CAGLIARI, Sardinia — Some of our best travel experiences are often a result of serendipity — an unexpected change in plans or just dumb luck.
Several years ago, my husband, Leo, and I struck up a conversation with a stranger on a high-speed train headed to Paris. By the end of the trip, he had offered us use of the sleeper sofa in his apartment; in repayment, we took him to dinner at the six-table bistro across the street and had one of the most memorable meals of our lives.
In September, our family, including adult daughters Laura and Stephanie, took a seven-day Mediterranean cruise, the first trip as a group since they were in their mid-teens. We had signed up for tours in four of our five ports and wondered if we would have any serendipitous experiences. But fate intervened when the ship was diverted from our first stop, which was to have been Tunis.
Our new destination was Cagliari, Sardinia.
It seems to garner much less attention in travel guides than its sibling island, Sicily, but it charmed my family in just a few hours thanks to a beautiful beach with a poetic name.
Since our visit to Cagliari was a surprise, we knew very little about the city, but when the shore tours offered through the cruise line failed to appeal, we opted to explore the city on our own. While there is much I’m sure we missed, we came away pleased with our first foray on Italian soil thanks to Poetto beach.
Leaving the ship a little before 9 a.m., we headed uphill into another era of narrow stone streets and buildings, punctuated by shop windows that reminded us we were in the 21st century by touting brands such as Prada and Gucci. Shop owners were just arriving, sweeping their front stoops as we’ve seen dozens of times in movies.
Soon we found a cafe and sat outside, enjoying the sun and the bustle, sipping our first latte of the trip. The waitress, who knew no English, summoned a colleague to answer our questions. At his suggestion, rather than continue our march uphill toward the medieval walls of the Castello we had spotted from the ship, we headed toward a main thoroughfare, Largo Carlo Felice, where we took a City Tour Cagliari bus. The excursion, while not the best city tour of the trip (that was in Barcelona at the end of our cruise), provided us with a feel for Cagliari’s rich history.
And it gave us our first sight of the beach. Beautiful, uncrowded and beckoning.
Poetto beach is a 10- to 15-minute public bus ride from the port. The beach of incredibly soft sand is almost 5 miles long. It’s a mixture of public and private; we were asked to leave one area because it was reserved for military families; another area wanted 15 euros per person to use the umbrellas and lounge chairs. We opted for the public portion of the beach — the only drawback was the very dirty restroom/changing area.
The beach section is dotted with small bars and restaurants bearing names like Twist, Il Nino, and Lanterna Rossa that promise a range of cuisines. They reportedly are lively in the evening, but our ship was leaving at 4:30 p.m., so we didn’t get a chance to experience the nightlife.
The water is an exquisite aquamarine, and while the first few feet underwater are littered with small stones that might hurt sensitive feet, the sea floor soon turns sandy again and is so shallow that you can walk at least 30 feet from shore without swimming.
On the mid-September day we were there, the skies were clear, the temperatures in the high 70s and the waves gentle. The most prominent feature on shore is a landmass called the Devil’s Saddle that seems to protect the beach. It does look like a saddle, but there was no evidence of a devil.
Near the beach is Molentargus Saline Park, home to pink flamingos — supposedly 11,000 of them, although we saw only a few — as well as 180 other species of birds. The park previously was a salt mine, dating back to the Romans.
Back in the city, the area around the medieval castle includes art and archaeological museums as well as the requisite churches that have stood for centuries; one, St. George’s Catholic Church, is a jarring departure. It was built in the 1960s and looks like a church one would see in Southern California.
Near the Castello is the Roman Amphitheatre, which was built in the third century. After centuries as a dump, it was taken over in 1866 by the city, cleaned up and renovated. Since 2000, it has been used for theater productions and concerts. If we get a chance to go back, I hope the visit will coincide with an event scheduled there.
There were other serendipitous moments, but the best was in Barcelona, where our cruise began and ended; we lingered an extra day there. As we took the Barcelona City Tour, we gained an appreciation of the city’s vibrance. We stopped at Gaudi’s incredible unfinished cathedral, Sagrada Familia, and planned to get off again at the Picasso Museum, but the stop was closed.
By the time we were able to walk back toward the museum, we were pleased to discover that it is free on Sunday afternoons. The long line moved quickly, but as we came out of the museum, we discovered a very noisy parade. We had stumbled into the annual La Mercè festival. This parade, involving adults and children with masks, costumes and plenty of fireworks, would never be allowed in America, because the fireworks whirled sparks into the crowd; in fact, many people wore safety glasses, long sleeves and hoods to protect themselves. Ambulances were stationed at every intersection. We weren’t prepared, of course, so the jacket I was wearing ended up with a couple of burn holes.
We can truly say our adventure ended with a bang.
Port changes: What happens when political unrest changes your cruise
When the breaking news alert about violent protests in Tunisia appeared on my phone, it was clear my family’s Mediterranean cruise would not be exactly the one we had planned.
In addition to the predictable ports in Italy, the itinerary included a stop in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. We looked forward to adding a continent and a country to the list of places we had visited, as well as seeing the ruins of Carthage and other sights.
But protesters in Tunis had set fire to the American School adjacent to the U.S. Embassy; four people were killed and 49 injured. The protests came a few days after the Sept. 11 attack in Libya that left four Americans dead, including the U.S. ambassador.
When we arrived in Barcelona at the Nieuw Amsterdam, Holland America’s newest ship, we were told that no decision had been made about the Tunis destination, which was to be our first stop. That night, however, Capt. Vincent Smit announced that we would be going to Cagliari, Sardinia, instead, “to ensure the safety and well being of our guests and crew.”
The choices were Naples or Sardinia, but the Naples port was already fully booked, so Sardinia, which the ship had never visited, became our destination.
While it doesn’t happen often, there is a note on cruise brochures that indicates ports may change. According to Jerrol Golden, manager of international public relations for the cruise line, “We only divert if there is a question about safety and security for guests, crew and the ship itself,” said Golden via e-mail. “Weather is certainly one of the main reasons and occasionally political unrest/instability.” Holland America cruises through the first part of October avoided Tunis, and the company is evaluating as it goes.
Jeanette Chavez
The details
Holland America Line () offers a seven-day Mediterranean cruise round-trip from Barcelona in April 2013 starting at $999 per person.
