A Country Girl in Italy: Cagliari, Sardegna

Friday, March 22, 2024

Cagliari, Sardegna

I have visited Cagliari and the island of Sardegna twice. The first time was in 2018. During our trip to Italy in 2018, we rode on a ferry overnight from Sicily to Sardegna. We each had a cabin on the ferry with our own bathroom, and unfortunately my son Micah and his wife Jancy's room didn't have hot water in the shower (I wish they'd told me sooner, I would have asked the maintenance guys to come fix it, but they didn't tell me until we left!). I sleep very well on boats, which makes the trip very nice!

When we arrived in Cagliari, the first thing we did was get our rental car from the Hertz and head straight to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, since we arrived on a Sunday. We were a little bit late arriving because the Hertz didn't open until 9, and that's when church started. Everyone there was very nice to us! After church ended it was "Ward Lunch," a potluck where everybody stays and visits. This day was my favorite part of the whole trip - getting to meet the people who knew and loved Micah when he served his mission in Italy, and the people who I had heard so much about. Everyone made us feel so welcome.

We went to the beach, but the water was cold so Micah's hopes of swimming in the ocean weren't really realized on this trip to Italy. He and Jancy will need to go back another time, in the summer when the water is warmer. We drove around and saw where Micah used to live. We stayed in the only place I ever saw that had a yard. Most people live in apartments that are pretty small compared to most American houses. There are so many people there and not much space. This Airbnb we stayed at was an apartment but it seemed like a house, and it had a yard. It was actually pretty secluded. The owner had the house all decorated up with different themes for each room. I think the theme of our room was Buddha or something like that.

The next morning we met Roberto and Mariella at their gelato shop to say goodbye, and Roberto treated us to gelato. They are so sweet! We went to the airport next. The lady said that we had to check our carry-ons because the flight was totally full. When Micah checked his bag, he forgot that his and Jancy's passports were in the bag! He realized it as we were going through security. So we ran back to the lady we had checked the bag with. She got a panicked look on her face, but called the guys who were loading the bags on the plane and told them to bring the bag to the Lost and Found if they could find it. So we went to Lost and Found downstairs and waited. I was worried we would miss our flight to Rome. But they did eventually find the bag and bring it, Micah pulled the passports out of it, and we hurried back to the lady we had checked it with before, checked it, went through security, and on to the plane. That was just the beginning of our adventure for that day! Then we headed from Cagliari to Rome.

Helpful Links:

Video of our visit to S'Archittu

The Airbnb we stayed at in Cagliari

Grimaldi Ferry from Sicily to Sardenia

Ambrosia Dolceria owned by Roberto & Mariella

In March of 2025, I returned to Cagliari and the island of Sardegna with my daughter Rebecca on a Mediterranean cruise. This time I wanted to see an arch, so we rented a car in Cagliari and drove across Sardegna to Cuglieri to see the beautiful S'Archittu. It was about a 2 hour drive. After enjoying the arch, we drove back to Cagliari and returned our rental car. We didn't have a lot of time left before we had to get back on our cruise ship, but we did visit Ambrosia again, which had changed locations since our visit in 2018, and we also tried some gelato at Peter Pan's near the cruise ship terminal.