Why Corsica?  A couple of years before were planning a trip to Italy and Corsica came across our radar…..how could we scoot over there for a few days?  It just wasn’t going to work out as our 3 weeks had already morphed into 4, then 5 and fitting Corsica in just wasn’t going to happen but our interest had been piqued and thought that perhaps it was a vacation destination all on it’s own….and we were right!   So much history….Napoleon, vendettas, wars and invasions, megaliths and of course food…..seafood, cheese, chestnut everything, myrtle liqueurs, beaches, mountains, twisty roads….just so much in such a small space!!  Our sources of information were a DK Corsica guide book, Lonely Planet and worth the read if you are interested in the history of Corsica regarding vendettas and the megaliths is a book by Dorothy Carrington called “Granite Island: A Portrait of Corsica (a bit of a slog read but quite interesting).

Map and some useful info on Corsica  https://www.go-to-corsica.com/corsica-infos/map-of-corsica

Week 1……

Friday June 13

Rae and Glen picked us up at 11:00 and off we went.  At the airport within an hour.  Had lunch and wandered around until we boarded.  Zoom airlines (now defunct but was a no frills airline out of Vancouver for a few years) was pretty good.  Similar to Air Transat….fed and watered us which was good enough.

Saturday June 14

Arrived in London (Gatwick) just after 9AM.  Took what seemed like forever to get through customs.  Grabbed the Holiday Inn airport hotel shuttle, checked in and back to the airport by 11:30 to catch the train to Brighton for the day!  Good day too….bright and sunny!

Train ride was about 45 min.  The train station at Brighton is quite nice, old, built in the 1840’s with a few renovations/additions since but they managed to keep the glass roof!  Cool!  Was about a 15 minute walk down to the water.  Had a nice lunch, fish and chips for Ken and scampi and chips for me at one of the many “chippie” places along the waterfront near the carousels, just across from the pier.  Lots of goodies to try including eels and oysters. Did NOT try the gellied eels…..sorry Larry, no matter how much you loved them as a kid, it was just not going to happen….I left them ALL for you!

After lunch we visited the pier…..fun, loud, busy place full of arcade games and rollercoaster type rides.  Sort of scary though when you look at the structure that is holding all that up!!  You can see the sea through the cracks in the floor boards!  Probably looks just as it did 50 years ago!  Wandered along the pebbly (shingle?) beach for a while….thought about taking the little tourist train but we were running out of time….and getting a bit tired (jetlag…).  Headed up to the Royal Pavilion only to find out it closed at 3…oh well!  Beautiful building and park.  Took a few pics and started working our way back to the train station.  So many pretty streets along the way.  Quaint rows houses painted with bright colours and lots of flowers. Came across a nice little pub for a refreshment stop then found a Marks and Spencer so we stopped and picked up goodies to have a picnic of sorts for dinner back at the hotel.

Hotel had picnic tables out front so enjoyed our picnic until it got windy and chilly with a few drops of rain.   Inside and to our rooms by 7:30…..Ken was in bed and sound a sleep by 8!  I read for a bit, lights out by 9 and then wide awake at 1AM!  Those first few days of travel really mess up ones sleep schedule!

Sunday June 15

Ended up just staying up since the alarm was going off at 2AM for our easyjet flight to Ajaccio.  Checked in and had breakfast (full English) at the airport….really quite good.

Flight was good…..seats were a bit squishy.  Went to put my bag on the floor and the guy in front of me put his seat back just at that moment and clonked me in the head…..truly seen stars for a few seconds.  Flight was about two hours…..flew out over the Alps then headed south to Corsica.  Flying over you can see why it’s called the Granite Isle!  Huge mountains…..it just looks like a big, really big rock stuck in the middle of the Med.  You could also see what looks like beautiful beaches along the coastline.

Luggage arrived with us….yeah!  Very busy at the car rental place so it took over an hour to get that all sorted out.  Ken and Glen are the drivers.  Have a  Megane Scenic, which we finally found after covering half the parking area because pretty well all the cars are Megane Scenics!  They send you out with the keys and the license plate number and you’re on your own from there.

Off we went….no issues getting out of the airport and on to the highway.  Just WOW how mountainous it is.  Read about it but really can’t appreciate it until you are here and hit the road.  Very beautiful.  A bit of a mix of the south of France and Italy.  Much greener than we’d expected at this time of year.  The hill (mountain!) sides are covered in maquis (looks like a type of juniper maybe), myrtle and lots of olive trees.  Little peeks here and there of the coastline.

Stopped in Propriano to pick up some groceries and have lunch at a little restaurant at the marina….had our first pastis!  Left there around 2:30 heading to Tizzano.  Went through a town called Olmeto…..a definite must go back to place.  It is truly just clinging to the hillside overlooking a valley with incredible views of the sea.  Also has a history about a lady named Colomba and vendettas….will have to read up on that again.  Stopped at a roadside market and picked up some salami and cheese etc. for dinner tonight.  Fun, busy little place.  Our first opportunity to try out our rusty French!

Made it to Tizzano a little too early to check in to our apartment so wandered around a bit.  Found a restaurant at the marina, a very little bakery/epicure and one other sort of all purpose little shop……other than the hotel across from our apartment and a few houses scattered here and there that is Tizzano!  Had a beer or two at the hotel bar…..right on the beach, almost in the sand.  Beautiful big beach surrounded by mountains.

Into the apartment “Les Dunes” by 4.  Marie is a lovely lady.  The apartment is great.  Three bedrooms (just in case Jill and Larry changed their minds) beautiful views of the beach and water.  Pretty much exactly as described on the website.  Marie left us a bottle of pink wine, which we happily consumed.  Had out saucisson and fromage…..one of which we threw away because it smelled so bad…..what a shame.  It was sort of brie-ish.  As soon as we cut into it Rae and I almost fell over.  I did taste it and it was really quite good but short of eating it out of an airtight container it had to go….I like cheese like that but this was just a bit too much.  Bread and strawberries and more wine made for a great first night dinner.  Down to the restaurant on the beach at the hotel for dessert…at least we thought dessert….. but ended up ordering appies and dinner!!  Glen ordered apple pie but got a salad, can’t remember what Ken ordered but he ended up with a pasta dish hahaha….  Rae and I shared a tapas plate with too much octopus (yetch….no matter how it’s cooked!) and MORE wine.  Had a great time, laughed a lot and stumbled our way across the road back to the apartment.  To bed by 10.  A couple of long, long days, but lots of fun.

Monday June 16

Up early.  Breakfast was toast, peanut butter (exciting to find in the store!) and some of the Corsican honey we bought at the roadside stand…..very good.

Into Propriano again to the Casino for a bigger grocery shopping.  180E but picked up the staples we’ll need for the next couple of weeks.  Wandered around a bit, stopped for cappuccinos and pastry then back to Tizzano.

Lunch was more of the sauccisson……hahaha!  We thought it was beef because when we asked what kind of meat the lady said “Ane”, which she translated to English for us as what sounded like “Ox” but really what she was saying as “ASS”.  Browsing through our Corsica book I discovered that “Ane” is DONKEY!!  On the way to our apartment we pass a very pretty pasture with lots of donkeys……I can’t bear to look at them now 😦   It was pretty darn good sausage though.

Down to the beach for our first ever swim in the Mediterranean.  A bit chilly at first but quite nice once you’re in.  Very warm out today.  Spent a good part of the afternoon sitting under our umbrella (supplied by the apartment) reading, in and out of the water and just enjoying the beautiful beach with only a handful of people around!

Back at the apartment we roasted a couple of chickens and potatoes for dinner and another bottle of wine, or two.

Another early night for us….not as early as yesterday though.  Off to Bonifacio tomorrow.

Tuesday June 17

Hit the road around 8 this morning to Bonifacio.  A bit cloudy to start and not as warm as yesterday.  Absolutely spectacular coastline and mountains enroute.  Stopped in a cork oak forest on the way…..who knew!  I’d never seen them before.  They strip the bark to make corks and it grows back!  Big knobbles of it.  Also tons of eucalyptus trees…..very fragrant and pretty.

Bonifacio is beautiful.  Built on and into the cliffs with a very pretty marina tucked into a cove.  Very hilly, narrow alleys and streets.  Started to rain a bit so we popped into a café for coffees and croissants (yummy!).  Rain stopped so decided to do a little boat trip/tour around the coastline.  Wasn’t sunny but had started to brighten up…..then the sun popped out and it got nice and warm (had dressed in layers just in case!).

The marina, the coastline cliffs, the Kings Stairway (escallier du roi d’aragon) and caves all along the coast are incredible!  The building are perched on top of the cliffs, some actually hanging over hundreds of feet up….a little scary but I guess they’ve been there forever.  The boat went into one of the caves called “Mouth of the Dragon”.  The hole in the top is shaped like Corsica! The water was nice and calm as I don’t think the boat would have gotten in there if it wasn’t.  Some very pretty secluded bays and the “haute ville” hanging precariously over the cliffs in some places is unreal.

Back on dry land we took the little tourist train (5E each return) to the top of the old citadel.  A mix of 1500-2000 century war and defense stuff.  A bit of a mishmash up there with car parks, a cemetery and a big hotel.  Found the entrance to the stairway  but was 5E to get in and look at it let alone walk down it (almost 200 steps)…..then of course we’d have had to walk back UP it!!  Supposedly it was carved in one night during a siege in 1400 something or other….hmmmm.  The views from up there are amazing…..you can see Sardinia (on a clear day) off in the distance.

Back into town for lunch.  I had moules et frites (delicious), Ken had a burger (OK) Rae and Glen had pasta (very good) with the famous national cheese of Corsica brocciu.  Kind of ricotta-ish….but apparently lactose free because of ???  The whey maybe??

Bonifacio is a very pretty place.  Lots of nice little shops, restaurants, a great marina and views to die for!

Left there just before 4 and decided to head up to Porto Vecchio, which is where we were going to stay.  Luckily we didn’t!  Wasn’t quite what we thought and are glad we decided on Tizzano even though there isn’t much there.  PV is a bit dumpy, not terribly pretty and very touristy.  Didn’t go up to the old town, which was probably quite lovely but had kind of had it for the day.  Back to Tizzano through Figari, a very little town with nothing other than an airport.

Cleaned up an headed to the restaurant by the marina for dinner.  Excellent! Rae and I had the scampi and pasta, the guys had the “entre cote” (steaks) and frites.  Dessert and a bottle of wine 120E for the 4 of us.  Very good.  And very exciting that we actually got what we thought we’d ordered!

Wed June 18

Up early but slept very good last night…..I’m either finally in the right time zone or had enough wine!  Enjoying having coffee on one of the decks each morning….beautiful beach and the Med sparkles when then sun peeks over the mountain, really not much more one could ask for!

Off to Sartene this morning.  It is the closest town to us, way up, clinging to the side of the mountain.  Stopped at a local winery enroute.  Tasted and bought a bottle of their rose and bottle of the “gris” which was also a  very light rose colour.

Sartene is yet another incredible town built on and into the mountainside.  It’s very medieval in many places with narrow alleys and lots of stairways.  The views are spectacular…..mountains, valleys and the sea!  There’s a lovely piazza/place in the centre of town (Place de Libertation??) where they were having a memorial type ceremony with the mayor and a couple war veterans laying wreaths on the statue.  And birds…..many, many birds.  Lots of swallows flying around the church bell tower…..fascinating just sitting and watching them.  Did a bit of wandering up and down the narrow streets and alleys.

Lots of great shops, restaurants, cafes, bakeries etc.  Not at all how it was described in one of the books as “grey and depressing”…..maybe on dark, gloomy winter day but certainly not today!  Had a café in the main square and off to pick up more groceries……we eat a lot!  Hit the Spar market where they do not use plastic bags…..how eco friendly is that!!  We bought a couple of their big reusable bags, which I’m sure we’ll get lots of use out of and they’ll be kind of a fun, useful souvenir to take home.

On the way out of town you pass the cemetery, that you can see from town, that is clinging to the side of the mountain…..lots of crypts and tombs.  Would have been nice to have a look but wasn’t sure just how one got up there.

Stopped at the Cauria Megalith site on the way home.  Ancient Menhir (aka “standing stones”) and/dolmen  possibly dating back to 5000BC…wow!  It was a bit of a hike in the heat from the parking lot but well worth it.  And we were the only people there!  These are just standing in the middle of no where or farmers fields.  Quite incredible that the few hundred standing or laying around have survived.  Many were broken up and used for buildings or stone walls years ago.  They are now protected.  Much more than we could have seen.  There is another site across the road a bit further down but just too hot at that time of day to be out there.

Back home and off to the beach.  Big, big waves today.  Only Glen was brave enough to go in and get banged around a bit.  Dinner was pasta with sausage and some of the fresh veg we picked up today.

Got quite windy and chilly so we sat around the rest of the evening inside watching French cooking shows!  Tomorrow we’re off to Campmoro and Plage de Tralicettu, which is supposed to be very beautiful.  I hope this wind stops!

Thurs June 19

Today we went to Campomoro.  It was a beautiful day.  We packed and planned to picnic at the Plage de T but that didn’t work out.

Off to Campomoro via Grossa on a very windy, narrow road.  A couple of lovely little hill towns along the way.  All of a sudden the mountains open up and on to an incredible view down towards Propriano…you see the bay, the Med and the mountains….just WoW!  Stopped at a pullout spot to take some pics.  Around the next corner you get a view way down of Campomoro.  A beautiful crescent shaped bay with aquamarine water.

Campomoro is a very little town with only about 50 people during the winter but many gorgeous homes built all up and around the hills for as summer homes.  The place was packed with people today.  Had trouble finding a parking spot at 10AM.  There’s a bit of the old town off to the right hand side with a pretty little white church and a couple of old stone buildings and little pizza restaurants at that end of the beach.  To the left is the really nice big beach with soft, fine, white sand.  One store and restaurant where we had coffees before our climb up to the tower.

Walked up the road through a “community” of big beautiful villas, all with incredible views in every direction.  About a 15-20 minute hike up to the tower, a very neat, windy trail with signs/markers along the way telling something about the tower and the area but all were in French so I’m pretty sure we missed a lot of what they were trying to share with us!    The views from the top of the tower were great.  It’s a Genovese tower dating from the 1500’s and the largest on Corsica.  There are more trails, one that would actually take us back to Tizzano, that run along the coast.  Would be a great hike if one were prepared.  France has a great trail system all over the mainland and Corsica….the Grande Randonnee.  The GR20 is the big one that would take you over the mountains from the north to south coast.

Left there and headed up towards Propriano on a very scary road.  Past a beach/resort town call Portic.  It was probably one of the nicest beaches we’ve seen but very windy and apparently only good for wind surfing.  Back the other way heading to Plage de Tralicettu, that Madame Marie told us we could drive too…..NOT!  The worst road we’ve come to yet.  All rutted and pot-holed, lots of loose gravel etc.  Looks like half of it has been washed away.  Up and up we went and finally got a glimpse of what looked like an incredibly beautiful beach down below but we just had to turn around because the road down to it looked even worse than what we’d come up so far.  Really disappointing.

Came back home and had our picnic on the deck with wine!  Sat around and read then headed down to the beach for a swim.  Sea was much calmer today but with the breeze just a bit on the chilly side when you came out.

Plan for dinner was to get take out pizza from the bar at the hotel but just ended up going and staying there to eat.  Very good pizza,  Ken had pomme frites too.  A bottle of local wine and café crèmes .  Decided to see where the gravel road from there went……maybe another nice beach or tower???  But the road was too crappy and it was getting a bit late for an adventure on that kind of road.

Tomorrow we’re off to Aleria for the Roman and Etruscan ruins.

Friday June 20

Can’t believe we’ve been gone a week already!  We’ve certainly done and see quite a bit.

Headed for Aleria today .  On Corsica there is no quick and easy way to get there (or anywhere for that matter!!)……there are no straight roads, except on the east coast so that was the way we headed…..the long way around but seriously the other options would have taken just as long because of all the twists and turns and quite possibly the condition of some of the roads based on our experiences so far.

A quick (ha!) stop at Cauria again to see the rest of the menhirs and dolmen.  Again a bit of hike (1/2 hour or so) but it is beautiful up there.  You can see down into a valley that looks very Tuscan with vineyards and old stone houses.  About half way up we came across an old ruined stone house.  No roof but all the old walls are completely intact.  Even part of the ceiling of the main floor is still there (old tile ceiling!!) in some places.  The kitchen at one time had a big fireplace.  We speculated/dreamed of how we could restore it.  The view from there is really something to see.  The place was surrounded by beautiful old olive trees.  Too bad the road, or whatever you want to call it, is so bad…no way to get a vehicle of any kind up to it…..oh well.  On to the menhirs….there are supposed to be 260 of them here but very few are still standing.  Surprising though you could still make out some of the carving.  And then we seen the bull…..a really big bull!!  He seemed to be just minding is own business but was a little too close for comfort so we very slowly turned around and headed back to the car.

On to Solenzara via Figari and Porto Vecchio, which we just bypassed this time.  Just north of there are some beautiful and very accessible beaches.  Lots of little towns that are very touristy all along the highway.  Some areas there are almost like parts of Hawaii…..very nice condos, restaurants and shops.  Might have been OK to spend a few days there but I think it doesn’t really represent the Corsica we want to see…..but those beaches are pretty nice!  In Solenzara we had a lunch at a great little restaurant at the marina.  Croq Monsieur for me, which was basically just a plain old grilled cheese, not the nice gooey, melty cheesy kind.  Nice place and great location though.  Super waitress who studied English in Paris…..fun to chat with her.

Finally back on the road at 2 and on to Aleria.  Very cute little…very little…town.  Quite picturesque with a very old church and only a few other buildings.  Great little museum with all the stuff they discovered during the excavation…..good explanations of what everything was, Etruscan or Roman and what period.  Pottery, jewelry, tools, weapons etc.

The ruins there are not very big and it was hard to tell what was what or what something used to be with the maps they gave us.  It was touted as a great site pre-dating Pompei…..possibly could be some day but more excavation to be done and certainly better maps and site info.  The museum made up for what the site lacked.

Left there around 5:30 after making a quick stop to pick up goodies for dinner just in case everything close to home was closed.  It took forever to get as far a PV…..altogether almost 2 hours to get home.

Whipped up some hamburgers and a salad for dinner.  Very hot today and very humid tonight.  Looking forward to market day in Sartene tomorrow.

Week 2……to come!

 

I welcome any feed back! Is one week at a time too much?  Not enough?  I’m trying not to change the content as they are my journals and records of what I was thinking at the time I was on that holiday writing them.  Some of my journals are in great details others not so much so it might depend on which journal I’m working on.  Some holidays were only 2 weeks whereas others were 4+ weeks….so maybe I’ll just play it by ear!