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Now let the sea day I'll be doing. Hello, my name is Claudia. I was born and raised in Sardinia and I still call it home. I am the mastermind behind the Strictly Sardinia travel blog. And now the Strictly Sardinia podcast, where each week I will bring you the best Sardinia has to offer and share my most useful tips that will help you plan a memorable trip to my wonderful island. In last week's episode, I told you everything you should know if you're considering moving to Sardinia. But this week we're focusing again on a travel topic and I will tell you everything you need to know before you consider visiting Sardinia. Let me remind you that you will find a more detailed version of today's episode in my blog, strictly sardina.com the link to my blog is in my bio and you will find the link also in today's episode description, so don't forget to read that for more information. Now back to what you need to know before traveling to Sardinia. Some things will seem obvious to you, others may seem ridiculous, but it's still worth repeating them. Trust me. First of all, Sardinia is part of Italy. Those of you who are already planning a trip here, who have already been here, will know this already. But trust me, not everyone knows. Some people believe it belongs to France, some people completely ignore it exists. Other people have told me in the past they thought it was just rocks in the ocean. Well, Sardinia became part of Italy in 1861, when Italy became officially a unified country. Before then it was part of the Kingdom Kingdom of Piedmont since 1847, and until 1847 it was just independent and divided in several reigns. However, Sardinia is not quite Italian. I cannot quite put my finger on it. And many people that visit cannot quite put their finger on it. There is a different vibe when you visit Sardinia that makes it a bit different from what you used to in Italy. But you know, it's also part of the fact that we are isolated. We really as an are an island. Sometimes we feel forgotten from the rest of Italy. We still feel that the central government doesn't give us the attention we deserve, the services we deserve. But anyhow, let me not get political and let me continue. The local language here in Sardinia is Sardinian. Well, of course we do speak Italian. Everyone here speaks Italian. But if you go to the villages, people speak Sardinian, or rather a dialect of Sardinian, which is a minority language of Italy. Now, Sardinian is a neo Latin language. It mostly resembles Latin. You will find that it sounds a bit like a mixture between Spanish and Italian. If you listen Carefully, but don't try and understand it. A lot of people here in Sardinia anyhow speak English, so you won't have trouble understanding them. But speaking of languages here in Sardinia, we also have a Catalan minority. Yes, Catalan, like the language that is spoken in Catalonia, the part of the country that belongs to Spain. So there are officially two minority languages that live in Sardinia. Catalan is spoken in the lovely small town of Alghero. Another thing you should know, and this is especially if you're coming here, it's a large island. Don't come to me and ask me if I think three days are enough to visit Sardinia. Don't come suggest that you want to take a day trip to Sardinia from Rome. And you know, I say this because I've had people asking whether it would be a good idea, or even not even asking me if it was a good idea, but just simply saying we are coming in Sardinia, as on a day trip from Rome. What do you suggest we do? And my typical answer is, I suggest you don't even come. Sardinia is huge. It's the size of Vermont. Okay, for those of you coming from North America, that may not be, you know, an important enough statistics. You may still think that Vermont is small, but Serdin is also very mountainous, which means that coming, that traveling from one side to the other of the island can take a long time. Sardinia is actually almost as big as Sicily, and perhaps you know Sicily a little bit better. So this gives you a better idea of its size. However, contrary to Sicily, Sardinia is scarcely populated. It's actually what I really like. Although it is the other side of the coin of a bit of a tragedy. We are only 1.6 million. Contrary to Sicily, which is just about our size, which has more than 5 millions, Sardinia hardly ever really gets crowded. I mean, if you go to the beach in the summer, of course the beach is crowded, but that's because we get people visiting from all over the world. But at times you can drive for hours and hardly spot anyone else on the drive. It's. It's bliss. This is obviously, as I said, the other side of the coin of a major issue we have here, that of depopulation, people leaving the island in search of better opportunities elsewhere. But let me get back to the topic at hand. There are more sheep than people in Sardinia. I am not kidding. If you're renting a car and start driving around the island, which is a better way of exploring than public transportation, which doesn't work very well, chances are that you will encounter a hurdle herd of Sheep, occasionally even a traffic jam caused by sheep as you'll drive along the way. This happens all the time. It happens more often than you think, especially when you go to rural Sardinia. Actually, it happens in Cagliari too. There is a shepherd that is known in the south of Sardinia, well, in the Cagliari area, for bringing his sheep to just roam about at roundabouts at the outskirts of city. It's a bit crazy. Food in Sardinia is delicious. Now, we had an episode a couple weeks ago where I told you everything about the delicious food we have. So you're set on this. But in case you haven't listened to that episode, go back a couple of episodes and listen to my. To what I have to say about Sardinian food. It's just fantastic. But so is local wine. I haven't had an episode about Sardinian wines is coming soon. But if you travel to Sardinia and if you are into wine tasting, you're in for a treat. We have our own varietals. The two most typical one would be Canonao, which is a deep red, and Vermentino, which is a crispy, almost acidic white. But it's really refreshing in the summer. There are wineries all around Sardinia that you can visit and where you can go wine tasting. And lots of them actually export outside of Italy, including in the United States or in North America. We also have fabulous beers. In fact, interestingly, while Sardinia is a great wine producing region, we Sardinians consume more beer per capita than wine. Beer in Sardinia usually translates to ichnusa. We have also a great variety of craft beer that you can try. Now back to the food for a second. You know how in Sardinia we produce excellent pecorino cheese and one of them has made the news a bunch of times on a regular basis. I was also interviewed by Euronews about this casu marzu. Casu means cheese in Sardinia and marzu means rotten. So the translation of this would be rotten cheese. But this cheese, let me tell you, it's not rotten at all. So the way this cheese is made, it's a pecorino that is unpasteurized. So unpasteurized cheap milk, no chemicals at all. So this attracts a fly known as Philophilia case, that lays its eggs on the cheese so that they form little cocoons and the larvae feast on the cheese, giving it a very distinct, very strong flavor. The larvae tend to sit mostly in one area, all of the cheese, or close one to the other. You can easily avoid them when you're eating this cheese. Sorry, I know, it sounds disgusting. I have not tried this cheese, but people who have tried it, and by that I don't just mean local, I also have lots of foreign friends that have tried it. They say it is delicious. The main reason it hardly comes across is outside of Sardinia is that this cheese is actually very hard to make. The best time to produce it is between April and July, and the fly, in fact, will thrive in the mild heat. Don't come in August expecting to find it, because you will not. They also say that it is one of the most dangerous foods in the world. Well, you know, my mom grew up eating it and her friends grew up eating it. And in Sardinia we have one of the highest life expectancies in the world. So I don't think Azu Martu is that dangerous after all. Speaking of life expectancy, Sardinia has one of the very few blue zones on Earth. Together with some parts of Japan, some parts of California, and some parts of Costa Rica, specifically the Nicosia Peninsula, Sardinia has one of the highest percentages of people that live to be 100 years old or older. That is called a blue zone. The high life expectancy is due to a combination of factors which include a healthy diet, by which I don't mean vegan, by which I don't mean eating specific foods or foods done a specific way. There isn't any real recipe or any real blue zone food that you can identify. It's about eating small quantities, a little bit of everything. So a little bit of cheese, a little bit of fish, a little bit of meat, vegetables, fruits. With a small dinner and larger lunch, regular extra exercise, don't think anything drastic. It's more just about walking, a glass of red wine if it happens. Strong family bonds. So people living at at home until their very old age and overall happiness, this is what makes a Sardinian blue zone. Another thing you need to know, Sardinia always has a festival happening. So whether you come here in December when we have the autuno in Barbaja, so 4 in Barbaja Festivals in the mountainous regions of Cerdina, or you come in the summer when we have the wine festivals, the music festivals, such as, you know, Time in Jazz or Musica Suleboque, which are two fantastic jazz festivals in the north of Sardina, there's always something going on. And obviously there's all the religious festivals that happen in Sardinia. We have the Cavalcata Sarda in Sassari, we have Santa in Sardinia in Cagliari, which is probably our most important festival. We have lots, if you happen to Come in the winter, in February. Specifically, we have one more festival that you will want to attend. Carnival. Now, carnival in Sardinia takes different forms and shape. The most important carnival representations are the ones of Barbaja and specifically Mamoyada, where there is the mask of Mamutones that you may want to experience and see. It's quite a unique show, very ancestral, very pagan, quite interesting to see. But we also have the Sartilla in Orissa, which is an incredible carnival representation. It's an equestrian joust during which you will see lots of acrobatic stunts and adrenaline filled moments. And especially the race for the star during which men and women in traditional costumes wearing masks race on their horse to catch as many stars with a long last. It's incredible how they do it. It's is an incredible show. Now for those of you coming in October, I advise to come at the very end of the month because Sardinia has its own version of Halloween. Yes, we of course kids now in the cities, they want to celebrate Halloween. But I always say, why don't you go to the villages and especially to one village in the Olastra region known as Seui, as written very simply S E U I, where they celebrate Su Prugadorio, often referred to also as is Animedas, which literally means the small souls. The celebrations for the Day of the Dead in Sardinia include massive dinner on the night of 31st of October and then they leave around food for the dead who may come at night and eat it to show them the way home. It's an interesting time to be here. Let's see what's next. Sardinia is a land of artists. We have loads and loads of art here in Sardinia. By that I mean singing, painting, sculpting, if you want to see. If you want to see the most beautiful representations of Sardinian art, there are a number of small towns that you could visit. Well, there's Orgozolo in the mountains of Sardinia, where the artistic expression elevates the form of murals. There's tons of them and they all have a political message similar to this. There are a lot of murals in the village of San Sperate, which is close to Cagliari. So quite easy to visit if you're in Cagliari. There is also the Giardino Sonoro sound garden, literally translates like that created by late artist Pinuccio Schola, who is world famous for having created musical stones, stones that produce different sounds depending on how you touch them, depending on how the wind touches them. It's just something to see. But There are also lots of Sardinian writers. Now I am deep in reading a thriller saga by by Pier Giorgio Puligi, Sardinian author that I love. But we have one of the very few Nobel Prizes in Italy for literature that was given to Grazia del Edda for her book Reads in the Wind. So you should read that. It's obviously taking place here in Sardinia in the past. It's something really unique that not many people know. Sardinia is also a land of actors and directors. You won't really find many Sardinian movies outside of Italy. If you have a chance, try and see the man who Bought the Moon by Sardinian director Paolo Zucca. It's a very fun movie. One more thing you may notice when you come here, just take a close look around. Especially if you're visiting outside the big cities. If you're going to smaller villages. Sardinian women cover their head well. At least the older generations do. My great aunt, my grandma never said stepped outside the house without sumuccadori. Mukkcadori is a headscarf. Some older women still do this. As I said, they also wear long, preferably black skirts. The colors of embroidery change from village to village. The costume was actually brought in Sardinia by the Arabs who ruled over the island for some time. It's just an issue. It's just a question of being modest. Especially they do this when they go to church. Now there are. We also have some creepy traditions. Things such as the evil eye or the tradition of Sa? A cabadora. Sa cabadora would be a woman who would basically end someone's suffering and help them pass. It was a form of euthanasia. It's been described incredibly well by Sardinian late author Michaela Murja in her book Sacabadora. So you could consider reading that. We have lots of archaeological sites. So if you're coming Sardinia, especially in the off season, don't think that you won't have much to do. Because we have unique sites. We have sites that are of Roman origins, sites that are of nuragic origins. Nurage are only typical constructions of cerdina that date to the Iron Age and the Bronze Age. We also have multi strata sites that have within them Punic, Roman and even Ragic ruins. So it's quite interesting to see. The landscape here in Sardinia can vary enormously. Obviously we have incredible beaches, we have mountains, but we have forests, we also have sand dunes. So depending on where you go on the island, you will feel in a completely different part of the world. That is again to say no, three days are not enough to visit Sardinia. And on top of that we have lots of of wildlife. The most interesting one that many tourists will like to see is the pink flamingos. There is a large colony of pink flamingos in Caleri living in Molentargio's nature reserve. But you will find them spread around the island. Come in the spring because that's the best time to see them. Especially, you know, may we also have the jara, or sea, which are wild horses, one of the few wild horses in Sardinia that live in the Jarrah Plateau in southern Sardinia. They are tiny, they're only 120cm tall, so they resemble more like a pony, but they are very graceful. They don't have the body shape of a pony. Now, my last last few points. You obviously already know about Sardinian beaches, but you may think that visiting Sardinia is expensive. And let me tell you, well, it is quite expensive if you come in the peak season. But if you decide to visit in the off season or even in the summer, but just outside the months of July and August, you won't find it nearly as expensive as you think. Now, this brings me to the end of today's episode. Next week for the wine lovers here, I want to talk to you about the best Sardinian wine and the wineries where you can try them. If you like my podcast, I encourage you to leave a good review, five star rating and obviously share your podcast my podcast with your friends that are coming to Sardinia next. Until next week then. Goodbye. Nara.