
• Then you continue going down the road and on your left, there is a forest path that you take.
• Continue on this path until you reach a botanical garden where there is an enclosed area full of animals (deer, birds, wild cats... ). With a little luck you will see one of them but I didn't see anything.
• At this point, you have two options: the long way or the short way.

I did the longer route and I would recommend it! It takes about five to six hours but it is great and there is a beautiful view from the top. We also heard wild boars which are more scared of you than are harmful. The forests are beautiful.

There are other mountains in the area and other walks to do, but I cannot remember the names of the places.

Beaches and nice areas

Pula

Pula is a city to the north-east of Cagliari. It is an hour bus ride away. There are lots of buses that go there from the bus station, even on Sundays. It is easy to access. The ticket was cheap too, three or four euros return. Once we got there, we walked around the city and found out how we could get the bus to Nora, an archaeological site really close to the city.

We missed the bus that we were supposed to get, or rather so, it never came, so we finally got a taxi there. The taxi cost twelve euros on the way there and a bit more on the way back because we were a group of five, and didn't get the minibus.

The town is small and we got round it quite quickly. It's pretty with small souvenir shops, typical pastries and liqueur shops. There is a small church, narrow streets and plenty of cafes.

Nora

As I mentioned previously, the bus timetable to get to Nora was incorrect so we had to take a return taxi (two euros for a five seater so three euros per person). You don't have this problem if you are in a car...

In Nora, there is a beautiful beach that makes you want to stay there, very clean and secluded, and the famous archaeological site. You have to do the guided tour, there is one every one or two hours I think. In Spanish and in English. The tour was great, the site is amazing! There are a lot of ruins, foundations, pillars, Roman baths, etc... a well preserved Roman city waiting to be explored! It really was great, I highly recommend going there! The tour is organised well, it only lasts forty-five minutes giving you enough time to do the tour and look around on your own, and catch the bus back in good time. The scenery is idyllic too. It was really fun and you can take some great photos there.

Chia

Chia is a coastal area located about an hour- an hour and a half from Cagliari. To get there, we took a bus from Cagliari to Pula, then a bus from there to Chia. We stopped where all the tourists stop. There are several beaches, you have to walk to get past the first few which are not as pretty and more crowded. I advise you to keep going until you reach the nicer ones. Where we were, there was a pink lake (because it was a small saline zone) and the sea. It was beautiful, there were bars and rocks that you could climb for great views of numerous coves. It really was a nice area. One afternoon is enough to see the place, especially if you quickly get tired and go to the beach like me.

City features

Nightlife

The truth is that this isn't the best place for nightlife. We struggled to find a bar where you could dance. But I think it is quite normal for Italians or Sardinians. I have heard that the bars in Italy close early, around 2am. That wasn't the problem, we just couldn't find any sort of bar. There are many nightclubs on the beach in Poeto but I didn't go there. In town, people tend to gather outside of the cafés, in the street, talking and discussing. In the end, we danced in the terrace bar where there was a panoramic view and then went on to a bar next door, it was quite low which didn't look that good. In fact, at the back of the bar there were some stairs that led to a cave! A kind of grotto converted into bar. For the music, there were live artists and some dance music at the same time, which gave the place an electro rhythm. It was nice even though the drinks were not that cheap.

Ice-cream

This is not something specific to the city but rather in Italy in general... The ice-cream! I recommend a place in particular: Vittorio Emanuele Street. They make apple-cinnamon flavour, fig, pear-walnut, etc.... It's divine!

The sun and good times are great too... But then again... I'm talking about Italy in general! :D

On that note, I will end! Have a great trip to Sardinia!