North West Sardinia 41.07N 09.33E

Rubicon
Sat 12 Sep 2015 17:21
We are now feeling human again after our trip from Sicily to Sardinia. We stopped at an anchorage near Marina di Portisco and stayed there for two days. This area is part of the Costa Smeralda, a region that has had strict controls on development since a group of billionaires, including Prince Karim Aga Khan in the 1960's, worked to develop the area with strict controls and the main towns and villages are built to a detailed urban plan. On looking it up in Wikipedia (the bane of my existence when used by medical students, but perfectly acceptable for this purpose:)) this is the most expensive location in Europe, but you wouldn't know it to look at it, as everything blends in with the environment, and has a similar colour and architecture. I guess you wouldn't know it was so exclusive, if the parade of 200 million dollar super yachts didn't give it away. This is the only place I have ever seen with entire bays full of super yacht moorings.

I took the kids to Portico beach and we had lunch in the beach bar. This is where I was reminded that Italy and Sardinia are not the same thing. I asked for a beer and the lady at the bar said a few names that I didn't recognize, and Corona. I didn't come all this way to drink Mexican beer, so I asked for whatever was Italian. I was quickly informed that Ichnusa was a Sardinian beer, so I took that one. The point os, and I know that sometimes I belabour a point to its death, but the locals do not consider themselves Italian from what I can gather.They are Sardinia. Italy is not one country. I head the same thing from a man in Brindisi. The North and South of Italy are two different places. Sicily is its own world. So is Sardinia. It amazes me that Italy can even hold itself together.

We ended up offloading the garbage that had accumulated in the bins at Marina Portico, which was about at 25% capacity. We got provisions at the supermarket there, including local Sardinian wine and bread ( yummy!) plus ice cream, as our previous stash had to be thrown out due to a freezer issue....