So Kathleen and I have finished up the last of our travels for the summer, returning late this past Sunday evening from Sardinia, a lovely Italian island lying in the heart of the Mediterranean. The trip was short, only four days, but all together made for a very pleasant and relaxing time. My only complaint is with the utter joke that comprises Italian public transit…I don’t know how these people get from place to place. From the airport to our hotel, a distance of maybe 30 miles, took about six hours to cover thanks to patchwork approach to buses, poor frequencies, and bizarre routes that seem to take the longest way possible. It was a relief to get back to Germany in that respect, as stations here are clearly labeled and vehicles are almost always on time.

Our hotel was part of a larger camping resort situated on a tiny peninsula sticking out into the Gulf of Arzachena. Every day the weather was gorgeous and warm, and we had our choice from a number of beaches. In a pleasant change from the norm, I didn’t even sunburn badly, a nice surprise. Most of our time was spent just sleeping in and whiling away the days on the beach or out on the patio in front of our room. Its the first vacation I’ve taking in a long, long time that didn’t consisting of being up and doing stuff constantly.

We did however stay active.  Early one morning I went hiking alone on a nearby hill. The island is covered in steep, rocky crags divided by dry and arid valleys, all of which is covered in a nice pattern of trees, bushes and other colorful vegetation. The tops of the hills are sheer rock, and as a landscape it is pretty stunning overall. My hike was only a few hundred feet up, and took less than an hour to summit, including a little rock climbing up the last 30-40 feet to get to the top. View was stunning and it was probably the quietest place on the whole island for me.

Later on that same day (it was our busy day) we took advantage of the resort’s activities to learn how to shoot bow and arrow, which despite my time in Boy Scouts I had never done properly before. Turns out it was actually a lot of fun, and I managed to peg the target 4 out of 5 times. Kat is insistent now on taking it up as a hobby, while I am running through how I would explain a bow and arrow in my luggage to customs officials…so far without anything good.

The other activity for our busy day was a long kayak trip. We rented out a double kayak and took it out into the gulf where Kat, despite my protests, insisted that we cross the water to a beach on the other side. We made it over in pretty good time all while successfully evading the large sail and motorboats. The beach was small and nearly empty, which was particularly nice when compared to the crowded beaches along most of the gulf. The water is clear over 30 feet down and gives us a wonderful emerald color close to shore. Our shoulders and arms were hurting the next day, but the kayak was definitely worth the trouble, and one of the best memories from the trip.