In Cagliari, every building is the step of a majestic staircase leading you down to the sandy Sardinian shores. If you are lucky enough to have been given a window seat on your flight to Cagliari, look outside as soon as landing is announced. You’ll see a cascade of white and sandy stones tumbling into the sea. A green and golden promontory surrounded by stripes of crystal clear water, looking far into sea towards Sicily. White dots in the blue sea, orderly lined up in the harbour. A white church on the top of a hill clothed with white marble. Sandy coloured towers guarding the city skyline. Cagliari fronts onto the Gulf of Angels in a big hug that embraces those come for the first time, or come back, or which bids farewell to those who leave. Its roads and alleys smell of coffee, calamari fritti and grilled fish. It doesn’t matter whether you prefer to sunbathe, to sip local liqueurs in an old bar or to dive down in a thousand-year old history: Cagliari is that gem of the Mediterranean you just won’t forget.