Porto Cervo – luxury meets authenticity

When I'm in Sardinia in the summer, a trip to Porto Cervo is something of a must. I always have mixed feelings about it: on the one hand, I like the fact that this cathedral of the rich and famous comes across quite differently than one might expect. No multi-storey luxury hotels, no pompous representative offices. Nothing conspicuous dominates the scene. Wealth literally remains outside.

Everything in the town is cosy, charming and beautiful. You feel at home strolling through the narrow streets, admiring the shop windows and settling down for a Campari in one of the numerous piazzas. The harbour stands in stark contrast to this. Money and size dominate here. I don't like it as much, but it still appeals to me. So a stroll down to the harbour is a must. And then it blows me away. Every time. This time too. First, I come across a bar receipt. A few thirsty people have managed to drink away in a few hours what Mr. Mustermann works for several months to earn! And then the boats!

Several of them are crowded together at the pier, each one at least 50 metres long. That's standard. But a little further away is an unusually large ship with the name ‘Lady Moura’ emblazoned in gold letters. In the age of Google, there's no need to guess as in the past: it's the yacht of a construction magnate from the Orient, a full 105 metres long and costing 200 million dollars. Equipped with everything you could possibly imagine. One of the largest yachts in the world, mega-wealth squared and – how could it be otherwise – with a story straight out of One Thousand and One Nights.

‘Why does the owner of the yacht go anywhere at all, Uncle Jochen?’ my little nephew wanted to know. ‘He can't find anything as great as his ship anywhere on land! He might as well stay on his boat day and night.’ What should I have answered? In a way, he was right: What hotel, even in posh Porto Cervo, could surpass this level of comfort, what lounge could be larger, what chef better than the one on board? ‘There must be reasons,’ I replied, ‘they don't necessarily have anything to do with wealth.’ I'll spare you the entire question-and-answer session: the answers didn't convince either me or my nephew.

Once again, I leave with mixed feelings, because Porto Cervo doesn't seem to fit in with ‘my’ Sardinia at all. Nevertheless, I know that I will return. What will I see then, after I have already ‘ticked off’ the ‘toys’ of Nasser Ar Raschid, Kashoggi, Abramovic, Bill Gates and the Royal Family?

Porto Cervo is worth seeing and endearing because it is small, beautiful and cosy! The fact that there are more people here than elsewhere who are inconspicuously flanked by discreet guards and have giant boats in the harbour is only worth a side note.

Are these contrasts what makes Porto Cervo so unique?

With a Sardinian ‘Adiosu’, I bid you farewell for today.

Joachim Waßmann