Aart Heering
Cagliari has become fun! The Sardinian capital was never really a tourist attraction. Whoever came to the island did so for the sun and sea and surfers also for the wind, from the Costa Smeralda, Alghero and Isola di San Pietro, just to name a few popular destinations.
You would arrive in Cagliari at the most, by ferry or plane, and then continue your journey as quickly as possible. Conversely, the city was not immediately ready to receive throngs of visitors. About 10 years ago, Cagliari - in my experience at least - thus made a rather drab and unprepossessing impression.
cruise ships
In recent years, that has changed. This is partly due to the political situation. Due to the precarious situation in the Maghreb after the Arab Spring, many cruise ships have changed their Mediterranean routes and are now calling at Cagliari instead of North African ports.
As a result, thousands of tourists pour into the city every week and the Inns near the harbor their menus have also been translated into English, French and (sometimes) German. At the same time, under the leadership of the dynamic young mayor Massimo Zedda, a significant part of the city center has been made car-free, making it a lot more hospitable.
Castle
The jewel in the crown of Cagliari is the Castello district, named after the fortress built by the Pisans when they built in the 13e century were in charge here. They chose a rock over 50 meters high that now houses the Bastione Saint Rémy, a wide esplanade with a magnificent view over the modern city and the harbour. Although it must be said – and an ironic graffito does – that what there is to see is not all pretty.
Finally, Cagliari was heavily bombed by the Americans in 1943 and then filled with concrete new buildings in the 60s and 70s. But the narrow streets behind the bastion more than make up for it, with beautiful monuments such as the Cathedral of Santa Maria and the Torre dell'Elefante, a medieval tower with a wonderful elephant that looks down on passers-by from 10 meters high, and a large number of terraces and cafes.
Delicatessen
There are many more of these in the Marina, the lower harbor district, where you can find dozens of Inns you can try all possible Sardinian specialities, from the classic porceddu (suckling pig) to the thick fish soup dumb and the arziolas, small jellyfish (anemone di mare in Italian), which taste great both fried and in pasta.
In delis, but also in the local supermarket, you can then buy typical Sardinian pastas such as the rut and the malloreddus, next to the sheep cheese of course pecorino and the bottarga, dried roe of mullet (harder), which, with young olive oil and garlic, forms one of the simplest and tastiest pasta sauces.
Tip:: buy only the bottarga in one piece, which you have to grate yourself, and not the jars of bone-dry and much less tasty bottarga scraps that are given to gullible cruise tourists.
city beach
Outside the center, Cagliari has many other attractions. Cagliari has in common with Barcelona and Cannes that you can go to the sea in the city itself, to the kilometre-long Poetto beach, which you can reach by bus or bicycle within fifteen minutes and where you can sunbathe until the end of October.
On the other side of the Lungomare (Boulevard) Poetta are salt pans and the salty lake Molentargius, where you can see thousands of pink flamingos wading through the shallow water all year round. And if you go a little further east, you end up in Quartu Sant'Elena. This overgrown suburb of Cagliari is not particularly interesting in its own right, but it is home to the best confectionery of Sardinia, that of the Sorelle Piccioni.
dolci sardic
The one made from sugar and fresh almonds dolci sardic are so sweet, that diabetes is lurking just by looking at it. But they taste great and are handcrafted with such care that they become little masterpieces. The now 90-year-old sisters have been doing it for more than half a century and sell their wares in a shop window that is worth a visit in itself. Craftsmanship is mastery!
Photos Cagliari: Aart Heering
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