My daughter had told her little school friends that I was going to Siberia. I might as well have been, for all that I knew of Sardinia.

It's the greatest thing to travel with few preconceptions or expectations, so I had deliberately not done any research on my destination beforehand.

I wanted to be surprised, delighted, excited - all those things. What I hadn't expected was to be so amazed that I was totally lost for words - for once...

We'd walked down 654 stone steps chiselled into the side of an 180 metre limestone cliff at Capo Caccia, a promontory with magnificent views just 15 minutes' drive from our base at Alghero.

As if this wasn't enough of an experience, let me tell you that what happened when we got to sea-level and ducked inside the opening of Neptune's Grotto instantly took away the breath that I had been saving for the ascent.

If I took all the superlatives of every language in the world I would still not feel that I had done justice to this spectacle.

Imagine three beautiful cathedral-like chambers, with calcitic columns nine metres high, spectacular concretions like organ pipes and Christmas trees, unusual horizontal formations in what is aptly called the 'lace' hall and every shape and size of 'tites' and 'mites'.

Now multiply your vision a thousand-fold, add no less than seven lagoons as still as mirrors and the feel, perhaps, of an Indiana Jones film set. That's the nearest one can get within the confines of literary description.

What is worth saying here is that all this is less than three hours away from several UK airports. A Ryanair flight had whisked me from my nearest to Alghero, on the island's north west coast. A hired car, or even the Blue Line bus, can take you the 24 kilometre distance to Capo Caccia. It's that easy.

What wasn't easy - for me, anyway - was the ascent. It felt a bit like a vertical Great Wall of China. Only the thought that I had absolutely no choice but to plod on kept me going. I asked our guide what would have happened if I had collapsed. "Oh, the people who work in the caves will just have to carry you," she said - and she was not joking.

We may have done it the 'hard' way - when the sea is calmer you can take a boat from Alghero's harbour right up to the cave entrance instead.

But what a sense of achievement - and what a sense of having seen one of the finest sights I have ever laid eyes on.

I was half expecting everything else during the weekend to be overshadowed by the grotto experience, but not so. If you are fascinated by history or archaeology, Sardinia is covered with no less than 7,000 of the mysterious Nuraghi.

These are Neolithic fortress-like settlements unique to the island and dating back to about 1500BC.

A short drive in another direction took us to one of the most important historical sites in Sardinia, the necropolis of Anghelu Ruju.

This dates from 3000BC. Even those in our party who claimed to be 'bored' by Sardinia's colourful past were among the first to scramble inside these underground houses of the dead'. Incredibly, there are no less than 2,000 of these collective tombs all over Sardinia.

Alghero - founded in 1120 - has an intriguing past, with the remnants of its 400 year rule under the Catalans very evident today.

Half of the city's population speaks Catalan; indeed, people from Barcelona flock here during the summer.

As it seems that everyone from miles around does on a Sunday afternoon - generations of families promenade up and down the seafront and crowds pack the narrow cobbled streets of the old town.

However, on weekday afternoons the locals observe their siesta with a fervent reverence. The quaint streets are deserted and the shops closed save for a couple of cafes and tempting gelato parlours.

Alghero is very big' on religious festivals. In the old town, there are churches and museums dedicated to different processions, with sacred art and liturgical treasures.

I can well imagine how busy the local beaches become at the height of the summer season as the population almost trebles.

In early spring, though, the beach was deserted, if covered with the seaweed - algae - from which the town is believed to get its name.

This does get cleaned up in time for the sun seekers.

Alghero's wide promenade winds its way along to the harbour with its countless yachts and around the walls of the old town, past enticing restaurants and pavement cafes.

Here you can find menus to suit every budget, from the expected pastas and pizzas to the most magnificent platters of fish and seafood imaginable.

We had several memorable feasts at which we indulged in seafood risotto with clams and mussels, fried calamari, octopus, crab, sea bream, swordfish and monk fish.

Most of the people on our flight had come for a long weekend just to relax, soak up the sun - 22c at the beginning of March - try the wonderful food and dip their toes into the Med.

Talking to some of them on the way home, like me they had been amazed that they could pack all that, plus culture, history and one of the most wondrous sights that they are ever likely to see, into such a short space of time without feeling hurried.

What delighted them even more was that they could do it all so easily and pretty cheaply.

As I arrived back in drizzly Britain, with a harsh wind whistling around my ears, you can understand how cold and grey it felt. I missed the vibrance, the colour, the passion for life, the warmth of the Sardinian spirit.

Everything felt flat and listless after my Alghero experience In fact, it felt a bit like I was coming to Siberia.

Helen visited Alghero courtesy of Ryanair - www.ryanair.com - which operates flights to Alghero from several UK airports and stayed at the Hotel Angedras - www.angedras.it -in Alghero. Double rooms from 75 euros per night.