Carloforte (Part 1)

Carloforte   

We had arrived in Carloforte on the evening of Monday 19 June, only really expecting to spend a couple of nights on the town quay. However, the Guardia Costiera had told us that our ‘marca di bollo’ (literally ‘jetty stamp’) was valid until the weekend and on the Thursday the annual tuna festival would begin. So, we had decided to stay put until our ‘stamp’ ran out. During those first few days on the quay, we found Carloforte to be a delightful little town, quiet in the build-up to the festival, but very attractive with lots of narrow streets with pastel painted houses and shops. A real, lived in town but very pretty with it and with all the necessary services for locals and tourists alike. But, since we had the time, and since Isolo di San Peitro (the island of which Carloforte is the capital) did not seem to be the sort of place where we would be dicing with death if we were on 2 wheels, we decided to get the bikes out to go exploring slightly further afield.

The helpful chap in the tourist information office had recommended that we go south to view the rock stacks just off the ‘imaginatively’ named Punta delle Colonne (Column Point). It was only a 3 mile or so ride and the good quality road was only gently undulating, so it didn’t take us long to reach the turning to the cliff path. Here the good quality road turned into an equally high quality track, which ended in a car park, from where an excellent crazy-paving footpath led to the columns. It was all very easy, clearly this is a well-trodden tourist path! And, the man from the tourist information office – he was right. The stacks are jolly impressive (even if some appear to have suffered the same fate as Malta’s Azure Arch!) and the views around are lovely too.

Punta delle Colonne   

St Catherine and St Helen   

Isola di San Pietro, like mainland Sardinian, has a good number of Nuragic sites, several of which are marked on the map that we had. On our way back to BV we tried to locate one but, after a very long, hot cycle part of the way up the steep ridge that overlooks Carloforte, we could only find the sign for the EU sponsored road to the site, we could not find the site itself. So, we coasted back down to the port and enjoyed our well-deserved sundowners watching the ferries busily plying back and forth to Sardinia. We had watched quite a few ferries go in and out when it struck us that we actually recognised some of them. Closer observation confirmed that 2 were, in a previous life, St Catherine and St Helen, 2 of the 3 Wight Link ferries which, along with St Cecilia, used to ply the waters between Portsmouth and Wootton Creek/Fishbourne, when we sailed Indaba and then BV out of Gosport!

Carloforte market   

Wednesday is market day in Carloforte, so bright and early on 21 June we headed to the war memorial square to see what was on offer. We didn’t need much, as we were still eating down our purchases from Cagliari, but there’s always space in the fridge for fruit and tomatoes (or so Nicky tells me, personally, I think it might be better occupied by beer!) so we went to investigate. And, yes, the fruit and veg selection was fabulous and, yes, we did buy almost more cherries and tomatoes than we could consume but it was worth it. As we left the market we commented that it was a shame that there wasn’t a market on Fridays as well, as by then we would be in need of a full restock but in the intervening period we had the excitement of GiroTonno to look forward to.

(L) Steps up from Piazza Republica. (R) View from the old city walls at the top of the town

Carloforte, Sardinia, Italy