Cagliari, Sardinia and Palermo, Sicily: Arrivederci Cagliari and Buona Sera to Palermo:

Friday, August 21, 2026

Cagliari, Sardinia and Palermo, Sicily

Arrivederci Cagliari and Buona Sera to Palermo:

Llew and I had such a wonderful day together. So wonderful that we did not realize we walked almost 16,000 steps today! We covered quite a bit of Cagliari and then some…we went far outside the city limits to Poetto Beach for a very special treat. But first things first…

Llew slept right up to 8.15 am at which point I woke him up. I was up by 6.00 am and started blogging as well as reviewed all my tourist notes to find out where we should go today and how we should plan our day. It was important to set out early and grab as much of the cool morning temperature as possible as the mid-afternoon heat is truly oppressive

Right after I showered and got dressed, I woke Llew up. He then had his shower and we set out of our B and B (after leaving my bag out in the corridor—Llew’s had yet to be delivered by Air France), and went off to meet the day. Since we had covered the right hand side yesterday, we turned to the left today. Our idea was to explore those parts of Cagliari that we had not seen yesterday. Accordingly, we walked along narrow and extremely quaint Via Alberto Lamarmora, where our B and B is located, past the Basilica Square and arrived at another look-out terrace offering stunning view of the city. Then, we carried out, using a map to arrive at the City Arsenal, marked by a ceremonial. This is one of the oldest parts of the city and the interior has been turned into a Museum Quarter. We went past it towards Pizza Independenzia, all the while keeping our eyes open for the possibility of breakfast. We found it in a little kiosk called Una Camino where we each ordered a pastry (mine was a chocolate donut and Llew’s was a chocolate croissant) and with cafe lattes for each of us, we had ourselves a lovely light breakfast—a welcome change from the massive breakfasts I have had for the past 8 mornings in the hotel in Oristano. We had the company of a bunch of British tourists who had gotten off the P and O Cruise Liner that we could see berthed in the harbor just beyond the massive medieval city walls.

En route to the Benedetto Market, we passed again by the Arsenal and decided to step inside to the see the Museum Quarter—it is a modern space housing three museums: archeological, art and ethnographic. However, as we did not want to spend time in the museums and preferred to explore the city itself, we took pictures and left.

Then, we passed under the medieval Porta Pancrezias which is a towering structure with a small stone gateway. We had to go past the gate and walk downhill all the way to the entrance to the Botanical Gardens from where we had to go still further south. It bothered me that we would need to climb back uphill again and we had to do it by 11.30 am as our landlady had told us that newer guests would be coming and she wanted our stuff out so that she could clean the room. She was kind enough to allow us to stash our bags in the corridor outside until 6.00 pm when she also called us a taxi to take us to the airport (for 23 euros).

Visiting the Benedetto Market:

We took a few pictures and then, following our map, we walked downhill for half an hour at least as we had decided to go to the Benedetto Market (which is apparently one of the big attractions of this city). This turned out to be a bit of a disappointment as the actual market is closed as the piazza is being renovated and the vendors have moved to Piazza Nasari, close by. This market did not at all have the feel of an old community market. It was a series of little stalls, each manned by a vendor in various sections: fish (stinky), meat (they actually sold horse steaks and plenty of beef), pig’s head (for porchetta—pig’s cheek dishes), etc; sections for fresh produce (I had never seen a fresh prune and bought one just to taste—it was super sweet and very flavorful), veg (loads of it and it actually had a fresh vegetal fragrance), cheese and cold cuts—the Italians sure love their charcuterie and there is so much delicious variety that it is mind-boggling. After a quick turn around the market, we decided to leave the market and start the long and very arduous trek uphill back to our B and B. It was about 11.00 am by this time and the sun was already hot and the climb was not my favorite thing to do in the heat! Anyway, we got there by 11.30 am and left our bags outside and then set out again with the idea of coming back to the corridor to pick them up by 6.00 pm.

Return to Piazza Yenne and off to Poetto Beach:

Going by my Lonely Planet notes, and since we had seen quite a bit of the city of Cagliari yesterday, we decided to take an excursion outside the city to Poetto Beach. Following online instructions, we arrived at Piazza Mazeotti where we had to wait for a while before we got the bus that we thought would take us there. It really was way outside the city but, in the process, we got to see way more of Cagliari that we could have covered on foot. Talking to folks on the bus, we realized we had to get off soon and when we did get off in the middle of nowhere, we realized that we were nowhere near Poetto Beach. Long story short, along came another bus and we set off on it for the beach. Once we got there, it was about 1.15pm and since we’d both had a light breakfast, we were ready for Lunch. We found a restaurant right on the sands with a stunning view of the jade green Mediterranean Sea, and once seated onside, we had lunch there

Lunch at Poetto Beach:

Both of us were dying for something cold by this point as the sun was simply merciless. Hence, we ordered a 50 cl draft local beer and drank it thirstily after also ordering the Seafood Fregola--this is a typical Sardinian pasta dish which uses tiny pasta pearls as a base, cooked in a seafood broth and studded with small clams, large mussels and diced shrimp. It was really delicious and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was also good we decided to share it as we were both quite filled by the end of it. This done, we were ready to see the flamingoes and the salt pans—they were the reason we had ventured so far out of the city

Well…that’s where our adventure began. The lady at the restaurant gave us directions to go to the stop to see them. But, I think she had no idea that we were on foot—she probably thought we were in a car! We walked for what seemed like forever in the blazing sun until we realized that we would need to ask for more directions. Anyway, passersby suggested we wait for the PQ bus and that was an interminable wait. By then it was almost 3.30 and Llew was worried that we would not reach in time for our 6 pm taxi at Cagliari. Just when I thought that we should abandon the plan and return to Cagliari, a PQ came along. We hopped into it bought our tickets on the bus and rode in it for what seemed like forever until we arrived at the lagoon where the flamingoes congregate. Long story short, we saw a few of them in varied groups and we got some pictures—so our mission was not entirely in vain. But it was too much time and too much effort and too much anxiety waiting for buses to make the mission seem worthwhile.

On the way back, we waited for the bus to take us back to Cagliari (the PQ) where an African passenger (also waiting with us) told us it would take another 15 minutes or so. And he was right. When the bus eventually arrived, we jumped into it, retraced out steps, got off at the Stazione Centrale and walked back to Piazza Matteotti and climbed the hill back to Piazza Yene. We stopped to buy a cold Coke en route as the heat was quickly depleting us of all our energy. In the end, we actually had some time to spare and so we sat down at Piazza Yenne and did some people-watching before making our way back to our B and B.

Luckily, the elevator to take us up to Castello (Old Town) was working and we were able to get up to our B&B quite painlessly, although by this time, we were both exhausted

to the Airport to Retrieve Llew’s Baggage and Fly to Palermo, Sicily:

We were able to make our taxi (with time to spare on the doorstep of our B and B) and speed out of the city to Cagliari Elmas Airport. We’d given ourselves ample time as Llew had to get to Lost and Found to pick up his bag (they had called me at about 1.00 pm and confirmed that his bag had arrived and was awaiting pick-up). At the airport (ride cost us 23 euros), we used the facilities and then Llew went out in search of his bag. He got it quite easily (in about fifteen minutes) and joined me in the Arrivals Lobby. Then, the two of us climbed up to the Departures Lobby where we thought we should get a full meal as our flight on Ryanair would give us no food or water at all and we’d reach Palermo at nearly midnight.

And so, after charging our phones for about 20 minutes, the Ryanair counter opened (two and half hours before departure), we checked in our bags and were off to grab dinner. McDonald’s was the only place offering a full meal in this part of the airport—I got a Fish burger meal and Llew got a Big Mac and with that in our bellies, we went through Security (the long line moved really fast) and made our way to the Gates where we found absolutely loads of duty free shops and eateries. We browsed a bit and then went to Gate 1 where, in a few minutes, at 9pm, Boarding would begin. All went well, our flight departed on time and we were airborne at exactly 10.00 pm. I had a window seat but it was dark and there was nothing we could see either at take off from Cagliari or landing at Palermo.

Arrival in Palermo, Sicily:

Yes, we did find our bags with no problem on the conveyor belt and with those in hand, we posed by a sign that said, ‘Welcome to Palermo.” We had arrived in Sicily and we were excited. They taxi touts outside looked at the address of our B and B and told us it would cost us 65 euros to take us there. We had no choice at 11.30 p and so off we went. The cabbie sped through the city (the ride took about 40 minutes) and dropped us right outside out building. We paid him by credit card and were at the main door downstairs. Just when we were about to follow instructions to get in, another couple were also entering the building. We simply followed them to the third floor—they were also, coincidentally, guests in the same B and B. I have to say that we were both really exhausted by this point and were waiting to simply crash on our beds. The door to our room was left open, no Receptionist was around (but Sylvia had left us ample and very clear instructions) and we easily found our room, switched on the AC (there was no fan—so it was unbearably stuffy until it got going) and with that, we simply put on our night clothes and got straight into bed. I have to say that we loved our first impressions of the B and B (Il Pachetto Charme and Design B and B) which had the exact ingredients in its name (Charm and Design). But we would really only appreciate it when we were better rested.

Until tomorrow, ciao…