Day 2: ALGUER - GROTTA DI NETTUNO - ALGUER
Friday, April 22, 2011
Ringgggggg, ringgggggggggg, it's 8 o'clock and the alarm sounds. Last night we decided that since we are on vacation and today we have a fairly comfortable day, with the afternoon visit of the famous Grotta di Nettuno in Alghero, we would get up at a "more reasonable" hour, but we opened our eyes and listened to what we didn't want to hear in any way: rain. We look out at the balcony and see that the sky is quite dark and does not seem to stop.
So we take it with philosophy and after showering and getting ready, we have breakfast with total peace of mind in the Aurasol Hotel.
It continues to rain and this does not encourage you to go out to the streets of Alghero and we prefer to wait a while.
We get into bed and take advantage of watching a movie we have recorded on the computer.
The truth is that to do this you don't have to come to Sardinia, but hey, it's a way to take time in the best possible way. And more knowing that we have time to visit everything we want in the time we have left and more today that we will be in the city and we have no planned route with the rental car in Sardinia.
About 11 in the morning, we decided that it is time to leave, anyway. When we went down the owner has left us some umbrellas and with them we set out to tour the city.
Less than 5 minutes we have the port of Alghero, so just see the box office of the boats that lead to the Grotta di Nettuno, we stop to see what route they do and what times they have.
We choose the one at 3 in the afternoon to make sure we will have time to arrive and take out the tickets and then go more direct. They charge us 15 euros per person for a one-half hour round trip and another half hour round trip.
From here we go straight through the walls of Alghero and reach its medieval part.
It seems to stop raining a little and that gives us a little truce.
We cross a couple of shopping streets, where we cross with few tourists, but enough to want to get lost in more deserted streets.
Alghero in Sardinia
Then we move away from them, reaching the walls that run through the port.
We turn around, stopping to see the sights and taking pictures. The day really does not accompany too much, but the views are spectacular.
We look at the horizon and all we see is a cluster of black clouds, which are getting closer and closer.
Alghero
It is after 12 o'clock when we re-enter through another of the gates that separate the city from the wall and we go straight to the Church of San Michele, which with its ceramic dome stands out throughout the medieval city.
The outside is "careless", like almost everything in Alghero, but it is impressive how it blends with the environment and landscape.
The interior is very beautiful, with nothing that makes it look ornate.
From there we go through streets, without specific destination. We are crossing with many tourists, many more than we saw when we arrived, but nothing with what we had thought.
It's all pretty quiet.
A good option to know the history of the city is to book this guided tour in Spanish that includes the Grotto of Neptune.
Alguer
Then we visit San Francesco and the Catedrale.
Almost without noticing it is more than 1 and at 2:30 we have to be on the boat, so we look for a “ristorante” and there we are going to eat a capresse salad and two pasta dishes to suck our fingers.
Before asking for the bill, we ask for a couple of expresses. We will need it after such a binge of food !!
We paid about 40 euros, which we found nothing exaggerated to be Sardinia.
From here we go straight to the port, where from afar we already see our ship.
It is quite large, but as it starts to sparkle we decide that it is best to put ourselves at the bottom and thus protect ourselves from the rain.
At the top you can go to the open area, where we would have gone if it had not been because it started to rain heavily.
It took us half an hour to reach the Grotta di Nettuno. During the journey it seems that we are going in an attraction of those that remove your stomach.
Grotta di Nettuno in Alghero
I have to admit that I am scared until “the cups” of the fairs, but although the sea did not look very choppy, the ship has moved quite a lot! Not that I enjoyed the journey too much.
More practical information to prepare your trip to Sardinia
- 10 essential places to see in Sardinia
- 10 essential tips for traveling to Sardinia
I have only been satisfied thinking that I was going to save up the 650 steps of the Grotta if we had gone by car !!
If you go by car, you do it to Capo Caccia, where you pay the entrance and you have to go down to sea level, by stairs. 650 steps down and the same to get back up ... bufff ... just thinking about it I get tired !!
Once we arrive and see the box office that is installed in the mouth of the cave, we begin to see the wonder that lies ahead.
We pay 12 euros per person and wait to make the guided tour.
We are in line for about 15 minutes, waiting for people who are coming down from the stairs. We would like to make these visits for free, but we know that it is practically impossible, so we are satisfied that it is not a too guided visit.
We started walking…
Book the best rated tours and excursions in Spanish in Alghero by travelers:
- Cruise on the islands of La Maddalena
- Excursion to Corsica
- Tour of Alghero and Grotto of Neptune
- Excursion to the Emerald Coast
- Excursion to Orgosolo and Mamoiada- Many more excursions and tours in / from Alghero here
I will not lie, the visit is in English and Italian, but for us as if it had been in Russian. We have not heard anything. We only had the sense of sight activated. Awesome. There is no other word to describe it. The entire cavity in general is spectacular, but the Salt Lake room is impressive. You do not know at what angle to get to take the best photo.
Although we know that it is impossible to take a snapshot that faithfully picks up what we are seeing, we are satisfied that only a little of what we are really seeing can be seen.
The visit lasts about 40 minutes, which are flown.
Grotta di Nettuno in Alghero
It is a shame not to repeat it again, but without cameras. Sometimes we don't realize, we want to "do it all" at the same time and we miss some things.
The last section is done without a guide, so you can stand a little more where you want and take advantage of seeing the most relaxed things.
It is a totally recommended visit, although a little expensive, in the end we have paid 54 euros between the two.
We arrive at the entrance again and see that our ship is waiting for us. It rains again. And from the entrance of the cave, we see that the ship moves a lot.
The journey back to Alghero We find it shorter, I think it is because the boat jumps much more and the sky is blacker ... this makes that instead of looking at the clock, it closes its eyes!
We arrive again at the port and see that it is 6 in the afternoon.
Before going to the apartment, we decided that it is best to take advantage of going back to the streets of the medieval center, to do some shopping.
Almost without realizing it, we carry a few bags in the backpack. But we have already “shopping” for this little getaway.
Sparks again and we decided that it is time to go rest for a while ...
On the way we stop to buy water and before it starts to rain harder we are at the doors of the apartment.
And before entering, we see something we had read, but we had not remembered.
In front of our balcony Hotel Aurasol, we have the prison of Alghero!
Before dinner we looked at tomorrow's weather: occasional rains.
Hopefully they are not occasional and give us a sunny day, to see everything we have in mind.
See you tomorrow.
Day 3ALGUER - STINTINO - PLAYA DE LA PELOSA - CASTELSARDO - ROCCA DEL ELEFANTE - STA. TERESA DI GALLURA - PORTO POZZO (HOTEL) - CAPO TESTA - PLAYA RENA BIANCA - P. POZZO
