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For years, Alisa's
family in Italy has been encouraging us to visit this Mediterranean
island, and we have been talking about it for years, so when
the right opportunity came up, we went. Sardinia is well known as
one of the outstanding summer vacation spots of Europe, and its
Emerald Coast
(Costa Smeralda),
built by the Aga Khan in the 1960's is famous as a glitzy magnet for
the world's rich and famous. However, we are not interested in
glitzy coastal resorts. We love Italy, and have visited many times. We are
interested in Italian life and culture, pasta, wine, and we often
visit out of season and out of the way places. |
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That was the basis for
this visit to Sardinia. We went in mid October (end of the season), and visited much
of the island, but not the "Emerald Coast". Click on the map of
the island to the right in order to see a full sized map. The bases we used are circled
in blue (Cagliari, Cabras and Alghero). Nuoro is also
circled in blue, but we only visited there and it wasn't
a base. Circled in red in the upper right corner is the
Emerald Coast, where we did not visit.
There are only 3
decent airports on the island and they are also noted on the map. We
flew into Cagliari, and out of Alghero, a very
convenient arrangement as the driving distance between
them is about 250 KM. We spent 4 nights in Cagliari,
the island's capital and largest city, then drove to Cabras for one night, and then drove through the
mountains, (Nuoro province) and on to Alghero, where we
also spent 4 nights.
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Most of the island
appears to be a neglected region of Italy (an opinion voiced by many
locals), and more backward than we expected. The road system is from
the 60's (1960's, not 1860's) and we were particularly surprised by
the fact that by the end of October, everything shuts down, except
in the larger cities (and there aren't many of those). This
surprised us because the island has great sunny weather almost all
year, but here we were at the end of October, looking for
restaurants for lunch. In short, the tourist season runs only from
May to October, and then everybody lays back and waits for
next year. We even discovered that only a few days after our
departure, most flights to Alghero airport from Europe were ended for the
winter.
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Now that I've gotten
through the negative stuff, I want to say that there was plenty we enjoyed
during our visit to Sardinia. There's lots of beautiful scenery,
delicious food, wonderful restaurants (at least in the big cities),
great wine, and friendly people.
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BASTIONE di
SAINT REMY
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Cagliari, as noted above, is
Sardinia's capital and largest city. It has a large active port and
reminded us a little of Palermo (Sicily) - noisy, gritty, a real working class
town. The city has a population of about 150,000, and has a very
unusual topography. There is a historic part of town called the Marina
which is the area nearest the port, and the real old town, called
the Castello, which is up on a hill and is quite a climb. Actually you can
get there by several ways - walking up about 200 steps via the
Bastione di Saint Remy (the best known monument of Cagliari), using an
elevator about 100 meters from this monument, walking up some very
steep streets, or driving up. |
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Driving up
there is
not recommended as the streets are tiny and harrowing
and it's impossible to find any parking. By climbing the steps
(150?) of the
monument, you arrive at the beautiful "Constitution Plaza"
(picture at the top of this page) with
wonderful views in every direction. Just for the views, this is a
must see in Cagliari. I went up top 3 different times, one by each
mode of transportation. Alisa wanted no part of it, but I showed it
to her via car and that's when I found out how treacherous the streets are up in
the Castello. There are a couple of bars and nightclubs up on top
and they boast great views. To the right is a picture of
the beautiful Cathedral
of Santa Maria which is also located up in the old town. It's a 13th century
cathedral with an underground
crypt which holds 179 niches containing relics of Cagliari's
martyrs. |
OLD TOWN
CATHEDRAL
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THE VIEW
AT THE TOP
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We stayed
in a lovely 4 star hotel called
Regina Margherita,
which is located on a street of the same name and which connects
between the marina area and the Bastione de Saint Remy. That means
that it was located on a pretty steep street. Turn right and go
downhill to the Marina, or turn left and trek uphill in the
direction of Saint Remy. The hotel also has its own underground
secure parking. It's tight, but navigable. The only problem was that
there was no elevator from the parking up to the lobby - just a long
flight of stairs. The hotel was very good and the location (despite
the hill) was excellent. |
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When we got
to our room in the hotel, we found a box with 3 bottles of wine from
the Pala winery, located not far from Cagliari. It was not a gift
from the hotel, but rather from the winery. I had reserved a tour at
the winery on our second day in Cagliari, and at the last moment,
the winery had to cancel due to the burden of the harvest. Pala is
one of the stars in the wine industry in southern Sardinia, and I was
in touch via email with Elizabeta Pala. I responded to the email
cancellation by Elizabeta with understanding and a question about
where to find their wines, and she responded by asking me at what
hotel we would be staying so that she could send me some wine. And,
as she wrote, she sent 3 bottles of Vermentino, the premier white
wine produced in Sardinia. I have dealt with lots of wineries, but
this was the nicest gesture I have ever come across. |
THE PUBLIC
GARDENS
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While in
Cagliari, we made 2 trips outside of Cagliari. On one day we drove
north to Dolianova, a small sleepy town about 25 KM north of
Cagliari in order to visit a winery called
Argiolas.
Actually, Argiolas is in Serdiana, which is the town right next to
Dolianova, but compared to Serdiana, Dolianova is a metropolis. So,
we strolled around Dolianova for a while and then made our way to
Argiolas at the appointed hour. Our guide was Giulia, who spoke
excellent English and was very informative. She also provided us
with a very elegant tasting. Argiolas is now one of the biggest
wineries in Sardinia, and is famous for its premium wine called
Turriga. We bought grappa made from Turriga, which Alisa says is one
of the best she has ever had. |
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THE PULA
BEACH
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The other
trip we made was to Pula, a beach resort about 35 KM south of
Cagliari. Pula is famous for the ancient site of Nora which is
Sardinia’s most impressive Carthaginian and Roman ruins, occupying a
spit of land jutting into the sea. The town also reputedly has an
active night life scene with many bars. We weren't interested in
visiting Nora, but we did visit the beach (shown to the left) and
found it quite deserted despite it being a hot sunny day with
temperatures above 25 ͦ C. We found a nice bar/restaurant for lunch
in the center of town called
"S'incontru".
We were pleasantly surprised as the place had a great menu and the
food was very good and super fresh. We had a green salad, antipasti,
and a seafood salad. It was one of the best lunches we had outside
of Cagliari or Alghero. To the right is a picture of this bar in the
town center. |
S'INCONTRU IN
PULA CENTER
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We ate at
several restaurants in Cagliari worth describing. There were also a
couple not worth describing, and I won't mention them. The first was
the Antica Cagliari.
It is located in the Marina area of the city, and there must be at
least 50 or a 100 restaurants there. Most look pretty
similar, and it was difficult to choose one for our first meal in
Sardinia. It was recommended to us by lady who ran a gift shop not
far away. I mention this because the shop had a wonderful selection
of local products. The name of it was
Delizie Sardegna, and after checking out the web site, I see
that they sell online and ship outside of Italy. |
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AT ANTICA
CAGLIARI
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In any
case, Antica Cagliari looked like most of the restaurants in the
Marina area, but we were pleasantly surprised. Here we had several
firsts for our visit to Sardinia - our first Sardinian wine (Vermentino),
our first bottarga dish (dried fish roe, a specialty on Sardinia
- more about this later), our first taste of the amazingly fresh
fish of the island, our first Sardinian flat bread (carasau) and our
first Sardinian grappa. They had 11 different grappas on the menu
and we tried 2 which were excellent. We had no idea that they were
so into grappa on Sardinia! To the left is Alisa enjoying the
carasau, and to the right is one of the most interesting dishes of
the entire trip. It's a salad of bottarga mixed with thin strips of
celery. It was excellent and we are making it at home now with the
bottarga we bought in Sardinia. Below are the other restaurants we
ate at in Cagliari.. |
BOTTARGA &
CELERY SALAD
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INU Sardinian Wine Bar:
On Tripadvisor, I saw INU called the best wine bar in Cagliari.
Maybe it is, I don't know. I saw quite a few but only checked out INU.
We had a light meal here. It was nice, very informal, with a very
nice selection of cheeses and meats. On the other hand, I was
disappointed by the wine selection - not too many and not much
choice - not what I expected from the best wine bar in Cagliari. |
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Hostaria Sa Osa: Sa Osa doesn't have a home page - just a
facebook page. We ate here primarily because of the rave reviews on
Tripadvisor. It was nice, but much less than we expected. Let's just
say that "Sa Osa" was just "aaah, so so". We had lunch here. The
food was fine but the service was a bit amateurish and they served
us white wine which wasn't as cold as it should have been. That
didn't bother me, but they didn't even have any ice to put it into. The
waiter was nice and kept it in their refrigerator (the cold one) and
served us when he remembered to. The meal was good, but not
memorable. Antica Cagliari, which is located in the same area was
far better. To the right is a great picture of the carasau, the
wafer like local bread we had at Sa Osa. |
CARASAU
AT SA OSA
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Regarding
the carasau, it is sometimes called Sardinian music paper bread, and
is served in almost all restaurants in Sardinia, generally along
with regular bread. It is crisp and
thin and very tasty. You can buy it online from
this site, or read about its history on
this site or find a recipe for it on
this site if you feel like making some. We were told that if
kept dry, it will last in its crispy pristine state for up to a
year. We bought a package and we are going to serve it in the coming
days. |
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SAINT REMY
RESTAURANT
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Saint Remy: This restaurant
is
located about 100 meters uphill from our hotel, not far from the Bastione di Saint Remy (hence the name). It serves "upscale" Italian
food and was one of the best restaurants we ate in on this trip.
Everything here was excellent, and the carasau was one of the best we had
anywhere. Marino, the host (and probably the owner), was very
entertaining and helped us order exactly the dishes that
perfectly suited our tastes. What I liked about this place was that
the front door was kept locked and visitors had to ring a bell to
get in. This prevented the ubiquitous rose sellers from wandering
around the restaurant making everybody feel uncomfortable for not
buying a rose. To the left is an inside view of this lovely
restaurant, and to the right is my wonderful dish of sea bass,
cherry tomatoes, potatoes and a red sauce. |
SEA BASS
AT ST REMY
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SEAFOOD
CARPACCIO
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Luigi Pomata: This
restaurant was also about 100 meters from the hotel, but in the
other direction, that is, downhill. It's more informal than Saint
Remy, but the food was just as good. The chef and owner Luigi Pomata
himself, served us and everywhere we looked he was taking orders,
serving food, or just chatting with the guests. His specialty is
aged tuna. My main dish was tuna belly tenderloin served with
aromatic rice. The tuna was perfect and melted in my mouth. Picture
to the right. For our appetizer, we had what he called "carpaccio".
It was 12 pieces of different fish and shrimp served Carpaccio
style. It was also delicious and is pictured to the left. Luigi also
sold his aged tuna in cans of about 250 grams. We bought one (and
for only 30 Euros)! We ate it at home and it was very very good. The
same tuna was also on the menu, and is served after being heated in the can!
(At least that's what I understood from Luigi.) |
TUNA AT
LUIGI POMATO
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We visited
Poetta beach which is the number 1 beach in Cagliari. We weren't
overly impressed. It's located about 5 KM from the center of town,
it's kind of scruffy, and we didn't see much in the way of
places to get something to drink or eat. There were no lifeguards in
sight, although this is due to the fact that the season is over in
October, but we didn't see any lifeguard stations either. We also visited a
lovely park connected to the municipal art museum. The only name I
found for this park was the "Public gardens and Art Museum". In any
case, it was a beautiful day and and a beautiful park, and lots of people were there
for a day out with the family. Picture to the right. |
CAGLIARI
GARDENS
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On Sunday,
we visited the St. Elia market. It was in the seediest part of town
and the whole thing looked very unappetizing. So, we drove back into
town and found, quite by accident, an artist's fair in Piazza del
Carmine. There were about 20 or so artists displaying their work.
We chatted with several and bought a small piece from an artist
called Vincenzo Manca. We fell in love with his colorful paintings.
He told us how tough it was for an artist to make a living in
Sardinia. His work is very vivid and full of color and motion, and you can see some of it
on his facebook page
here. |
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The day we left Cagliari was a
busy day. We drove about 1.5 hours to the tiny town of Cabras, where
we visited Tharros, probably the best known Roman ruin in Sardinia,
and after lunch, the Contini Winery. Cabras was the most convenient
spot for these activities, as it is the closest town to Tharros, and
the Contini winery is located right in town. The nearest "big" city to Cabras is Oristano with a population of about 35,000, but we had
"important" things to do and see in Cabras, so that's where we stayed
overnight. |
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ITALY'S BEST
FOODS
ALL
ABOUT BOTTARGA
CHEF
SHOP ONLINE |
Cabras is
well known for several things - it is the closest town to Tharros,
it has the biggest mullet growing station in Sardinia, it has
several wineries in or near the town, and it is THE capital for
producing bottarga in all the world. What's bottarga?
It is the salted, pressed and
dried roe of gray mullet (muggine in Italian). It is a delicacy and
has been cherished for thousands of years. The Romans and even the
Phoenicians loved it. It is very popular in Italy, and the number
one producer is - (you guessed it) - Sardinia, and the center for
Sardinian production is - (again, I bet you guessed it) - Cabras.
Good bottarga is very expensive, and there is a vast difference in
quality between the good stuff and the best stuff. It is mainly used
as a condiment to go with all kinds of dishes and we love it. We
bought directly from a producer where it cost about 100 Euros per
kilo. On line it sells for up to 200 Euros per kilo! It's also
ground and sold as a coarse powder. To the left are some bottarga
links and to the right is what bottarga looks like. |
BOTTARGA
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Cabras is
not much of a town. Various sources say that the population is 9000
which I find hard to believe. It is really a drab place (see me to
the left), although its proximity to Tharros and the beaches of the
Sinis Peninsula apparently make it an attractive place to sleep.
There are several B&B's (the closest hotel is in Oristano), all with
very good reviews on the internet, and a few very simple
restaurants. We had lunch at one of these simple
restaurants and were pleasantly surprised. |
RESTAURANT
IN CABRAS
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CABRAS
STREET
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It's called
"de Attilio
in Paese", and it was a 2 minute walk from our B&B. For lunch
there, I had the best mullet I have ever had anywhere.
I mentioned above that Cabras has the biggest mullet station in
Italy, so the fish is absolutely fresh and they know how to cook it.
Alisa had home made pasta with bottarga and that was good too. To
the upper right is a picture of the artwork on the walls of this
restaurant, and to the lower right is a picture of this restaurant
from the outside. The fat gentleman beckoning us to come and eat
there is one of the owners. |
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SA COTTILLA
GARDEN
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For dinner, we
ate in our B&B, "Sa Cottilla".
This is one of several B&B's in Cabras. The outside looks like the
picture to the above left, but the inside is a quiet and cozy oasis
of tranquility, as can be seen in the picture directly to the left.
The hosts are
Antonio & Elena, and they really do a good job of making their
guests feel at home. They were very helpful and we enjoyed the stay.
The room is basic, but the garden was lovely. Back to dinner - we
bought some veggies, cheese and ham and had one of the great bottles
of Vermentino we were given by Elizabeta Pala, and dined in the
garden. Breakfast at the B&B was mostly sweets and cakes, which is
common in Italian B&B's, but we brought our leftovers from dinner
and had a breakfast exactly to our liking. |
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A
TOUR OF THE SINIS PENINSULA
ABOUT THARROS
TOURIST GUIDE TO THARROS |
Tharros is a perfect example of what disappointed us about
Sardinia. It is a world class Roman ruin located in an absolutely
beautiful setting - at the tip of the Sinis Peninsula, about 15
KM from Cabras. We visited on October 20 which was a beautiful sunny
day with temperatures in the high 20's (C). There weren't many
tourists, but we were far from alone. There are 2 parts to the site
which are 1-2 kilometers apart. Elena at the B&B had told us that
there is an internal "shuttle" which would take us from one part of
the site to the other. We discovered that the shuttle had been shut
down the day before we visited. |
THARROS
BEACH
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THARROS
VIEW
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At the entrance was a ticket booth, a modest snack bar/restaurant,
and a gift store. We bought tickets at the ticket booth, but the
snack bar was closed. Actually it was open, just not operating. We
tried, but couldn't even buy a bottle of water. It was a hot day,
and Alisa bought a photo book about Sardinia in the gift shop
(open), and then sat in the shade. I climbed up the steep path to
the "tower", where I took the pictures to the left and right. To the
right is a shot of the entry "complex" where we couldn't buy a
bottle of water. To summarize, this is a world class archeological
and historical site, which is almost completely shut down in the
middle of October. |
THARROS
FACILITIES
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CONTINI
WINERY
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After our
frustrating visit to Tharros, we returned to Cabras for lunch and
after an afternoon nap, we visited
Contini winery.
It was another pleasant visit where we were treated with the utmost
respect and where we tasted as many wines as we wanted to. This is
the winery that makes a very interesting and unique blend of
Vernaccia and Vermentino called
Karmis,
which we drank in a restaurant somewhere and also took a bottle
home. The winery which is a medium sized Sardinian winery, was
founded in 1898 by family patriarch Salvatore Contini and has remained in Contini
family hands to the present. To the left and rights are shots of the
tasting room. |
CONTINI
WINERY
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ALL ABOUT CANNONAU AND NEPENTE |
We left
Cabras after breakfast and headed into the mountains, the region
known as "old Sardinia". We drove into
Nuoro province and specifically to the wine region surrounding the
town of Oliena. There are several towns in this area and many
wineries. Towns to visit in this area include
Orgosolo, Atzara, & Mamoiada. On the other hand, these are very small
towns with not much to visit besides the wineries and the views. We
had an appointment with Cantina
Gostolai just outside of Oliena. The winery is situated in the
industrial area of Oliena, and is clearly a family winery without
pretensions. We were greeted by Angelo, the
son of the founder. We had a very informative chat with him and
tasted some of the great wines they make. Here we discovered that in this area, the cannonau is called "nepente", although it's the same grape. |
GOSTOLAI
WINERY
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LUNCH IN
NUORO
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We checked
out Oliena, and decided that our best bet for lunch would be
Nuoro, the biggest
town in the area. Nuoro has a population of around 37,000 and we
thought we would be able to find a normal restaurant for lunch.
Wrong again! We parked right in the center of town, started walking
and asking for restaurants. All we found were bars and "cafeterias".
A cafeteria in this area is a simple snack bar or cafe which serves
a few items to eat. To the left is what we had for lunch. It was
called pizza, but it was pretty sad. It was mostly bread with a bit
of cheese and tomato sauce. Very disappointing. |
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After
lunch, we continued our journey to Alghero. It was a long drive of
over 2 hours as we were driving "against the grain" of the mountains
and roads. The roads were mostly narrow and windy, and we made it to Alghero, tired and hungry! |
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Alghero is a
lovely town with a population of around 45,000. It seems like it's
bigger than that, and it is a popular tourist destination. It has a
pronounced Spanish flavor as the Catalans (Spain) ruled here for
quite a while. It has a lovely waterfront with a long promenade and
an impressive marina. |
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In Alghero, we stayed at the
DomoMea Hotel. This 4
star hotel is located about a 10-15 minute walk from the marina area
and has limited secured parking available in a parking lot just a
few steps away. The hotel was just fine, and on arrival, we got an
upgrade. We were put into a superior room which was nice and large
and on the top floor with direct access to the rooftop pool (which
we didn't use). Breakfast was fine and the staff was always helpful
and available. |
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On our
first full day in Alghero, we drove into the hills of Sassari
(Sassari province's largest town) to visit the
Cherchi winery. To
say that Cherchi is in the boondocks would be an understatement. At
one point, we were 10 feet from the winery gate and still couldn't
find it. In the end we did find it and had a delightful visit. To the
right is a picture of the tasting room and store which was only
recently opened. That was part of the reason why it was hard to
find. We were hosted by a family member and enjoyed the visit. |
CHERCHI
WINERY
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On our
second
day in Alghero, we drove south along the beautiful shore road in the direction of Bosa. The road is very windy, and there are no stops along the way.
There were a few (very few) places to pullover and park, but nowhere
to stop and have a cup of coffee or take a bathroom break (we used
the roadside). This
is at least a 2 hour drive (all the way to Bosa) and in the middle, we decided
to turn around and return to Alghero. It was a beautiful drive, but
tiring with nowhere to stop for some rest and refreshment. Here's a nice picture to the
right. |
ON THE ROAD
TO BOSA
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Upon
returning to Alghero, we went and ate lunch at what turned out to be
one of our favorite places for lunch - the Boqueria restaurant in the city
market. We ate lunch there twice. This restaurant was great with
only the freshest fish and seafood straight from the market vendors.
They cooked on an open coal fired grill and everything was
delicious. They even had a great selection of wine. We had (2
different lunches) fresh oysters, grilled mullet, grilled shrimp,
and fried calamari. At lunchtime, when most stores close (around 1-2
PM), the place was mobbed and there was a waiting line to sit down.
That's when the service got reeeeal slow. You can see the the
kitchen, grill and display case in the picture to the right. For
more pictures, see their
facebook page. |
ALGHERO
MARKET
RESTAURANT
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CASTELSARDO
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We
developed a routine during our days in Alghero - after breakfast,
take a drive to visit some lovely place, but hurry back to Alghero
in time for lunch, as there were so few possibilities outside of the
city. The day we visited Castelsardo is a good example.
Castelsardo is
located about 70 KM northeast of Alghero and the ride takes more
than an hour. Castelsardo is beautiful and very striking, located
around the base of a small mountain on the coast north of Sassari.
See the picture to the left. |
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The entire
area around Castelsardo invites superlatives, the sea, the
mountains, the marina, but here we were in the middle of October in
this beautiful place and couldn't find a place for lunch. (Because
of the long drive, we couldn't get back to Alghero for lunch in time on that
day.) So, we
just headed west along the beach road (in the general
direction of Alghero) and in the little tiny
town of Lu Bagnu we came across a bar where we could have lunch. The
bar was called "Papillon" and it looked like it might be a lively
place at night. As for lunch, this time we got lucky, as the pasta
was fresh and the meal was simple but tasty. |
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SENNORI
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On the way
to Castelsardo, we drove the route the GPS recommended, that is, the
shortest route and it took us by Sassari, and through the mountains.
On the way we passed a very picturesque town called
Sennori. This
town seemed to be an interesting place, it had great views of the
sea, and it was full of roadside statuary. We stopped long enough
for a few pictures. To the left is a nice example of the statues and
the view. |
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For our
only other venture outside of Alghero, we drove to
Capo Caccia, a narrow strip of land across the bay from Alghero.
This turned out to be the most beautiful area we visited and the
drive was a tranquil pleasure. To the right is a picture of Alisa
stretching her legs next to our car on this isolated peninsula.
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CAPO CACCIA
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FERTILIA
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On the way
back from Capo Caccia, we visited several places. One was Fertilia,
a tiny town just outside of Alghero and whose name the local Alghero
airport uses. There's not much to this town, but it does have a few
beaches, the airport, and a beautiful seacoast. Picture to the left.
We also visited the
Sella & Mosca winery. Didn't taste any wine here, we just
admired the incredible grounds. Sella & Mosca is the biggest winery
in Sardinia, and its grounds are very impressive. To the right is a
picture of the store. |
SELLA & MOSCA
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INSIDE SARDINIA ON NURAGHI
SARDINIA AND ITS NURAGHI
PHILLIP COPPENS
ON NURAGHI |
The other
place which we (almost) visited was the Nuraghe Palmavera, located
on the road between Alghero and the Capo Caccia peninsula. There are
about 7000 examples of Nuraghi
on Sardinia. They are stone structures, thought to be defensive
towers in the shape of truncated cones with interior rooms and which
were apparently built by a tribal civilization which lived in
the area 5000 years ago. The best known and most impressive of these
ruins is located near the village of
Barumini, which is about 60 KM from Cagliari. We didn't visit Barumini. On the other hand,
we did (kind of) visit the Palmavera Nuraghe which is very
accessible as it is right on the roadside a few kilometers from
Alghero. We stopped at the gate and checked it out from the road
through the tired and ratty wire fence. The site looked pretty
shabby, and it was close to its lunchtime closing, so we got a look
and then continued on
our way. |
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As for
restaurants, we didn't eat only at the market. Below are a few notable
restaurants we ate at in Alghero. |
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AT PACO
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Paco: We had our first
dinner in Alghero here at Paco's, which is located on the edge of
the historic center in Largo San Francesco. We had a 4 course
seafood dinner here. The first course was a 3-tiered tower of 7
different appetizers (shown to the left). It was very original and
very tasty. Guy, the host, was very congenial and friendly and spoke
excellent English. This was followed by black (fresh) pasta with
swordfish, then bream with potatoes in a caper sauce, and panna
cotta for dessert. They made a salad for Alisa who can't eat panna
cotta. We had a Cherchi Vermentino to wash it all down. All in all,
it was a very nice meal. |
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Osteria Barcellonetta: We had dinner here, after it was
recommended by the hotel staff several times. It is a small family
restaurant located in the heart of the historic center, with good
simple and authentic dishes. We had fish in a spicy tomato
sauce, apparently a standard here.
It's called "la cassola" and each restaurant that served it had its
version. Alisa had had salad and orrechietti (Puglian style pasta
in the shape of ears) with clams, olives and broccoli (picture to
the right).
I had fettuccini with seafood. Everything was very nice and simple.
The most interesting thing about the restaurant was the fact that
the kitchen was located on the other side of the narrow street from
the restaurant. |
ORRECHIETTI
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Teatro:
(no web page) This restaurant is located in the heart of the
historic center near the Piazza del Teatro, ands right next to the Romani
restaurant which I describe below. This is one of the few
restaurants we found in Alghero which served meat, as well as fish.
The fish display in the window was very impressive and the
restaurant staff encouraged us to eat there, together with a 10%
discount coupon. (This is permanently on their business card, so I
would assume that the 10% discount is is already priced into the
menu.) The menu (both meat and fish) looked interesting, so we decided to
try it. The atmosphere is supposed to be "upscale" but it came off
as pretentious (the owner replaced our water bottle because the
label was ripped). The service was just OK, as we could feel that the
waiter was trying to get us to order what he wanted us to order. The
food prices were high, and the wine prices were much higher than in
other comparable restaurants. The food was good, but not great. I
had red snapper, which was delicious but a touch overcooked. Alisa
had a shrimp dish, but the accompanying potatoes came out late and
weren't hot. In short, unless you really want to eat meat, go
elsewhere. In fact, go to Romani, the restaurant right next door,
which became our favorite restaurant in Sardinia. I do have to say
that the restaurant is beautiful, but the best thing that happened
here was that Alisa discovered "Grappa di Amarone", which has become
her favorite grappa. Sample to the right. |
GRAPPA di
AMERONI
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ANTI PASTI
AT ROMANI
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Trattoria la Romani:
As I mentioned above, this
restaurant became
our favorite and we ate here twice, once for dinner, and
once for our "farewell to Sardinia" lunch. Romani was on my short list
of restaurants to check out, which we did on our first stroll around
the historic center. As soon as I saw the menu, I made a
reservation. They had "porcetto"
on the menu, and they made it fresh every morning and served it at
around 830 in the evening. What is porcetto? (There are a variety of
various spelling possibilities.) It is roast suckling pig and it is
one of the iconic trademark dishes of Sardinia. I knew about it and
wanted to try it, but couldn't find it anywhere. Finally, here it
was and on the menu of a restaurant we wanted to eat at. |
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AT ROMANI
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Romani is a
family restaurant (like most in Sardinia), but this one was special.
The atmosphere was warm, cheery, friendly, and it was packed every
evening we came by. Fortunately, we had made a reservation, and I
had my porcetto, which was superb. Everything was excellent -
the porcetto, the fresh pasta with bottarga and swordfish, and the
best carasau we had anywhere. The people were lovely, and we decided to eat there
again, which we did, on our final day in Sardinia. At lunch on that
last day we had eel, tagliatelli with mushrooms, and a fish called "capone"
(scorpion fish). The people who served us were Gigi (the boss),
Vittoria (his sister-in-law), and Sarah (not sure of the family
connection). Everybody was great and we loved this restaurant. |
MY PORCETTO
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As for the
carasau, we asked for and got the name of the supplier (La Cambusa) and went there the
next day and bought a box of
carasau (and a few other things). This store (just off Piazza Civica
in the historic center) has a wonderful selection of high quality
Sardinian food specialties. |
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Alghero was
a pleasant city to stroll in. The historic area is full of stores
and restaurants and the marina area is very photogenic. On our last
day there, the weather was absolutely perfect and that's what we did
- strolled around with lunch at Romani. We had an evening flight so
we had most of the day to wander. The architecture is decidedly
Spanish influenced, and the city is dotted with so called "Spanish
Towers". Below are the best pictures from this day. |
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ABOVE: A
SELECTION OF SHOTS OF THE ALGHERO MARINA & WATERFRONT |
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BELOW: A
BEAUTIFUL SERVING OF FRUIT SALAD AND CAPPUCCINO WE HAD ON OUR WALK
IN ALGHERO |
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