Sardinian Cities

We visited three of the five largest cities in Sardinia, which altogether range in size from around 42,000 people to 147,000 people. I’ve already written about Olbia (the fourth largest city), which is a more modern town and a popular base for tourists wanting to explore the popular Costa Smeralda in the northeast. 

The largest city, Cagliari, sits on the southern tip of the island and is the capital of Sardinia. As with any urban city, you can find something for everyone – culture, art, history, outdoor recreation, nightlife, modern amenities, etc. We anchored outside its popular beach suburb of Poetta for a few nights awaiting our next guests and were entertained by the plethora of sea activities passing back and forth. We also made use of the bus system as well as our feet to explore various areas of the city. Our wanderings took us to the lovely historic center of Castello as well as some off-the-beaten-path more modern neighborhoods. 

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Our favorite city in Sardinia, though, was its fifth largest – Alghero. We spent five nights moored up to the town quay of this historic and charming northwestern town. This was our first free town quay experience – you were allowed to stay up to five nights, so why not! We were also waiting out some strong winds as well as crossing paths with our fellow Sardinian cruisers, Belinda and Andre. 

Our location was fabulous, right in the heart of the town center of this old fishing village and walled city. Alghero was completely walkable and we were charmed by its cobbled alleys, interesting history, long seaside promenade dotted with towers and military relics, a plethora of restaurants and lovely shops, and quite the buzz of life at nighttime. Historically, like other locales, Alghero was ruled and influenced by everyone from the Phoenicians to the Romans, the Catalans to the Pisans. Interestingly, the Catalans (from Spain) seemed to have the most lasting influence, most notable in their own language and foods (yay, paella!). To this day, some people living in Alghero still speak their own variety of Catalan, and you can notice street signs in the historic center named both in Catalan and Italian.

Other unique things we noticed in Alghero are the prominence of coral and the colorful vintage boats. Turns out, Alghero developed much wealth from its ancient farming of red coral (or “red gold” as it’s often called) that is plentiful along its coastline. You will find endless jewelry shops featuring this treasure and an interesting Coral Museum that tells the story of its long history and importance to the town. We also saw many vintage coral fishing boats (corallinas) having a regatta.

The other wonderful thing about Alghero is its location. From a boating perspective, there are so many gorgeous spots along Sardinia’s northwest coast. We will most certainly be back!