A touch of Norway in the Mediterranean

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-07-02 11:47

Those hankering for a little amusement after finishing their swim can take the obligatory stroll through La Maddalena, which is lined with 18th-century town houses and countless shops selling Sardinian rugs and delicacies catching the eyes of gourmets.

A small causeway and an old railroad bridge link La Maddalena with Caprera, the second-largest island in the archipelago. Its forests are even lusher than those on La Maddalena. Grander, too, are its granite formations, many of which resemble animals. Is that one a snake, a horse head or a fantastical creature of stone?

It is somewhat difficult to find the beaches on Caprera, though. What cannot be overseen are signs of Italian freedom fighter Giuseppe Garibaldi, who settled on the island following his patriotic exploits and died there in 1882. His house, the Casa Bianca, stands in a dense stone pine forest.

Bag-packing in the evening is followed by another cosy get-together, with a view of La Maddalena's harbor. The ferries, as quiet as they are busy, glide back and forth all the while. In the distance, over the mountains on Sardinia - the "mainland", though an island itself - cloud formations are visible.

Then swarms of swallows appear out of nowhere, moving across a sky that is already about to turn night-blue. Disco music still booms from the harbor bar below, but the archipelago seems slowly to sink into silence.

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