Night among pigs

In the B&B guesthouse, a five-member Italian family had spent the night with us. Yesterday we didn't notice them, but today, on Sunday morning, from 7 a.m., they made a lot of noise on the neighboring balcony. Later, at breakfast, they sat at the neighboring table. For Steffi and me, it was absolutely incomprehensible how their communication worked, because everyone talked at the same time, without pausing and without taking a breath, and all at once. In addition, at the request of the family, an Italian cartoon series was playing in the background on the TV. Crazy! We actually found it funny, but we were also relieved when we still had the breakfast room a little to ourselves towards the end and could finish our coffee in peace.

After the farewell photo with the extremely nice hostess, we set off again into the mountains of Sardinia. When we were standing at a viewpoint again and enjoying the beautiful landscape, a pickup truck with two locals arrived. It was clear that they were here to work. After a short greeting, our praise for the beauty of the mountains, and discussing the fact that Germany really only won by luck yesterday, we quickly ran out of things to talk about because the two only spoke Italian. I was about to say goodbye, but then Steffi had the idea to try out the translation app we had learned to use yesterday. The two were completely thrilled! They had never seen anything like it! We learned, among other things, that they are cow breeders, have about 80 cows here in the mountains, and that the soil here is not particularly fertile. Of course, we also told them about ourselves, and so we had a lively conversation. It's great that something like this is possible nowadays! The two also wanted to know how much a translator device would cost. I explained to them that it is a free app for the mobile phone. Hopefully, both of them then rummaged in their ancient clamshell phones in their trouser pocket. Well, with these models from the digital Stone Age - I hope I was able to break it to them gently - it probably won't work.

From the center of the island, we were then going back to the northwest coast because the ferry crossing from Santa Teresa at the northern tip of Sardinia to Corsica was planned for the next day. Unfortunately, a pitch-black thunderstorm wall got in our way. However, it was good that we had this unpleasant encounter in the lowlands, as you can find shelter more easily there. In our case, it was a self-service gas station with a small awning that at least provided us with rudimentary protection. After about an hour, the bad weather moved on, and we were able to follow suit - in the opposite direction.

While we cruised along the beautiful coastal road from Bosa to Alghero, the sun was shining again. Hoping for a good espresso, we followed a small signpost and ended up in a luxury restaurant as seen in the Rafaelo advertisement. Everything was top-notch and very luxurious! As we found out, weddings are often celebrated there. Great location with a view of the sea!

As it was already late afternoon, I once again used my app to look for an affordable and good accommodation. The method of searching for hotels has proven to be much more suitable on the last trips than the old method of driving to one accommodation after another until you find something suitable. That takes time and nerves! With the app (we use booking.com, but there are also other platforms), it's much more convenient and usually faster. And: You can even make real bargains when good hotels put their remaining rooms on the net at last-minute special prices. That almost always works. Today, it seemed like we hit the jackpot! An apartment in a luxury resort with a lagoon pool for 63 euros instead of 90 euros per night. We immediately seized the opportunity! In my euphoria, however, I overlooked the fact that we still have 1.5 to 2 hours to drive there. But it doesn't matter, let's close our eyes and go for it!

Unfortunately, on the way to our hoped-for luxury accommodation, several thunderstorms got in our way again. This time, we were largely spared. It only rained heavily shortly before the hotel, so it wasn't even worth putting on our rain gear anymore.

The hotel was designated as 'Costa Paradiso'. It included a road, but no house number. Well, we will find it somehow. Our navigation system took us off the main road, and after a few hundred meters, we passed an unmanned guard hut. Shortly afterwards, we found ourselves at the top of a steeply sloping coast. The entire coastal area was dotted with sometimes surreal-looking rock formations. The red rocks were so unusual that at first, we seriously wondered if they might have been created by human hands and placed there. But no, the rocks were too large and too numerous to be distributed throughout the entire area. They are real! An incredible miracle world! Numerous similarly designed holiday homes have been built in this fairytale landscape. Sometimes individual larger houses with their own pool in the distance from the nearest neighbors for the wealthier residents and sometimes several smaller houses in one spot. Overall, this artificially created holiday village presents a very consistent picture. Everything is in order and everything is very pretty and clean. Beautiful, but somehow spooky. Just an exclusive backdrop for the rich and privileged!

So tonight we were allowed to pretend to belong! Our accommodation was not a hotel in the classic sense, but a holiday home rental. We actually had our own apartment with a kitchen and even a grill, but we would have had to pay an additional 20 euros per person (a total of 40 euros) for the provided bed linen and towels. It's a good thing we brought sleeping bags and our own towels! In the evening, in a pizzeria, we met 'real vacationers' from Costa Paradiso. Our first impression may be deceiving, but 'Rich and Beautiful' seems to be a pretty accurate description, I believe. On the other hand, our encounters with the natives of Costa Paradiso were sympathetic: the now tame wild boars did not let themselves be driven away by the construction of the village but now live in peaceful coexistence with the people. You meet on the street or at the pool and otherwise generously respect the presence of the other.