Campervan Therapy

Alghero on Sardinia’s north west coast is a favourite. A fortified town, its ramparts rise up from the sea. Its Catalan influence dates from the king of Aragon’s rule. A heady blend of Italy, Sardinia and Catalonia. A sunset of violets and pinks viewed from the ramparts not to be missed.

The streets wind, the stolid Catalonian houses are handsome, all oak doors and crests. Multi-coloured majolica church dome and ancient towers are an invite to the imagination.

Seafood

Alghero is known for its seafood, paella and pasta dishes. At the Laguna Blu Campsite’s restaurant, we share a super-fresh monkfish tail ceviche. The grouper ravioli with grated bottarga (dried mullet roe) is a perfect blend of salt, sweet tomatoes and succulent fish.

Fertilia

Fertilia, an unusual town, reclaimed from the marshes and built by Mussolini in the 1930s, is 500 metres away.

A rectilinear town of ochre and rose apartment blocks, today it’s a sleepy place, despite  Mussolini’s intention for it be a great trading port. A huge stucco of a fisherman and farmer sits on a tower, the names of squares echo the great trading city of Venice.

The centre mimics traditional Italian arcaded squares. Modernist St. Mark’s church is strangely beautiful, with its angular majolica topped bell-tower. Inside the gilded  murals contrast with the building’s clean lines.

Venice’s emblem, St. Mark’s lion, stands on a plinth overlooking the sea, a memorial to the post WWII Istrian-Dalmatian exodus.

 Between 250,000 and 350,000 ethnic Italians emigrated to Italy between 1945 and 1953 from Istria-Dalmatia. Today, the sun shines on this Istrian café terrace, the life of the town passing before us, the Saturday market bustling.

Porto Conte Natural Park

We stand on the Roman bridge, which straggles out into the waters of the Laguna del  Calich, in the Natural Park of Porto Conte. History lies under our feet.

There’s  a cycle track around the lagoon. We spend the afternoon visiting the noticeboards telling of the black winged stilts, falcons, purple herons, purple swamp hens, ospreys and egrets that visit its shores. Each cove has yet another view of the mountains, with the smell of hot figs, mastic and pine trees.

Grotta di Nettuno (Neptune’s Cave)

We cycle  5 kilometres along dedicated tracks from Fertilia to Alghero’s port.

A boat trip takes us to Neptune’s Cave, at the base of Capo Caccia’s sheer limestone cliffs.

The caves are fantastical. I expect a mermaid to emerge from the blue waters at any moment. Mica sparkles from the limestone columns, stalactites and stalagmites.

No artist could ever replicate the beauty of Nature here. Though, Seán, not known for flights of fancy, says it reminds him of Gaudi’s sculptures and Barcelona’s Sagrada Familia.

I’m speechless, at the Cathedral cave’s beauty, rocks shaped into a giant organ in its centre. The three connecting caves take an hour to visit, yet this is only a fifth of the whole, the rest left to the speleologists.