Local Life in Sardinia

"The problem with the world is, it's not Italy" - Phil Rosenstein

Sardinia is a large island just south of Corsica. It's famous for its beautiful beaches, gorgeous countryside, independent people and its festivals. We came here for the later, but saw all four. 

After just an hour's ferry ride from Bonifacio, we got on the road and headed south along the coast. The weather was clear, but very cold and windy, so we didn't spend too much time on the beach. But about halfway to Sassari, our eventual destination, we spent a couple of hours in Castelsardo, a beautiful hill town right in the coast. At the top of the hill is a big fort, or castle. Thus the name, Castelsardo (castle of Sardinia). We walked around, up and down, for awhile and then had a mediocre lunch. So not all food in Italy is awesome, sometimes you don't have a good meal. 

The ferry to Sardinia 

We arrived in Sassari in the late afternoon and already many food, craft, clothing and other vendors were set up downtown. After checking into the hotel, we walked the few blocks to downtown. In one of the squares was a man selling local charcuterie. A big plate, plenty for two, with cold cuts, cheese and bread and then two glasses of wine...all for €7!!

In the next square there was a big stage set up where there was a show local folk dance groups and also the men's chorus singing, a beautiful tradition here and in Corsica. We watched and listened for a couple of hours...the audience was even getting into it, dancing in big groups to the music. 

The next day was the big parade, which consisted of many folk groups from all over Sardinia. Most had dancers and since we were standing right across from where the local dignitaries were sitting, the groups danced right in front of us. There were also many horses and their riders, the horses dressed up in collars made of lots of bells. 

After a couple of hours we decided to take a break and have lunch. We should have stayed at the parade as we had the worst meal of our trip....horse meat (you have to try everything at least once), which was dry and tough as shoe leather and roast beef with mushroom, which wasn't much less tough. The saving grace was the nice local white wine we had. 

We returned to the parade and it was still going on...it lasted a total of five hours!!  It was then time for more singing and dancing in the square until we could take no more and went back to the hotel. Even too much of a good thing is too much!