We had rented a villa for 14, and Mike and Kate Fraynes family of 4 kids came along with a nanny Anna from Australia, and also Daryl and Alison Henthorn and their daughter Claire. The villa was terrific, as it was on a large plot of land, so the kids could explore and build forts and bases as they call them. There was a hugh outdoor eating area, with fireplace, cooktop/oven/ fridge/ ice maker and seating for 20. Alongside that was the pool area with lounges and day beds. The villa was in a few sections, upstairs were three bedrooms with en-suites, and downstairs 4 bedrooms with en-suites. There was an outside gym, and a contained spa health room.
So there was much to like about the place, but it had its issues. Firstly it was called La Roccia by the agent we rented it through, and the map we were given to get there, as sign posts are not common in Sardinia was detailed, but when we arrived at where we thought the place was, there was a place called Villa Teresa, so we drove around for 30 minutes trying to find where we made a mistake. Mike spent nearly 2 hours driving with screaming kids in the car, finally getting the on site guy to meet them in a near by town. And where was La Roccia, well its called Villa Teresa, but no one bothers telling you that, which as l said to them surely it would help, she said they never had any problems, l can only imagine she has a very long nose.
Anyway, we finally all arrived and all the excitement must have been too much for little Charlie, as he had a shit in the pool, not a hugh one, but enough to scare the crap out of me. So as we all looked into the pool on a 34 degree day, it was decided to get the man to give it a good clean and add a bit of chlorine. I did not swim in it for another day, and no one got sick.
Each day we visited beaches, all very beautiful, some with deck chairs for rent on them, others with a bar and all with travelling sales people flogging, towels, toys, jewellery etc.
We were near Costa Smeralda, on the north east corner, l never actually went to that town, but basically it used to be a swamp area and then an arab came along, saw the wonderful beaches from his boat, and bought up the land and built a new city, and many places around that area felt like that, a bit modern and lifeless, not the Italy we are used to. We did find a lovely town called San Pantaleo, which felt very home like, and has a market in its little piazza over the summer every week.
We did go to porto Rotondo for dinner one night, and saw along the piers the most expensive power boats/ ships from all around the world, with power cables the size of your arm going into them, mostly wankers, and no feeling, and generally the town was a rip off and like Costa Smeralda, no real feeling.
Its never easy with 14 people, but we all seemed to get along very well, doing different things, and occasionally going out as two groups. Daryl was brilliant on the BBQ, and Alison ran the kitchen very well with all the kids in the morning, making them clean their plates and put them in the dishwasher. Anna the nanny was most impressive, as 4 young kids would never be easy. And even with her there, Kate and Mike were always busy, but l feel everyone had a good rest most of the time.
The place like l said had its moments, as the power went out twice, and it was always hard to find Alessandro on site, the wifi barely worked, and often not at all, and the general condition of some of the items was in need of replacement.
The trip ended with a report from the agent (Sardinia Villa Collection) giving me an email of what was damaged or missing, and this is were the holiday was spoilt. Most petty things, towels missing, which one was found later, and the towels were not that great, rubbish left at the end, l presumed that's what the cleaners did, a wifi antenna missing, hence it not working, but they disagreed, and a shower head broke off and hit Anna in the head, but they still want to charge us 50 euro to replace it. And so we fought, and are still fighting on some of the costs, more on principle, but you cant help feel that they do this all the time to fix things that they should have already done.
While we were there we caught up with our good friends Rossella and Marcus and their kids Luca and Sofia who go to school with the boys, Rossella is from Sardinia. There is a strong spanish, Santa Fe feeling in the house designs, they use granite stones all the time, and juniper wood in the design of houses, it is protected and they bleach it and use it like trusses in the roof, or along the gates as posts.
Anyway, the joy continued, as we left on the saturday morning to the airport, l asked Jayne to plug in on the navigator the airport, though l had a good idea where it was, l left enough time to return the hire car, as well as filling it up. We drove off and after 15 minutes the navigator said turn right, but the signs to Olbia said straight on, but the airport is out of the town so l went with the navigator, 15 minutes later as we drove more into the hills , l said to Jayne this is not the way, are you sure you put in the airport. And as usual she said yes, dont blame me, its not my fault, l got her to do it again, this time it told us to drive for another 10 minutes and turn around, back to where we had come. Jayne had somehow pushed in a near by town to where we lived, and we were doing a large circle. So now we are running late, lam driving like an italian, but there where too many tourists driving as well. As l screamed and yelled, watching the time tick by, feeling we were going to miss the flight. The boys stared to feel sick as we drove around the tight mountain roads, Ewan went first, luckily we had a plastic bag in the car, then Hunter, it was a time to share that plastic bag, and the boys are not good sharers with each other, so the back seat got covered in vomit. We drove on, the navigator saying one thing, the street signs saying another,next thing we know we are driving through the town of Olbia, l felt it was like driving through San Francisco, as the car bounced over speed humps and across intersections in the hope to make the flight. We arrived they all piled out and ran in to the desk, 20 minutes till it left. The women very kindly said sorry it closed. So then for the next 45 minutes we went back and forth, on and off the phone, trying to get another flight to Bologna, the next one was in 10 hours and was booked, so we finally got one 2 hours later to Milan. This gave me time at least to clean the back seat and fill the car up with fuel, so not all lost. We then flew to Milan, ran from the baggage area to a bus to central, then ran from the bus into the train station to get a ticket, Jayne and Ewan did that, while Hunter and l took the bags to the waiting train, 3 minutes before it left we got on, and slowly started to smile. Arriving in Bologna around 6 p.m. we got a taxi home. So that day we had a hire car, then plane, bus, train, taxi. Jayne then had a quick shower and jumped in our car and drove with leslie to Tuscany to see Roger her brother sing. All l'll say is that she missed him sing, had a shitty hotel to stay in, got ripped of at a thermal spring, lost a dress, and arrived back in Bologna two days later.
So if we ever go back to Sardinia we will never book through Sardinia Villa Collection, get to the airport hours early, and never ever allow Jayne to plug the address in. The whole mistake, cost another 600 euro
Another Sardinian beach
Beach boys
Sleeping angels
Bouncy ball at waterworld
Hunter at waterworld
Mike the skipper with crew
Kids sandcastle
One of the Sadinian beaches
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