[ May 2018 ] We went to Sardinia in Italy for the first time in eight years.
The last time we went to the southeast part of the island, but this time, we went to the northeast side of it.
We
flew from Bergamo in the north of Italy to Alghero.
After arriving at Alghero airport, I realised that there are flights directly from London, too.
Alghero fist appeared in history in the 11th century as a small fishing village.
The Republic of Genoa ruled this village for a long time, but after the long struggle, it fell to the Catalan-Aragonese Confederation.
According to our guidebook, after the islanders rebelled in 1372 and got put down, they were expelled from the town.
Until the House of Savoy of Piedmont took over this town in 1720, it was under Spanish rule.
That means that it has been an Italian town for nearly 300 years now, but it still shows a lot of influences from Spain, particularly Catalonia.
Firstly, their flag is made up of red and yellow stripes, which is the same as the one in Catalonia.
The street signs are often written in both languages, for example, the name of the streets are indicated with Italian ‘via’ and Spanish ‘calle’.
Also, there were many Tapas and Paella restaurants in the town.
I did not expect that, so it was a surprise.
We stayed in a hotel called Villa Mosca in the south of the old town.
The large metal gate was always closed so we had to press the bell each time.
Inside the gate, there was a big garden and within the garden there was a yellow octagonal building, which was the hotel.
Apparently, it was built in 1922 and now it is listed. 
The ground floor was for reception and the restaurant and the bedrooms were on the first and the second floors.
Our room was on the second floor, which was an attic.
They do not have a lift and the staircase to the attic was very steep, which was a bit annoying, but apart from that, it was the perfect hotel.
Our room was spacious and comfortable, even though it was in the attic.
The interior was a little Gothic, with black and white walls and elaborate lamps.
The breakfast was gorgeous, particularly the cakes were very nice.
They had many kinds of cheese, too.
These are minute things, but the cutlery was good quality as well as the towels.
In most hotels, they mix old and new towels for a room, don’t they?
We changed the layout of the room slightly so that we both could use our computers and the room service staff member left it as we had.
On top of that they gave us another pillow for our convenience, which was considerate.
Usually in big hotels, each time they come to look after the room, they change it back to the original layout everyday.
This hotel has got only 6 rooms.
In the garden, they had some couches where we could see the sea view.
We relaxed here a couple of times, having a few drinks.
In June, apparently they open their restaurant to the public and it seemed to have a good reputation.
On the last day of our stay, we had to leave very early, so we thought we would have to give up the breakfast, but they prepared some cakes and cappuccinos for us at 5:15am.
If we go back to Alghero, I would like to stay in this hotel again, but apparently at the peak season, it costs €450 per night.
