I promised you photos once five readers answered my plea. I've received at least five suggested post topics, so here they are. We spent our first eight days in Sardinia, which is about as close to heaven as two rock-climbing, beach-happy, wine-loving, honeymooners can get. The island is considerably less developed (and somewhat less expensive) than mainland Italy, full of tiny towns surrounded by cliffs and mountains that drop precipitously down into the crystal clear Mediterranean waters.
Except for an unfortunate evening at an ill-chosen pizza joint called "Snoopy" (which should have been enough to steer us elsewhere), we dined daily on wonderful seafood, pasta, cheese, and flatbread. The wine was inexpensive and delicious, and we drank copious quantities of it.
We spent five nights in the charming little harbor town of Santa Maria Navarrese, then realized that the best climbing was on the other side of the Silana Pass and the Su Gorroppu Gorge at Cala Gonone. So we decamped and found alternative lodgings there (as it turned out, our new digs were cheaper, nicer, and right by the water).
We ended up having only about 4 days of climbing (United misrouted Steve's backpack with everything but the rope, so we were gearless for our first few days), just enough to give us a taste of all Sardinia has to offer. We weren't sure how much of the climbing would be accessible to us, and so we were ecstatic to find thousands of vertical feet of moderate, well-bolted routes. As hiking has gotten progressively more challenging for me (due to my vision, not my conditioning), I've gotten frustrated by the long and arduous approaches necessary to reach many Colorado climbing spots. In Sardinia? Not so much. There, our longest approach was perhaps a ten minute scramble, and many of the routes were just a few steps away from the beach. It just doesn't get much better than being able to take a cool dip in the sea after a full day of climbing under the hot Sardinian sun. Needless to say, we're already contemplating a first-anniversary return trip.
When we weren't on the rocks, we were on the beach or in the water. Our first full day, we took an excursion boat with several other people to a series of secluded, boat-accessible-only beaches. Later in the trip, we rented a little motorized rubber-dinghy and cruised up and down the coastline between Cala Gonone and Cala Goloritze, stopping several times to drop anchor and dive into the water for a swim. Even with just my swim goggles, we could see spectacular sea life below us. Next time, we're bringing snorkeling gear!
Supposedly, Sardinia also has fascinating archaeological sites, considerable "agrotourism" opportunities, and wonderful old towns and cities to explore. We managed to miss all of this - one more reason to return!
Here are the photos. Next up (perhaps once I get five more post requests): Cinque Terre!
Hi there. I haven't gone away, and was delighted to see some activity start up again in my aggregator. A request -- try fiddling around with the Typepad photo albums. They're very easy, and they wouldn't require curious voyeurs like me to register an account with Kodak that I will forget and be annoyed with and ultimately abandon in order to see your lovely pics....
Glad you're back. Can't wait to read more.
Posted by: Scheherazade | October 12, 2005 at 07:22 AM
gay dick rape
Posted by: piqmmkfukr | March 19, 2007 at 12:21 PM