Interesting and Informative New Travel Guide for Sardinia
I want to call your attention to a recently-published guide and travel overview for the island of Sardinia (Sardegna). The travel guide is called simply “Sardinia” and is written by local travel writer Eliot Stein. It is one of the travel guides published by Footprint Guide Books which has since it’s first publication in 1924 garnered a faithful following of discerning travelers around the world. If your Italian travel plans include a visit to Sardinia or if you’re simply an armchair traveler that just wants to learn more about this interesting island, you may want to consider buying a copy of this informative and interesting travel guide
Sardinia has a lot to offer travelers with an adventuresome bent. It basks in a seven-month summer and boasts rugged mountain ranges, broad valleys, beautiful flowering bougainvilleas, glitzy jet-set coastal resorts and a long emerald coastline that may well be Europe’s most spectacular. Its waters teem with fish and shellfish.
It is an island of contrasts. Nowhere else in Italy will you find bands of nomadic shepherds, three-story yachts anchored in harbors, some of Europe’s most beautiful beaches, pink flamingos, colorful hiking trails and otherworldly celebrations all within 30 minutes of one another. Sardinians have a highly developed sense of honor and hospitality and love of tradition. No matter where you are in Sardinia or what time of year, there is bound to be a colorful celebration or festival going on somewhere in a close-by village or city.
This well-written Guide provides entertaining cultural and historic insights. Sardinia has 
some of the continent’s oldest archeological remains with traces of human settlement going back to prehistoric times. It has over 7,000 fortified tower houses, called nuraghi, built of massive blocks of stone without use of mortar that date from the Bronze Age. Other historic native monuments include Neolithic “Giants Tombs,” hundreds of Spanish watchtowers as well as interesting Romanesque and Gothic churches.
This Guide covers Cagliari and the south, Oristano and the west, Nuoro and Ogliastra, Gallura and Sassari and the northwest. It includes an interesting section on suggestions from the locals on where to go to find those lesser-known gems, a month to month guide to pros and cons of visiting at certain times of the year, the author’s personal recommendations of a place or an activity and even tips on the perfect places to picnic and pick up goodies. Of special interest to viewers of this website, it also has a detailed chapter on food and wine.
The Guide also offers restaurant, lodging, shopping and entertainment recommendations and reviews. It also comes with a really cool portable, pop-up map of the island and additional key reference areas that is tucked neatly into a pocket in the back cover.
Footprint’s Sardinia is a valuable guide for anyone planning on travelling to Sardinia. But what I like most about this Guide is that it is written for travelers with grown-up tastes who not only want to tour Sardinia but learn about it’s history and culture as well. This Guide may not appeal to those who travel frenetically but would engage those with a keen interest in history and culture but who also want to sample la dolce vita.
It should be coming soon to your local retail bookstores if not already on the shelves. Alternatively, you can order it online from the publisher at Footprint Guide Books or from Amazon.com.
©Richard Marcis
June 28, 2009