Sardinia, Italy

One of the hot spots of the Mediterranean traffic, Sardinia was conquered from 1500 BC onward by the Phoenicians, Carthage, Romans, Arabs, Spaniards, and Austrians before obtaining its current semi-autonomous status within Italy. Bearing an inviting mix of all these cultures, Sardegna still delivers the very breath of reigns under the Houses of Aragon and Savoy, the Roman and Byzantine Empires and the Cardinals -- in the form of prehistoric stone forts, the proud nuraghi of Nora and Tharros. Today's Sardinia is popular with the jet-set presence of the rock climbers, wind-surfers, kayakers, scuba-divers, wildlife fans, historians, miners, gourmets with discriminating palates. Join our vacationers, the father jaguar and the cub, for a weekend in Porto Cervo at the emerald Costa Smeralda, or in archipelago Di La Maddalena; take a stroll in the mines of Badesti and Ingurtosu; indulge into the marvelous view of Cagliari from Bastione San Remy; rent a Sardinian traditional farmhouse in Stazzu Gallurese, or an entire modern villa in the land of the riches, Costa Smeralda. Try the Sardinian bread (Civraxiu, Coccoi Pintau, Pistoccu, and laboriously baked Pane Carasau), sheep-milk cheeses (Pecorino and Casu Marzu - fermented with the fly larvae). Attend the national, historical, religious, equestrian, and gastronomic festivals that bring to Sardinia heavy loads of tour-buses. Whatever you opt to do or to skip in Sardinia, your experience would be illustrious and fantastic, as Sardinia's wildlife alone is a feast to the eyes. Ennidos (welcome) to Sardegna!// Visit other travel diaries from this author: (1) Amalfi Coast; (2) Amazing Andorra; (3) Amazing Bavaria; (4) Amazing Berlin; (5) Amazing Bhutan; (6) Amazing Cave-Houses; (7) Amazing Domes; (8) Amazing Dublin; (9) Amazing Falkland Islands; (10) Amazing Finland; (11) Amazing Florence; (12) Amazing French Riviera; (13) Amazing Greenland; (14) Amazing Gozo, Malta; (15) Amazing Iceland; (16) Amazing Innsbruck; (17) Amazing Jurmala, Latvia; (18) Amazing Monaco; (19) Amazing Naples; (20) Amazing Palau; (21) Amazing Paris; (22) Amazing Railways; (23) Amazing Salzburg; (24) Amazing Scotland; (25) Amazing Tree Houses; (26) Amazing Vatican; (27) Amazing Vienna; (28) Amazing Windows; (29) Amazing Wyoming; (30) Amazing Zürich; (31) Annecy, France; (32) Austin, Texas; (33) Banff, Alberta; (34) Bruges & Ghent, Belgium; (35) Cabo San Lucas; (36) Celle, Germany; (37) Christmas Island; (38) Cocos Keeling Islands; (39) Colmar, France; (40) Cork & Kenmare, Ireland; (41) Easter Island, Chile; (42) Exquisite Bath, England; (43) Fifty Odd Loci in the United States; (44) Fiji; (45) Granada, Spain; (46) Interlaken and Saint Moritz, Switzerland; (47) Interlaken, Unterseen, St Moritz: Switzerland; (48) Island Saint Helena, British Overseas; (49) Isle of Man; (50) Lafayette, Louisiana; (51) Las Pozas, Xilitla, Mexico; (52) Lecco, Italy; (53) Lille, France; (54) Madeira, Portugal; (55) Montserrat, British West Indies; (56) Mulhouse, France; (57) Myrtle Beach, SC; (58) Nara, Japan; (59) Novo Mesto, Slovenia; (60) Obernai, France; (61) Odd & Outre Places of Washington, DC; (62) Palma de Mallorca, Spain; (63) Poznan, Poland; (64) Saint Lucia; (65) San Marino; (66) Santa Fe, NM; (67) Sardinia, Italy; (68) Sélestat, France; (69) Seville, Spain; (70) Sint Maarten: Dutch & French Overseas; (71) Sintra, Portugal; (72) Socotra Island, Yemen; (73) South Georgia & Sandwich Islands, Britain; (74) St John's: Newfoundland-Labrador, Canada; (75) Strasbourg, France; (76) Svalbard, Norway; (77) The Faroe Islands; (78) The Rabbit Island; (79) The Trulli of Alberobello, Italy; (80) Tristan da Cunha; (81) Via Aurelia; (82) Via Belgica; (83) Via Canalis; (84) Via Claudia Augusta, (85) Via de la Plata, (86) Via Domitia; (87) Via Fossa; (88) Via Hadriana; (89) Via Kolossus; (90) Via Maris; (91) Via Militaris, (92) Via Pontica, (93) Via Schlavonia, and (94) Wissembourg, France. Read more