Houston Interior Designer Pamela O’Brien is Living La Dolce Vita!

Summer 2024 Travelog 

This summer was all about living the sweet life, or should I say, “La Dolce Vita!” We had a lovely opportunity to stay with friends at their villa in Porto Cervo, Sardinia. It’s a big yachting community that appealed to my husband, Jon, and I was eager to experience elegant coastal living in the Mediterranean. It was the kind of invitation you just can’t refuse! Do you want to relive my summer travels with me? I can’t wait to share the design inspiration I found along the way, as well as some tried and true travel tips.

Olbia Origins – Kicking Off Our Trip

We flew into Olbia, rented a car, and made our way north to beautiful Porto Cervo. We were so spoiled staying in a private villa where everything was taken care of. It was delightful! The villa had a lovely pool and gardens, parking for numerous cars, direct beach access from the back gate, a yacht ideal for day trips, and a housekeeper who offered to do our laundry each day.

We had such fun boating out to places like La Maddalena, a national park where all sorts of boats tie up. We took dips and swims and played with the water toys. Jon especially liked the SEABOB underwater scooter that lets you dive down into the water. The water was beautiful, and there were a lot of rocks that harbored urchins, fish, and anemones. We could see these sea creatures from the boat because of how clear the water was! Snorkeling in this area is really fun, too. We ate lunch on the boat every day and enjoyed a local, simple picnic menu of Caprese and pasta salads, prosciutto and melon, grilled eggplant, delicious local bread, and, of course, olives. We ended lunch with an espresso and the best amaretti cookies I’ve ever eaten.

The sun is very hot with high UV, so when we weren’t in the water we looked for shade. We took siestas in the late afternoon ,just like the locals, followed by a quick dip in the pool before dinner plans. It’s a very relaxed schedule with everything shutting down from 1-4 pm so people can avoid the heat and have a meal at home followed by a nap. This makes dinner a bit late but we’d head out to apéro, which is the French word for happy hour, around 7:15. After that, we would attend our dinner reservations around 8. This timing allowed us to beat the biggest crowds by about 30 minutes and most restaurants don’t open until 7:30 anyway. It’s quite charming that every single meal is eaten outside. However, that means in today’s climate you may sweat at each meal too.

Next Stop: Corsica!

After a few glorious days, we headed to Corsica. We learned a lot about traveling on these remote, small Mediterranean islands in the summer. The hotels offered no help with luggage, even in the luxury resorts. If you stay in a historic district, you may park in the city center parking garage and have to haul your luggage up and down cobblestone streets. I sound like an ugly American. It wasn’t that bad, but it is something to think about if your bags are heavy or if you have a large group.

The Inside Scoop on Packing for Europe 

Personally, I would try to pack lighter next time. You probably won’t need a jacket, scarf, or wrap at night. I brought all three, thinking we’d be on the water so much that we’d need a bit of cover. You will want things you can wash or have laundered because you will sweat a lot during the day (see note above about dining al fresco!). Even with the beautiful seas and cool breezes, Europe is getting hotter. Many places don’t have air conditioning, or they don’t use it. You may have to use your key to turn on the air in the rooms. So, what does that mean when you leave? It means your air might go off, and your room could get hot while you are away. You will get hot and sweaty when walking to lunch and dinner or taking hikes in the mornings or evenings. Therefore, I highly recommend booking the nicest room you can afford because you will spend more time in it than you think with the daily siestas and frequent showers.

Takeaways From Corsica

Our favorite hotel of the trip, the idyllic Hotel Cala di Greco, had a private pool for our room. We really loved that and got in about twenty-five times in three days! The architecture reminded me of a resort we stayed in recently during a trip to Scottsdale. The buildings were white stucco, and the rooms were more like small apartments. The grounds were half Texas Hill Country and half desert oasis. Many of the plants we know in Houston, like oleander, lantana, trumpet vine, and lots of succulents and prickly pear cacti, lined the hotel grounds.

Some of the most interesting features in southern Corsica were the stacked stone walls and old stone roads that were everywhere. The area around Bonifacio is known for its many walking paths, and you feel like you are walking through history in this unique spot.

Moving Forward to Bonifacio

Then there is the town of Bonifacio itself. This was my favorite stop on our itinerary. It was drop-dead gorgeous with its many cliffs, rocks, and turquoise waters. The Haute Ville, or old medieval village, lay at the top of the cliffs. The port below was chock full of luxury yachts and lively shops and restaurants. 

After loving and leaving Bonifacio, we headed north to Bastia. We were in the old city and had a small balcony that opened right onto the port. Jon loved watching the maritime activities right from our sofa. We took a walking tour one morning and a wine tour in the Patrimonio region the second day. We really enjoyed both outings. Each afternoon after our siesta, we could descend from our hotel to a little beach for a swim before dinner. So refreshing!

Farewell, France! Hello, Italy! 

We strategically booked an Airbnb for our next-to-last stop in Alghero, Italy. We figured we’d want to spread out a bit more and do some laundry. We were right! Very few places have dryers in this area. Plan accordingly since you will probably be putting your clothes out in the sun just like the locals do. If you have a spot that gets 4-5 hours of sun, your clothes will dry quickly.

Highlights in Alghero included a fun cooking class during which we made five kinds of pasta and then enjoyed the fruits of our labor. Another highlight was a photoshoot at this gorgeous, secluded beach.

I can’t wait to get the photos back from that morning! We met the photographer, Valeria Mameli, at 6:20 in the morning and spent a glorious two hours in the cool morning weather on a beach all by ourselves. I was amazed at how green it was. I thought Sardinia was much more barren, but there are dense coastal shrubs dubbed the macchia in Italy (the maquis in French). It was beautiful against the sand, red rocks, and watch towers.

Returning to Olbia

Our last stop was back in Olbia, and this time, we chose a beach resort. It was retro but on a pretty beach with beautiful grounds. We splurged on the parking garage, which we had all to ourselves since no one else apparently wanted to pay for parking. To us, 15 Euros a day was a bargain not to have a scorching car. We spent our final days exercising on the rooftop open-air fitness facility, which was surprisingly refreshing with the breeze. We also hit the beach morning and night and finished with a bit of shopping, an outdoor market, wine tasting, and a seaside dinner.

Travel Lessons and Tips

We learned a few lessons from this trip about visiting the Mediterranean in the summer. First, you can’t depend on all the ferries. Both of ours were canceled, so we had to scramble to find alternate lodging in the city of departure while still paying for the room at the destination. Since it is the high season, places fill up quickly, and there are almost no cancellation options.

Wi-Fi is critical for changing plans on a dime. Hotspots work (sort of) enough to find a nearby hotel with rooms available but not good enough to get an actual booking to go through. After finding just a few vacancies on Hotels.com, we ended up just walking to reserve a room after our first ferry cancellation. It was our anniversary evening, so we went local and visited a beach bar, had a nice dinner, and walked around the piazza eating ice cream like everyone else. They had a night market and it was quite fun and not at all touristy.  

For our second ferry cancellation, we were lucky to find that the Cala di Greco, where we had already stayed, had one room left. We really loved that hotel, and although I couldn’t get Expedia to work, we just drove to the hotel, where we knew the Wi-Fi code, and booked it in the parking lot. It was about $50 cheaper than the local rate at the desk and was a much lower price than our first few days. Alas, no private pool this time.

A word to the wise: it’s high season, and many hotels are quite small. A last-minute room could run you more than $500 a night. Also, ferries are completely booked. Book your ferry crossings well in advance and read the reviews, especially for the smaller ports. If your ferry is canceled, they seem to put you on the first boat the next day, thus the need for that extra hotel room. However, to be sure, go to the ticket office and confirm the sailing times. The posters are often wrong. The email they sent with our rebooking was also wrong. Push for a reprinted ticket before you leave the ticket office so you know you are on the boat and when it leaves. They’ll tell you it’s too much work to rebook everyone and you should just come back later or just show up the next day. That made me nervous, especially with all of the incorrect information. I found if you ask nicely and just stand there holding up the line, they’ll probably print your new ticket. If you use a ferry booking company, they send you an email maybe an hour before your sailing time to tell you it’s canceled, so it’s hard to plan around that. Jon said the ferry we were supposed to be on was quite old, and he wasn’t surprised that the ferry was still not working five days after we returned to Sardinia.

Be Flexible and Enjoy!

To genuinely enjoy travel, you must be flexible and willing to go with the flow. Sometimes, the little changes and plans made on the fly become the most treasured memories. We enjoyed spending our anniversary in a small, local port city and got an extra day at our favorite hotel for the whole trip, so it all turned out beautifully.

Travel and even last-minute preparations always inspire me. Until next time, find your inspiration, or call us, and we will help you discover it.

-Pamela

MEET PAMELA, A LUXURY INTERIOR DESIGNER IN HOUSTON

Pamela O’Brien is the founder of Pamela Hope Designs in Houston, Texas. Pamela is an award-winning luxury interior designer, writer, and speaker. Prior to founding Pamela Hope Designs, Pamela served as a spokesperson in media and public affairs, working with media outlets like Dateline NBC and 48 Hours. This experience allowed her to travel the world and furthered her love for travel, culture, and interior design. After going back to school to pursue interior design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design, Pamela launched her own interior design firm. Pamela is known for building strong relationships with her clients, who later become friends and collaborators. She is highly influential in the Houston interior design space and shows no signs of slowing down.

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