If you haven't been to Sardinia, go immediately! It is a gorgeous, magical place with turquoise water and wind smoothed rocky mountain terrain. The scenery can only be truly appreciated with your own eyes. We stayed in a charming hotel, absolutely recommend Borgo Antico Hotel in San Pantaleo (see 'Lovely Links' for detail).
Upon arrival, first things first - head straight to the beach. We found a small beach on Costa Smeralda to start the relaxation (pic of me at that beach). With nothing but time, the next day we drove along the north east coast of Sardinia stopping at small beaches to take in more of the Sardinian sun. We had heard much about Porto Cervo and decided to check it out on Friday night. You know the show 'cribs'... ya, if there was an equivalent for a yatchs this would be the place. Multi-Million dollar yatchs lined the marina and once docked you could shop at Gucci, Prada or one of the many super high end shops, 'til about 1 am when the shops close. Fur is in this season in Italy btw. Saturday we wanted to go a bit more low key so we took a boating trip for the day and sailed around the small islands just north of Sardinia (you could see Corsica from the boat!) We left from the Porto Rotondo and headed for Santo Stefano (pic of island city). We then stopped at Capera and took a dip in the sea and enjoyed some beach time, and then did the same with La Maddalena and around Capo Testa. The it was back on the boat to head around the islands to the famous Pink Beach. It is closed to people, but you can see it from the boat. Literally the sand is pink. It has a certain rock that gives the pink hue to the sand. Again, something you just have to see with your own eyes.
Italy = amazing food (I think this is a given). Another reason to stay at Borgo Antico was the wine and cheese bar around the corner. They serve cheese on top of thin flat bread with figs and honey (for free) along with your wine (pay for the wine). I think we got lucky because there was a live band playing for several hours into the night and a woman singing in songs in Portuguese & Italian (fed my obsession with Brazil). She sang Girl from Ipanema...I was in heaven.
