Relief from the loss of all 18 years of travel stories only comes the next morning. After a night with almost no sleep, I am infinitely groggy. But also full of hope when my good hoster Vautron writes that they were able to restore my 750 travelogues from several incremental database backups and also fix any database errors.
Without checking, we set off for the next destination on our journey. Galtelli is located in the mountainous hinterland near the famous Cala Gonone in the east. The time-honoured village is fast asleep. Like so many others before us, check-in is completely online. Our accommodation for the next few days is a real castle, the Castello Malicas. Directly in front of the castle is an ancient rock tomb, surrounded by the large green municipal park and behind it the 806 metre high rocky Monte Tuttavista.
Our little bedroom, which is just eight square metres including the bathroom, is the smallest of the trip. The little one can’t even fall off her mattress in front of our bed at night – there’s simply not enough room for that. No more accidents happen in the 60 cm narrow shower either. I hit my head a few times on door lintels at eye level. In short: we love the Castello Malicas.
In the evening, we sit at the top of the castle tower and watch the stars twinkle. Nearby Nuoro twinkles on a mountain ridge in the west. Bats buzz around our roof terrace to the sound of old music and good, heavy Cannonau. A dozen village dogs tell stories of loneliness in all tones and directions. We discuss at length whether it is justified or even necessary to call all the inhabitants of the nearby village of Onaní “wankers”.
The next day, we set off in light rain to nearby Cala Gonone. Under clouds, the otherwise bright blue water of the world-famous beach is impressively colourless. Most of the luxury villas are empty in the low season. Sardinia really only rages for three months of the year.
Nevertheless, the winding, steep drive up and down to Cala Gonone is worth the trip. We don’t go on a boat trip because of the steep prices of at least €100 for two and a half people and three hours.
General tip for the severely disabled: there is practically no discount on any non-governmental offer in Sardinia. Even small children often cost high prices. On the other hand, the severely disabled receive at least 50 to 100 % discount on all state offers such as excavations or botanical gardens. Unlike in Germany, an accompanying person often even receives free admission.
Good friends from the old days have been running the kite school in nearby La Caletta on the east coast for many years. The kite spot is a great place for training, especially in south-easterly winds. a 50 metre standing area, plenty of space on the wide sandy beach for launching, landing and upwind running as well as ultra-laminar thermal winds of usually around 16 knots offer truly perfect conditions for learning to kite. It’s best to check the cloud forecast!
The car park directly at the kitespot is free from November until May. In Porto Pollo, the conditions are many times worse in every respect. Nevertheless, the majority of kitesurfing students in Sardinia learn there. On strong easterly wind days, 25 knots and two metre waves can be reached in La Caletta.
I had my last Sardinian kitesurfing session here on the 13er Edge. The maximum wind fluctuation was one knot in my two 40-minute sessions. My friends joke that it was a bit stubborn today. The Garmin Surfr app doesn’t seem to measure any jumps since version 3.0. This is certainly not due to my jump heights. In Punta Trettu there were a few jumps over five metres. Either the jump with the 13 Edge is too gentle – or the watch needs recalibrating. I’ll check it on the next kite trip.
La Caletta is celebrating a civic festival today. Our children frolic together in front of the village youth dance performances. Most of them are almost as scary as “Leaving Neverland”. When six-year-old girls in full women’s war paint do hip swings in miniskirts to “Beat it!”, I just wonder how long children should be just that. Shame on the choreographer!
The next day in San Teodoro, the water shines again in an almost painfully bright turquoise colour against the white icing sugar sand. The entire south of Sardinia is much less touristy than the north. For the first time in a fortnight and over 1,850 kilometres of driving, it is too crowded here.
The saying “Friends come and go. Enemies stay.” is rubbish. Dinner at our friends’ little farm says exactly the opposite. Good friends stay forever. Even if you haven’t seen them for many years, it’s still as if not a single day has passed.
Frank Woelky, born in 1973. Kitesurfer since 1998. Since 2006, I have been combining kitesurfing and web design on trips lasting several months off the beaten track.