June 2007 - La Maddalena, Sardinia - the Archipelago

The most pristinely preserved portion of the Costa Smeralda is undoubtedly the Maddalen Archipelago made up of 7 islands (some of which people are not even allowed to swim near). The islands are made up of rugged, jagged coasts carved by wind erosion and covered in maquis vegetation.
We made our home base Palua, a city on the mainland of the Northeast coast facing Maddalena island. We then spent a day touring the islands that we could drive through, Maddalena and Caprera.

After taking the car ferry across the bay, we arrived on Maddalena.

And we started our tour by exploring the Maddalena's gorgeous beaches. Here we are overlooking Cala Spalmatore. And here are 2 shots of Baia Trinita, which we thought was the most beautiful on this island.

Then we set out to explore the town's touristy little center square. All that sun and a little wine at lunch made us quite giddy, as you can see in this picture.


Afterwards, we headed to Caprera over a picturesque little bridge that crosses Passo della Moneta connecting Maddalena to Caprera. There is no shortage of yachts anywhere on the Costa Smeralda.Caprera is known for its nearly flourescent blue water.

Perhaps the most historically significant of these islands is Caprera, the home of Giuseppe Garibaldi, the general credited with uniting Italy into one country in 1860 under King Vittorio Emmanuel. This hero marched with only 1,000 men in their red shirts and conquered the kingdom of the 2 Sicilies (spanning from Rome to Sicily) in just 2 months. Rome, at the time ruled by the Pope, was the last city he conquered. This land acquisition made unification of the rest of Italy possible.

This is the thinest point on Caprera. It appears that during high tide the two bays surrounding the island may meet in the middle of this road.