Cagliari.Sardinia.Italy.Day1.

Since Dubrovnik last year, I think I've been chasing that feeling of joy from swimming in the Mediterranean. I followed it to Zadar (not so much swimming, due to the weather) and Riomaggiore/Cinque Terre (which I owe pictures from, and some kind of narrative). Here I am again in the Mediterranean, and this time in Sardinia.

My first few days are in Cagliari (where my flight landed) and then I'm off to Oristano to visit friends, then back through Cagliari.  My flight got in late last night and my train leaves for Oristano tomorrow afternoon, so today was the only day it made sense to go to the beach(es) on, and I made quite a tour of it.

I had a surprisingly thorough breakfast today (a real gem of a B&B that I booked at the last minute) and, after more than an hour of planning and hemming and hawing, I paid the 15 euros for a week of data in Italy (to be able to plan bus routes, really), bought a day ticket (3 Euros) for the bus and headed out towards Poetto beach.

Deceptively un-peopled photo. Left of me was a private beach and right a long expanse of sunbathers

Poetto beach is about 6-9km long (the internet does not seem to agree on a length), with fine white sand near some salt flats, and full of anybody from Cagliari who wants a tan and a little bit of walking in water. It's super duper shallow and also very calm (it's a gulf, and reminded me of a lake in terms of how not-rough the water was). It's only really been a place where people have gone swimming/sunning for the last hundred years or so, but there's been some serious erosion with no solution in sight.

People in the water, Devil's Saddle in the background

The Devil's Saddle is in the background of that last picture. Given more temperate weather, I might've hiked up to it.

``[T]here is a legend that tells how the devils, led by Lucifer, were impressed by the beauty of the Gulf of Cagliari and tried to seize it.

Therefore, God sent his troops of angels commanded by the Archangel Michael to oust Lucifer, who, while fighting in the skies above the Gulf, was thrown from his horse and [his saddle] fell on the promontory giving it the current shape. While the stretch of sea [by] the Devil’s Saddle took the name of the Gulf of Angels"

Something I noticed today was, due to my glaringly white skin (outside of my sad sunburned toes), I stood out like a sore thumb. Everyone at the beach was bronze as bronze can be, from kiddoes to grandpas.

I walked around a bit, sat in some shade and read, ate a delicious ciabatta roll with prosciutto crudo and tasty cheese, walked to the end of the pier, and got in the water once.

I was too anxious about the crowds to leave my stuff unattended, so I gave up on the beach and decided to find another -- the one at Sant'Elia.

It's worth noting that I learned about this beach via GoogleMaps, as it does not really show up as a recommended beach online (probably due to being small and a bit out of the way).  The beach (spiaggia) is on the other side of the Devil's Saddle from Poetto, i.e. not in the Gulf, so the water is very choppy and not particularly clear.

The road quickly turned into a half-dirt path, not wide enough for two cars. I hauled out my umbrella to shade me from the sun but also with the hope of being more visible.

View along dirt road, looking back at Sant'Elia/Cagliari

This is clearly a route where parties happen -- one place in particular had a heap of discarded beer bottles. This is the view from that spot: 

View along Viale Santa'Elia, as I walked from the bus stop towards the beach

Once at the beach, I settled in for a few hours. Did a small amount of swimming. Some sitting where the sand was still semi-wet, in hopes of making it easier to wash off. The beach was small and remote enough that I felt I could leave my things semi-unattended, but the water was murky (fine sand + crashing waves) and had a fair amount of detritus brought in by said waves.

The very tiny beach of Santa'Elia

I packed up at about 17/17:30, after several families folded up their umbrellas and left (you can figure out where they had been because there's a big gap in umbrellas in this picture where they were).

Here's a view along the road heading back: 

This next view reminds me of every place I've been thus far along the Mediterranean, especially with the flowering bush, the scrubby vegetation, limestone, water.

After getting back from the beach, I hid in my room in the B&B and tried to plan where to eat.
I ventured out and walked around the historic part near-ish Bastion St. Remy and found this, which could be an oblique reference to Mannekin-Pis (although it's more Mannequin-number-2 than Mannequin-Piss):

Mannequin-Piss?

There was also a very short parade of Hare Krisnas nearby (didn't manage a picture), which made it more surreal. I got myself a dark chocolate Gelato to take the edge of my hungry so I could wander around more.
Here's what I saw:

probably Via Principe Amadeo

Another church

View down a side street of a museum

I settled on a dinner place near the Bastion St. Remy

View of Bastion St. Remy at Sunset

Dinner was at Corso Dodici. Effin delicious. The menu was bilingual,  interesting fish and meat dishes. I ended up with some kind of fish (as big as tuna -- the tuna was out, and the backup fish was described thusly) and had forgotten to order grilled veggies to go along with it. The fish was cooked to perfection, had a crust of poppy seeds or something and a sauce made of peas and mint and lime.

Had dessert instead, which was ``ricotta semifredo" (frozen ricotta) with a quince or something sauce (sweet-sour-ish) and mango pieces. Amazing.

Tomorrow, if the weather's not too hot, I hope to head to the Marine preserve (flamingos! Salt flats!) after hitting up the Mercato San Benedetto for delicious picnic supplies.