I had one main goal for my US trip – you know, other than see family, go shopping, and eat my favorite foods. It was to go swimming. I don’t know where I thought I’d go, but I had grand hopes of finding a pool somewhere and just floating. I was definitely a sea animal in a previous life. Unfortunately, I never found a pool, ocean, lake, or even a large bathtub. So when we got back to Belgium, I started planning a trip to a sunny warm place on the ocean.
The Costa Rei Beach
A couple weekends ago, Thomas and I headed down to Sardinia. It’s an island just off of Italy, on the southwest side between Corsica and Sicily. It was wonderful! We stayed on the eastern coast (Costa Rei beach) in a quiet little resort town with gorgeous beaches and clear blue water. The other tourists were definitely European (mostly German), as most of the men wore speedos and women occassionally went topless. I think a bigger shock to some may have been the naked or topless children on the beach. As long as they’re sunscreened well, I guess I can’t see any problem with it.
Shallow pools and smooth rocks
Speaking of sunscreen, we got our fair share of burn. Traveling with only a carry-on, and limited to 3 oz of liquids, we skimped on the sunscreen and came home with peeling feet and shoulders. When I went to the baby doctor the other day, she was concerned about the marbled spots on my legs and asked if everything was okay. I had to explain that I just didn’t do a very good job at spreading my sunscreen evenly.
Delicious caprese salad
So other than the sun, the water was wonderful. It was warm enough to swim, and the beach had huge sandbars and smooth rocks that you could walk out on. The food was delicious too. Thomas was the photographer for the weekend and spent a lot of time on the local birds. We mostly saw sparrows and swallows, but also some martins, flycatchers, and a cormorant in the ocean.
Sparrow on a rock
Cormorant in the ocean
On our last day, we drove back along the southern coast, and stopped at the salt marshes outside of Cagliari. We had heard that flamingos often visit here, and we found them! There were a bunch, maybe 60 at least, but they were on the other side of the lake, so we didn’t get that many photos. It was interesting to see pink feathers on the shore, but with a bird-touching phobia, I didn’t bother to bring any home with me.
Flamingos in the salt marshes
So if you ever need a little getaway with gorgeous weather, relaxing views, delicious food, and plenty of swimming, I recommend Sardinia. If you want to see more photos from our trip, I’ve posted them on PicasaWeb.
- Weekend in Sardinia (45 photos)
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looks like tons and tons of fun. wish we had gone to Sardinia when it was warm instead of in December! oh well. you look GREAT Dallas! If only I could look like that at 5 months pregnant.
.-= Reid´s last blog ..Bodnant Gardens in Wales =-.
Flamingos! I’m SO jealous! I thought for sure we’d see some in Florida but we didn’t :( Love your sparrow and cormorant too!
lisaschaos´s last [type] ..Brown Pelicans