Self catering apartment in Sardinia, Italy
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
Guests are asked to cooperate with the recycling. In the apartment are different boxes for the litter, paper, aluminium, glass, plastic and organic waste. We ask guests to put the litter in the basement where there is big box for non-recyclable waste. We encourage the reduction of water usage. In Sardinia we have lack of water and because of that we have to use it sparingly. There are water-saving taps and a half flush toilet.
We change the towels and sheets once per week. We ask people to use the eco-programs for dishwasher and washing machine and we only use eco-products that have the certified eco-label. For the washing machine we use soapnuts or ‘lisciva’ and instead of softener we use white vinegar. For the kitchen we always use eco-label products and a micro-fiber sponge so you do not have to use much soap.
We keep plastic usage to a minimum, for example we reuse the same plastic bottles. The water from the tap is drinkable so we encourage our guests to use it as much as possible. The apartment uses gas for hot water, heating and electricity for the light, but as the house has big windows with double glass, the sun raises the temperature of the house naturally so you will not need to have the heating on very much. The big window provides enough light until sunset to save on lighting costs and we use energy saving lightbulbs.
Whenever possible we lend guests what they need instead of them having to buy new items. We have several sun-shades and beach towels and we encourage people to use these, and whenever possible we encourage the use of shared cars.
Community
The apartment belongs to a local person and is on the top floor of a family house. You will meet with my parents, Tina & Mario, who will invite you to drink the local wine in their cantina. Tina likes cooking (like most Italian housewives!) and enjoys preparing cakes to give to the guests. People enjoy their hospitality even though they do not speak English.
In Cala Gonone most of the companies are run by the local community which are involved in tourism, so every time you are going snorkeling, diving, kayaking, hiking, on a boat tour, etc. you are supporting the local community. The area offers a good selection of local products that you will find in all supermarkets.
Local people consume local food as a normal habit, so prices are reasonable because products are not made for the tourists, but for the local community. You will easily find bread, cheese, pasta, cakes, cookies, sausages and honey as well as handcrafts and leather goods. We encourage our guests to do the same and we give people advice where to buy the local products.
We do a lot of work to the property ourselves, but when we need some extra help we use local people for electricity, water & pump problems, or other kinds of renovation. We employ a Peruvian girl who works around the house in order to fund her studies in Sardinia. Without this employment she would not be able to stay on to complete her thesis.
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