Alghero Sardinia Italy

Italy

You disembark in Italy, yet the street signs display Catalan. Alghero, a fortified trading post in north-west Sardinia, was repopulated in the fourteenth century by colonists from Barcelona, and six centuries later their language still echoes in the lanes. Sardinians call it "Barceloneta," little Barcelona. This singularity gives the port of call a double flavour: Sardinian sea on the plate, Catalonia in the accent.

A Landing at the Foot of the Ramparts

Ships anchor in the anchorage and tenders deposit passengers at the immediate edge of the old city: the ramparts rise less than thirty metres from the landing. No transfer, no waiting; you pass from spray to cobbles in a few steps, which leaves all the leisure to explore without watching the clock. A tourist office is located near the landing for those wanting a map of the place.

The Bastions Facing the Sea

Raised in the sixteenth century by the Aragonese, the fortifications unroll their rampart walk above the waters. A quarter-hour suffices to walk their length, between watchtowers, sleeping cannons and terraces where chilled vermentino wine is served. The bastions bear the names of explorers—Columbus, Magellan, Marco Polo—a wink to all the maritime routes that once passed through here. At sunset, the wall becomes the meeting place of the entire city; at port-of-call hour, it offers above all a continuous balcony over clear waters and the profile of Cape Caccia on the horizon.

In the Maze of the Old City

Behind the bastions, paved lanes wind between Catalan palaces, wrought-iron balconies and churches superimposing Gothic and Baroque. The Cathedral of Santa Maria rears its octagonal bell tower above the roofs, while the Cloister of San Francesco offers an island of coolness. Craftsmen here perpetuate the working of red coral, fished offshore for generations: the "Coral Riviera" takes its name from these precious waters, and the workshops of the old quarter fashion jewels of rare delicacy.

Neptune's Grotto: Cathedral Beneath the Cliff

The signature excursion leaves from the quay itself: speedboats reach Cape Caccia in about fifty minutes, whose limestone cliff shelters Neptune's Grotto. Stalactites, an interior lake and chambers as high as church naves compose a subterranean world toured with a guide, in constant coolness that brings relief from Sardinian summer heat. The more athletic also access it by the Escala del Cabirol, a staircase of six hundred fifty-four steps carved into the cliff face. Allow two to two and a half hours for the round trip by boat: book as soon as you land ashore.

The Alghero Table

The local repertoire marries spiny lobster Catalan-style, sea urchins in season and pasta with bottarga, all washed down with the region's mineral whites. The trattorias on the ramparts display the day's catch on a slate; it would be a pity to leave without tasting at least one seafood dish facing the water that supplied it. For a simpler pause, a slice of focaccia and a short espresso are taken standing, as the neighbourhood people do between errands.

One Final Look From the Anchorage

As the tender pulls away, the ochre towers reflect in the bay and the Catalan of the terraces mingles with the cry of gulls. Alghero leaves that particular sensation of having travelled in two countries at once, and of having brushed against, beneath Cape Caccia's cliff, one of the Mediterranean's finest geological secrets.