The force of attraction of the Costa Smeralda

Each year off the coast of the island anchored hundreds of yachts and the local airport land countless Gulfstreams and Boeing Business Jets - and this despite the fact that the rocky beaches of Sardinia significantly inferior in quality to the Côte d'Azur and the Spanish Marbella. Nevertheless, Costa Smeralda - a favorite resort of Julia Roberts, Leonardo DiCaprio, Madonna, Tom Cruise, Giorgio Armani and Roman Abramovich, and in the past there were vacationing Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn, Jackie Kennedy Onassis, Princess Diana and many others.

Tradition holiday on the Italian island put the Lebanese Sheikh Karim Aga Khan IV, whose boat will of fate has broken off the coast of Sardinia in 1961. Tired sultry St. Tropez and Monte Carlo crowded, he decided to buy the land and fishing villages set up in their place, a heavenly place for a relaxed holiday away from the hustle resorts. The idea of ​​a planned luxury development of the coast, where construction is clearly regulated by strict rules, thought all the services and communications, so relished friends sheikh that within two years, Sardinia has become a new magnet for multi-million dollar Mediterranean states and all kinds of royal titles. Today, the local authorities have strongly limit the number of mega yachts off the coast of the island - recently introduced a special tax: the owners of yachts over sixty meters ordered to pay a tax of $ 20,000, even if they arrived just one day.

The main center is considered to be a true dolce vita Costa Smeralda coastline length of 55 kilometers in the north of Sardinia. The main advantage of "Emerald" coast are its many secluded harbor, quiet lagoons and gentle waters of the Mediterranean Sea.

Arriving on the island, it is best to stay at Cala di Volpe, built in 1963 by architect Jacques Kuellem directed by the Aga Khan in the style of old Italian coastal town and serves as a second home to Sheikh. Here in 1977 the episodes were shot ten films about English superspy James Bond film "The Spy who loved me" with Roger Moore in the title role. Completely renovated in 2001, the hotel offers 125 rooms, elaborately furnished in a traditional style, technique-art Bang & Olufsen, decorated with local fabrics and spacious bathrooms, marble Sardinia.

Dinner at a local restaurant La Barbecure, there is every chance that the next table would be Silvio Berlusconi, who on the island owns seven villas, including the huge Villa La Certosa, or Fiona Swarovski, heiress of the crystal empire Swarovski, settled in a modest family house by the sea. On the same morning, it is a pleasure to drink flavored green tea to kotormu served ten different varieties of spicy honey.

A decent alternative to bliss on the beach is a stroll through the pedestrian streets of Porto Cervo with the obligatory shopping. Versace, Gucci, Chanel, Tiffany & Co., Prada - the concentration of boutiques and trendy audience per unit area is superior and the Champs Elysées, and the Tokyo Ginza. In search of ancient cultures can visit the grand stone houses "nuraghi", built many centuries before our era, the ancient Phoenician necropolis, the Roman amphitheater and the majestic Cathedral of the Romanesque and Gothic style. The third option - to go to the neighboring island of La Maddalena, whose untouched nature has to unhurried contemplation and romance.

Lunch sophisticated gourmets prefer to swim at a nearby Corsica - restaurant La Caravelle Hotel Bonifacio offers the best gifts of the sea Poseidon, and fun - in the Billionaires' Club, owned by the famous playboy Flavio Briatore. For men, the local dress code requires Brioni suits and black wallet with American Express, for their companions - light silk dresses, elegant high-heeled shoes, big sunglasses, a little Graff and de Grisogono. And certainly all appreciate emeralds - in fact it is the date stone of the Costa Smeralda.