Looking Back

While reading more on-line about Sardinia I came across an article from the September 2009 issue of National Geographic Traveler.  Here is an excerpt about the place we visited the first day we were on the island.

Running roughly 35 miles along the northeastern shores of Sardinia, the Costa Smeralda boasts one of the most pristine stretches of shoreline in the Mediterranean, and one of the most exclusive. Every summer it attracts yachtfuls of film stars and models, playboys and princes, Arab sheikhs and Russian oligarchs. The paparazzi flock here to capture the likes of Pierce Brosnan, Julia Roberts, and Donatella Versace.

Costa Smeralda was the creation of jet-setting Prince Karim Aga Khan IV, the spiritual leader of Isma'ili Muslims. He stumbled upon the charms of this empty coast in 1958 when his yacht sheltered from a storm in one of its inlets. Within four years he had formed a consortium to buy more than 12,000 acres of coastal property to create a resort destination of villas, marinas, and luxury hotels.

It may sound like a great way to ruin a virgin coastline, but long before such things were fashionable, Costa Smeralda was a model of sustainable tourist development. Strict controls governed everything from building design (traditional materials only) to electricity cables (buried underground). This wasn't all far-sighted eco-consciousness, however; it was also simple self-interest. The rich partners in the consortium planned to holiday here themselves, and they wanted to keep it pretty much as they found it—a wild shore of pink and gray granite, of thorny prickly pear and juniper, of hidden coves with pocket beaches. A land magnificently apart.

[The unofficial capital of Costa Smeralda is Porto Cervo.] A re-creation of a Mediterranean village, this upscale port village is all cobbled lanes, picturesque archways, and elegant loggias—without a lot of locals. In place of fishing boats the harbor floats yachts the size of small cruise liners. Instead of butchers, bakers, and candlestick makers, the cute lanes are crowded with Versace, Prada, Gucci, and Bulgari. It's a shopping mall for millionaires: Park your boat and unpack your credit rating.