Isola di San Pietro
on Tina's Journal (China), 08/Dec/2011 08:41, 34 days ago
I had a lovely day trip out today with a good friend of mine toCarloforteon theIsola di San Pietro. I had never been there before so it was wonderful to explore the small Island. It is located South West of Sardinia and it is not physically connected to the mainland, the island next to it,Sant'Antiocois however and you can get a 20 minute ferry ride from there toCarloforte. So we drove first intoSan'Antioco, which is a another interesting island to explore, stopped off in the quaint town for a coffee and then caught the boat fromCalasettathe town on the North of the Island. Sant'Antioco looking from the mainlandGood cake and cappuccino!The original inhabitants of Carloforte are from Liguria in North Italy. The local dialect therefore is very different fromCampindanesewhich is the dialect spoken in Cagliari and its province. The story goes that the King of Sardinia in the 18th Century gave theIsola di San Pietro(St Peter's island) to a group of Ligurians who had been abandoned in North Africa by the Genoese hence the dialect in Carloforte often being referred to asGenovese.Carloforte viewed from the ferryThe town is small but quite pretty with cobbled lanes. There are lots of local restaurants to choose from and we ate a traditionalCarlofortinodish of fresh pasta with tuna....delicious.CarloforteAfter exploring the town we drove around the Island stopping off to appreciate some of the splendid and at times breathtaking views. Some of the geological  formations seem quite unique and stand out to to other rock on the island and on mainland Sardinia. The island is also home to flamingoes which we passed on our circular route.Interesting rock!Flamingoes.It is a beautiful island and because it is now low season the place was very quiet but alive with nature.