Sardinia in May: Market in San Teodoro and Pineta Sant’Anna - Parco del Sole hike along the beach

Sardinia in May Friday Market in San Teodoro and hike along the beach from Pineta Sant’Anna to Parco del Sole.

On Friday morning there’s the weekly market in San Teodoro. We find a parking space quite easily because it’s just before nine o’clock and the stall holders are still setting up. It’s not a large market but there are a few stalls selling fruit and veg and cheese etc. There are also a lot selling linen clothes which seem to be very popular in Sardinia. I’m tempted but don’t actually succumb. Instead we get some local fruit (peaches and nectarines) and vegetables (courgettes, aubergines, fennel and onions) and some sheep ricotta. We leave it all in a cool bag in the car and have a look around the centre of San Teodoro. It’s quite small, modern, but pleasant, mostly restaurants and bars and inexplicably an enthusiastic DJ at 10.30 in the morning. I later realise that neither I nor Andrea took any photos…..you can draw your own conclusions.

We go back home for lunch and in the afternoon go for a walk along the beach. We start off from the pineta Sant’Anna and there’s no doubt where that is. Apart from being a couple of hundred metres from our apartment Google maps and local signs all agree. Which is Spiaggia/Baia Sant’Anna is a  little more confusing because the first part of the long’ Budoni’ beach north of pineta Sant’Anna would seem to be Spiaggia Sant’Anna, while the Baia Sant’Anna which gives the name to a small village of holiday homes is several kilometres further south.

Anyway, to get back to the point, we set off from pineta Sant’Anna heading north along the beach. Our objective is the very pleasant Parco del Sole area which we visited last year. It’s hard going along the beach. It scores few points for walkability. It slopes more than a little, one sinks into the sand and sometimes there’s seaweed blocking the way or coarser sand. The sun is strong to our left and the wind and waves are strong to our right. Andrea seems oblivious and strides happily. I trudge, my foot hurting a bit.

About a third of the way along, a stream comes out into the sea. Andrea takes off his shoes and wades through. I decide to jump it but splash one foot – the one that’s hurting. I trudge more, now with one damp sock and shoe. But the going improves for a while, the sand is firmer. We pass the dog beach. There’s also a beach club here but the sea shelves steeply and there aren’t many people around. The Parco del Sole is nice and in the stagno behind we glimpse a solitary flamingo. Whoever created Parco del Sole in the pinewood intended it to last – the picnic table and benched are made of enormous blocks of granite.

We sit a while, my foot seems to have come to no harm and the sock and shoes dry out a little. On the way back we skirt the back of the beach near the stagni and it’s pleasant. 

This time I take off shoes and socks to cross the stream and a little further along we sit on the beach in the sun while our feet dry out. The wind has dropped a little and the waves are calming. And in the end it was a pleasant walk (but not one that I will repeat).

Santa Teresa Gallura in May Trip Report