Day 4: PORTO POZZO - PALAU - FERRY - LA MADALENA - CAPRERA - LA MADALENA - PALAU (ROCCA DEL 'ORSO) - ARZACHENA
Sunday, April 24, 2011
The alarm has sounded at 7 in the morning and the first thing we do is look through the window of our room at the Hotel Porto Pozzo and we see that light filters through the curtains. Will that be sunshine? Yes, it is the sun. Well, it is not that it is a spectacular day, but it is sunny and the sky is clear and that encourages us more than anything else, since in a while we have to take a Palau to La Madalena ferry.
There's nothing more to speak of. You have to get ready in a hurry and take advantage of the day in Sardinia!!
We load the rental car in Sardinia and go to breakfast.
Today will be a spectacle if time goes on like this.
At checkout they explain that they opened the hotel yesterday (now we understand certain things that had made us deduct enough points to this hotel) and we said goodbye with a smile ... for having thought how bad the service could not correspond to a hotel of these features.
We do not go directly to the port of Palau, with the intention of taking the ferry from Palau to La Madalena that takes us directly to the island of La Madalena.
We arrive at 9 minus 5 minutes and see that the the ferry from Palau to La Madalena 9 o'clock is about to leave, so we take a run and after paying 32 euros for the round trip, we are inside the huge ferry, sitting on the deck.
A good option, if you are staying in Alghero, to get to know the islands of La Maddalena in another way is to book this cruise with which you can bathe in its most beautiful coves.
Ferry from Palau to La Madalena
It takes about 20 minutes to travel and when we arrive we see that the sun begins to heat more strongly.
It seems incredible how this simple change of time has encouraged us!
From afar, still in the the ferry from Palau to La MadalenaWhen we see the town in the distance, we are disappointed, we did not expect something like that ... too many buildings.
But we do not want to advance unfair ideas, first we will have to visit it.
We comment that it is best to do the island of La Madalena and then doing Caprera, but as always, what we say to what we end up doing does not resemble anything.
We find the sign that says "Caprera" and we follow it until we find the bridge that joins the two islands above the sea.
First views after disembarking from the ferry from Palau to La Madalena
And we found this island of Sardinia full of vegetation, as stated in the guide: a true paradise.
After a couple of kilometers we find that the road forks to the right and left. We choose the one on the left and see that it goes into this island of Sardinia with several stops for hiking.
In the end we came across the house / tomb of Garibaldi.
We park and take a walk around the enclosure, then back down our steps and go directly to the road on the right, which is the one that leads to the coves.
We go through different coves for more than an hour, to each one more beautiful.
We park on the road and follow the path that leads to the cove. They are seen from the road.
We do not cross many people and this makes the environment much more relaxed.
About 11 o'clock in the morning we decided that it is time to set course for La Madalena.
We cross the bridge again and choose the road that surrounds the island of La Madalena completely.
We surrounded the town that we observed quite deteriorated, especially in the high part, something that attracts a lot of attention, for being where it is.
We arrive at the beach area in less than 15 minutes and this is where we start stopping with the car every 5 minutes, so we decided to leave the car and start walking, following the coves that we find.
They are true backwaters of peace.
La Madalena
As time goes by, we meet more people ...
The color of the water is impressive, we can only compare it with the one we saw on some beaches in Thailand.
La Madalena
La Madalena
All we see is a lot of dirt. The coves are full of bottles, plastics ...
We do not understand how this is not cleaned. It is a real shame that this happens anywhere, but much more in a place like this.
When we realize it is after 1:30 and we decide it is time to eat.
We had prepared some sandwiches, to eat on the beach, but despite the sun, it is quite airy and we feel like eating something “more consistent”, so we set off to the town of La Madalena.
We arrive at 2 in the afternoon, so we already assume that we will have to take the ferry at 3.30pm.
We stopped to eat in a pizzeria where we tried the famous gnocchi with swordfish, from which we have brought a package for home, pasta, not fish!
And almost without realizing it, after eating and eating a gelatto in a port bank, we embark on the ferry that takes us back to Palau.
Palau
From here we go in search of La Rocca dell 'Orso.
La Rocca dell 'Orso
One of the most famous rock formations.
We are going up the slope indicated by the cartels and from a distance it seems that we see it, but at no time do we see that it looks like a bear ...
When we arrive, we see the “tinglado” that they have mounted around the bear-shaped rock.
La Rocca dell 'Orso
The parking costs 2 euros and the "delivery" another 2 euros per person. So seeing that you have to go up to reach the rock area, I decide to stay in the parking lot and wait for Roger to go up and down.
It takes half an hour, that I take the opportunity to write something about this newspaper and when it comes down it tells me that it is the rock that we have seen from the road, but that it lacks its head !!! It has fallen and they have it at the feet of the bear ...
We see that we still have mid-afternoon to take advantage, so we set off to Arzachena, which is where we have the hotel tonight and where the best sites are.
We have these visits as something optional, but in views that we have enough time, we decided to do them. Besides I am a fan of these issues and the truth is that I did not plan to miss them. I planned to make time even if it was with "shoehorn."
More practical information to prepare your trip to Sardinia
- 10 essential places to see in Sardinia
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Sardinia
It takes about half an hour to arrive and we go straight to the Tomb of the Giants, there we take a combined entrance to the Tomb and the Nurague of Albiaccia, which is at the exit of Arzachena.
The Tomb is located in a privileged place, surrounded by olive trees and with stunning views of the Sarda countryside.
The Tomb of the Giants
There we are a good time, waiting for people to leave and be able to stay alone.
I don't know why, but whenever I'm in a place like this, I feel a special kind of feeling.
Of those that make you feel that you are in a place where things have happened that cannot be explained and that convey special sensations.
After this we set out to the Nurague. We arrived there after 6 pm and we found something we did not expect.
A spectacular construction, different from the ones we had seen in the photos and different from the one we had seen from the road.
Nurague
We walk the enclosure for a long time, almost alone, which makes the place feel much more special.
When we return to these lands, to make the south of the island of Sardinia, I am sure that we will dedicate one of the days to visit more Nuragues.
I have been impressed.
It's 7 in the afternoon and we go in search of the Vacanze Isuledda Center that we have booked in Canniggione.
We take time to locate it and when we do it we see that it is a “resort”.
So we can imagine what we will find during the next few hours.
People, more people and more people and a null service ...
And so it has been. I will not comment on this subject anymore, because it is not worth it to ruin the hours we have left on vacation ...
But it should be noted that the service of this type of sites is null and the personnel specialized in “sheep that follow the flock”.
We had dinner and watched TV for a while ... today we are busted!
We fall asleep waiting for tomorrow, The Emerald Coast of Sardinia!!
Day 5CANNIGGIONE - THE COSM ESMERALDA: LOW SARDINIA, PORTO CERVO, PLAYA CAPRICCIOLI, PORTO ROTONDO - OLBIA - CAPO CACCIA- ALGUER AIRPORT
