Corsica 2008 – Week 2….

Saturday June 21

Dolphins this morning!! They were aways out but could still clearly see them jumping. What a treat!

Market day in Sartene. Got there nice and early (8:30) to get a good parking spot. A little too early since the market hadn’t opened yet…..half the vendors were still working on their set ups. Had petit dejeuner across the street and watched them all finish setting up. A man (oldish) in a nice new sporty car had some trouble maneuvering around the baracades…..which were up for obvious reasons…..and got stuck, the dragged the gate a few feet until it hit a truck. Another guy helped unhook the gate from his car and then he just drove off! Couldn’t see that side of his car but there had to have been quite a bit of damage to it because even the truck was scraped up….oh well! No one seemed to bat an eyelash….

The market, in the main place, is quite small but with all the essentials. A few jewelry stands, pottery, veg, meat and cheese stalls and a fish truck. And the guy selling furniture…..mattresses and chairs etc. all set out on display.

Found a pretty bracelet for Shelly (sister-in-law) with little silver elephants and amethyst stones ….a nice present for her for doing the estate stuff for my parents. Got Linds (daughter) a couple of bracelets…silver stars and the one with shells that are the “eyes” of St. Lucia….cute story. I bought a nice little pot….for sugar maybe?? Got Kim (daughter-in-law) some myrtle soap and sel de bain. Stocked up on the saucisson, cheese and veg.

Story of St. Lucia http://www.lespierresdecorse.com/PrestaShop/en/content/7-the-eye-of-saint-lucia-legend

Sartene is really a very nice place! We were lucky we got there when we did though because it was crazy busy by the time we were leaving at 10:30.

Back home, unpacked, read and lazed around for a bit before lunch then down to the beach for a couple of hours. Water was calm and pleasant today. Got burnt 😦 ….one knee and half my back??? Even with sunscreen on!

Went to Chez Antoines, at the marina, for dinner tonight. Thought we’d try the lobster (homard) but just way too expensive….it would have been at least 120E per meal! Had the sea bass (loup) instead, Ken had the St. Pierre, both were really good. For appies we had verrine du saumon, tomatoe and avocat, which came with a green salad. A glass of pastis to start and pink wine with dinner. Total bill for the 4 of us came to 120E. All was good….even the fish with all the damn bones!!.

Sunday June 22

Off to Porto Pollo and Filatosa this AM. Left around 10 and it was already incredibly hot. Filatosa has a great little museum with bits and pieces of the relics found on the site. It cost 10E and 2E for the booklet. It is the most elaborate and organized site with the museum and little speaker boxes along the way that you could push a button for you language. Very interesting and informative. The museum is still run by the Cesari family which was interesting because of Dorothy Carrington’s book and her reference to them. The site is great and shows not only the menhirs but also a rough outline of a community or settlement. It is all in the middle of a farmer’s (Cesari’s??) field, cattle and all….bales of hay, outbuildings etc. There is an olive tree that is supposedly over 1000 years old. It’s very lovely. Very, very hot though, so glad we went earlier. Would have been horrid there in the middle of the afternoon. Had a lemonade at the restaurant to cool down a bit. There’s also a nice little artisan shop with some great jewelry and beautiful hand woven scarves. Rae bought her girls a couple of cute bracelets.

Filatosa https://www.filitosa.fr/en/

Enroute to Plage de Cupabia stopped in Porto Pollo for lunch at a little restaurant near the marina….always seems to be great places to eat at marinas! It’s a very cute little town with beautiful beaches and views of the mountain to Sartene. Very scenic and surprisingly quite a few people. Many places to stay around there….and many gorgeous beaches. Lunch was excellent! I had moules gratin which were delicious….sopped all the butter/oil, garlic and gratin after with the bread….yummy! Ken and Glen had pizza….really good with all really fresh goodies on it.

Found Plage de Cupabia but there was absolutely no shade and we hadn’t brought our umbrella. It was way too hot to just sit there. Interestingly though….the guys at the store in Filatosa told us that up until this week the weather had been terrible. Cool and lots of rain. He said the local “old” people hadn’t seen it this green in June since the 1940’s.

Decided to just head back home to our beach. Rae and Glen went for a walk to the bakery for bread, Ken snoozed, I read and got stuff ready for dinner, then went for a swim.

Good dinner with all the leftover bits! And beer and wine 🙂 Tomorrow we’re heading north to Calvi and will stay overnight somewhere around there….maybe two…and then head back thru Corte.

Monday June 23

Three hours he (Madame’s husband) said it would take to get to Calvi…..hah!

Left bright and early to Calvi. Took approximately 2 hours just to get to Ajaccio, so good to know for when we have to get to the airport. The road (coast road) started out very windy and got a lot worse. Stopped for coffee and a croissant at a little café overlooking a beautiful bay. From that point we wound our way up and up and up. Past some of the most beautiful bays and coves with gorgeous beaches. Some very beautiful little downs clinging to the sides of the mountains. Between Piana and Porto is the Calanque de Piana….absolutely amazing! The views in every direction are stunning…pink/red/rust colour rock cliffs and towers against the blue sky and water can’t , brush etc.) But the views were spectacular….if you weren’t the driver!! THEN we hit the canyon!!

From Porto just about all the way to Galeria the road is even narrower. Very, very narrow! Rock face straight up on one side and straight down into who knows where on the other side. This road is shared with TOUR BUSES!! In some places it is NOT wide enough for two cars to pass, let a lone a bloody tour bus! Luckily we only seen them parked at lookout points and didn’t have pass one anywhere along the way. The beauty of this area managed to make up for the stress of driving through it. We started to see what looked like cow patties at the side of road??? We thought it must be something else…..then low and behold around one of the very narrow curves….walking along the side of the road is a cow!! How in the hell it got on the road was beyond us. There must have been a little valley or something that we missed or that poor bugger had been walking for a long time!

The road finally started DOWN the mountain, still windy and curvy but a little wider and less cliffy. Came to a nice little rest area and pulled over so Ken (the driver) could take a bit of a break. He’s really a good driver thank goodness……as he says “I want to live!”

We kept thinking we’d see Calvi around the next corner but it was still a little ways off. 32km took us over an hour!

La calanches de Piana & Reserve Naturelle de Scandola – UNESCO World Heritage site http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/258/

Finally arrived in Calvi at 3PM…..not 1PM like we’d hoped, which was already adding at least 2 or 3 hours to what Marie’s husband had told us.

Found a hotel room/suite for 4 at the Calvi Hotel. TV didn’t work! Still didn’t after they fixed it. Late lunch of pizza at a place on the beach.

Calvi is a very pretty place but very crowded and touristy. The beaches are lovely but packed with chairs and umbrellas that you can rent from the bars…and if you don’t you can’t reallt use the beach in front of them. There is another beach further along that can be used by anybody with no bars. The water is very clean and very shallow for a long way out. The view of the town and citadel from there is great. And the bay with the mountains in the background is beautiful. R & G wandered into the town and Ken and I to the beach. Had a swim and did some people watching…..lots to watch!

At 5:30 is was still way to hot to be sitting in the sun so back to the room, cleaned up and sat out on the deck with a glass of wine and read for a bit.

Headed along the marina and out to look at some of the huge yachts. Some massive ones with the crews cleaning the railings, folding towels, setting tables for dinner and getting ready for their owners/renters or whoever was lucky enough to be going out on them….how decadent! Could see inside a couple of them…..unreal!

Had a great dinner at one of the many restaurants that line the marina, the guys had steaks that were really good, Rae and I had the moules which were really good too but service was probably the worst of any of those restaurants. The waiter was frazzled, running around like crazy…not a very relaxed atmosphere. It was called Le Nautic….ok for a quick meal but not someplace to sit around, people watch and enjoy the scenery.

Walked up to the citadel in the dark. Views down to the marina and out towards the beaches was very nice at night. The citadel and Calvi has a lot of history attached to them…..Christopher Columbus may have been born here, Nelson lost an eye in some battle, sieges and wars, part of the French Foreign Legion is there. Most of it was closed by the time we got up there. It was a bit of a tough walk up and down on the cobblestones. The way is not very well lit.

The old town of Calvi at the top is really nice with lots of narrow little alleys, restaurants and cafes and shops. Back down in the port area off the main drag are also lots of nice little restaurants and touristy boutiques etc. It’s actually very pretty but really crowded, much like the Riviera.

Back to the hotel close to midnight. Very bad headache tonight….maybe all the stress of the drive or the heat or a combo of both. Haven’t decided if we’re going to stay here again tomorrow…..we’ll figure that out in the morning.

Tues June 24

Decided not to stay another night. It would have been nice to wander around a bit more in the daylight but it’s really busy and really touristy so thought we’d go to Corte….maybe stay there.

Stopped at L’ile Rousse on the way. More beautiful coast between there and Calvi. L’ile Rousse is a very pretty little place. We arrived before it got too crowded. There’s a ruined tower down by the marina that looks like it just grows out of the rock. The central square is gorgeous.

Big plane trees down one side with little cafes under them and a statue of Pascali Paoli in the middle. On the other side is the big covered portico that the daily produce market is set up in. It’s a great setting. There are some great little shops and cafes up and down a few streets. It’s a very quaint little place…..I would stay here if I were going to come back and stay at this end of the island! Had coffees under the trees before starting on to Corte.

After leaving the coast we started to climb towards the interior. It’s really very different scenery there. Lots of little towns clinging to the mountainside. Very green and foresty….very pretty.

Corte is awesome! Parked at the bottom in the newer town and walked up and up the little windy streets, some cobbled, some with sort of big sloping stairs….definitely not wheelchair accessible! Wonder what someone with disabilities would do? Many cute little restaurants and cafes. Lots of nice shops and an old monastery (which I couldn’t go in because I was sleeveless and was NOT going back to the car to get my sweater….too hot to wear one anyway!) A couple of nice old churches and the citadel at the top….up way more stairs/cobbled streets. Some of the building are built right into the rock mountainside, all are sort of the beige/grey/brown coloured with shutters and laundry hanging out. Corte is probably one of the most picturesque towns we’ve been too.

Checked at the TI office to see if any hotels had anything but there wasn’t. We had lunch and wandered around a bit then decided to just head back to Tizzano. First though we went to the Gorges de la Restonica…..absolutely fabulous! Just beautiful! Corsica 2008 324 Very forested valley/gorge with big trees and the fast flowing river full of huge rocks/boulders and crystal clear water. Walked a bit of the trail (GR20 goes thru), soaked our feet and headed back to the car. Was very pleasant and much cooler than up in Corte.

The road back to Ajaccio goes up and up through the mountains with more towns hanging off the sides, stone bridges/aquaducts and deep valleys with that are still quite green for June. Lots of pine trees, very fragrant. A windy but good road. The mountains are the huge jagged ones that we can see in the distance.

Stopped in Propriano for dinner on the way home . Very, very hot today. The temp in Corte was 37C. Cooler back by the water but not much.

Wed June 25

Quiet day today. Up to Sartene around 11 to hit the bank machine and do some shopping. Arrived about the same time the tour buses did….very crowded. Shops, not all but quite a few, closed at 12:30 – 1:00. Very hot again today.

Picked up some cute olive wood cheese boards, for Donna and Steve and Di, shaped like Corsica. Some Corsica shaped keychains that I’ll make into Christmas ornaments, nougat for the office and a bottle of myrtle liqueur that we’ll try later. Chestnuts are another thing that is big here…..

Back in Tizzano, we walked up to the bakery this AM and rented a boat for tomorrow! A very little boat is all you can get without a license. Hopefully the sea is nice and calm otherwise we won’t be going too far.

Made a big pot of soup/stew with all the leftover sausage and veggies….was really good. Spent the afternoon lazing around, reading, snoozing etc..

Went for a swim after dinner…..9PM! Was very nice. Beautiful sunset tonight on the beach but I didn’t take my camera down.

I really like Sartene….it has everything you could want really….views, nice plaza, shops, cafes etc.

Thurs June 26

Another nice day! We rented a dingy….a very small plastic boat with an outboard motor but it went pretty good for having 4 people and a picnic on it! Headed out to sea and finally to Plage du Tralicettu. A beautiful crescent shaped sandy beach……there are actually 3 different beaches there. Parked the boat, went for a swim and wandered around for a while. Very few people. A little further down the beach, out of the maquis, comes a herd of cattle! Cows, calves and a bull. Right down onto the sand at the edge of the water…..some of them laid down, others just stood around with the big bull watching over it all. There were a couple of boys with a big surfboard and a dog. The boys went into the water on the board and the dog tried to swim after them but too far for the dog to go so the boys came back to the beach and the dog hopped on the board with them and away they all went….the dog stood on the back as they paddled. They went over to some rocks and the dog hopped off with them and ran all over the place….they all got back on the board and went off to some different rocks…..really cute and fun to watch.

Loaded our little red dingy back up and back out to sea in search of another beach further up the coast. Found a rocky one, with lots interesting tide pools. Had our picnic there. Lots of shells and fish, even red/pink jelly fish. Off around the point to another small but really nice beach. Corsica 2008 358 There was a HUGE yacht anchored. “Champagne Lady of London”. We seen it in the marina in Calvi. Must google it later. It must have been 70 feet or more. Quite deceiving sizewise until you get right up to it! It had a whole little marina of it’s own at the back……a thing folded down and out came all the sea-doos, other floatie toys etc. and someone set up a table and chairs with an umbrella! Must be nice 😦

Corsica 2008 368 — “downtown” Tizzano……the bar, marina, restaurant and bakery

Back on “our yacht” for a little tour around before took the boat back. It was 90E for the rental and 15E for the gas. A pretty darn nice day!

Home for a snooze and went to the marina for dinner at the bar. The plat du jour as sanglier. Rae and I had that……very good. It was in a “daub”. Tasted like a pot roast, not porky at all, which I thought it might be.

Very hot today, even on the water…..new sunburns.

Friday June 27

Nice day today, weather-wise and doing things. Had a great breakfast then sat around until 10 before going off to Olmeto via a backroad. The fields are alive with poppies! Bright red ones….so, so pretty!

We packed our bathing suits because we thought we’d stop a the plage de Baracci but missed it totally and ended up at a vineyard for a tasting. Did the gris (a lighter rose), the rose and the red which was a blend of syrah and Grenache….very, very good! Bought a bottle of the gris and the rose (8E and 6E).

You can see Olmeto from the valley as you approach it…..beautiful town clinging….literally….to the mountainside. Not a lot of parking but found a spot near the church and just hoped it was OK to park. Had an excellent lunch at a restaurant called “La Source”. Great food, service and incredible views of the valley. I ordered the stuffed zucchini…..or so I thought, but ended up the best lamb shank I’ve ever had! Was a huge order and delicious….I ate it all! Would have thought our French had improved by now but apparently not…..although no one has asked up to “just speak English” for a while now….this is good!

After lunch nothing was open….siesta time! But there really wasn’t much there in the line of shops anyway. The town is famous for Colomba (factual and fictional in Merrimee’s book) and the vendettas that she caused. Lovely Franciscan church, which also wasn’t open.

Was very hot again today…..actually thought I might be getting sick!! Drank lots of water which helped so maybe just a bit dehydrated.

Back home around 5:30 and thankfully felt good again just in time for a quick swim and for some gin and tonics 🙂 for the girls and beer for the guys. We also somehow managed to drink our way through a bottle of wine. I don’t know how we do it on vacation……I do not drink this much at home, nor could I and still function!!

Down to the hotel restaurant for dinner, lasagna, more wine and coffee….all very good for 95.50E for the 4 of us. We drank a lot, laughed a lot and had a great time tonight. Everybody feeling a little tipsy.

Corsica 2008 412

Market day in Sartene again tomorrow….will pick up some coffee for home and gifts and get the matching necklace for Shelly.

Saturday June 28

Our last day in Corsica!!

Off to the market, not quite so early this time. Bought Linds the St. Lucia shell ring to go with the bracelet and Shelly the necklace to go with the bracelet I bought her last week. Wandered around looking for something to buy for me but didn’t find anything I just had to have. Ken got a couple of tee shirts with the Corsican guy on them. Had lunch, wandered in and out of a couple of shops then picked up the coffee and back home around 2.

Another really nice day. Really hot too. Big, big waves today so off to the beach. Glen went in and got pummeled about but had a great time. Ken and I just went in knee deep, which was bad enough when a wave came roaring in.

Corsica 2008 440

Big blobs of what looked like tar all over the beach this afternoon…..probably an oil spill of some sort that was getting washed in with the waves. Discovered we had it stuck all over the bottom of our flipflops when we got back in the apartment….had tracked it all over and right into the showers. The stuff was like glue. We had tried wiping it to no avail, then scraping it, which just made it worse. Finally soaked some paper towels in dish soap and that seemed to be the trick to getting is cleaned up…..what a bloody mess!

Happy hour(s) around 5:30 with the leftover beer, wine and gin and tonic. Just ended up having a salad and cheesebread/toast and the last leftover bits of whatever food we had left. Ken and I went down to the hotel bar for coffee and to get some last sunset pictures from the beach.

Finished packing up and set the alarm for 4AM.

Sunday June 29

Up early, cleaned up and out the door. Bye Les Dunes!

Took about 2 hours to drive back to Ajaccio. Dropped the car off, no problem. No gas stations open so couldn’t top up the tank. Probably wouldn’t have been much anyway….more than 3/4 of tank left.

Flight back to London was good. Arrived a 1/2 hour early. Took the train into London…..got a “small group” discount – 2 for the price of 4 – 60L (UK pounds) return for all of us. At the hotel by 1.

Regency Hotel in South Kensington (now a Doubletree) on Queens Gate. Really nice hotel, smallish rooms, but in one of those regency style row house buildings….very pretty white buildings with black trim and lots of flower boxes. We’re on the 4th floor looking out on Queens Gate and at all the rooftop chimney pots!

Back out the door at 1:30 to a pub down the street for lunch. Ken had fish and chips, I had bangers and mash, Rae and Glen had the roast beef/Yorkshire pudding special.

Was Ken’s first time in London, so we took our time wandering around the area and then on to Harrods. Rae and I wanted to do some shopping so sent the boys to the Food Hall to get coffee and dessert…..fantastic baked goodies in there. What were they eating when we came back? Bloody Crispy Crème donuts!! Really???

From there we walked to Buckingham Palace then thru Green Park down the beautiful tree lined street. Next stop was Westminster Abbey. Seen Big Ben and the Millenium Wheel. Walked along the river toward Charing Cross. Very warm here! Found another pub, the Sherlock Holmes, beer and G & T’s then off to Leicester Square to check out the cheap, or not cheap, play tickets. Stopped at Trafalgar Square which was all covered up because of some Jewish rally/celebration of some sort.

After checking out tickets (will probably do the Jersey Boy’s) went to find Larry’s cousins restaurant on Frith St., La Cantara…..kind of a mix of Spanish and N. African food. We didn’t say who we were just in case the food wasn’t very good….we had a couple of tapas type dishes, which were just OK…..we never did say who we were and probably won’t tell Larry we went!! Walked up to Picadilly Circus (2nd time today) and found Carnaby street…..oh what I wouldn’t have done to be here back in the late 60’s/early 70’s!! It’s changed a lot but fun and lively, with lots of restaurants and pubs, to walk thru and take pics. Ended up at the Picadilly Circus tube station and bought our day pass for tomorrow, then back to the hotel

Long day. Walked A LOT and seen a LOT of London.

Monday June 30

Up early to start another very busy day. Breakfast at the hotel…..continental buffet or 7L for full English breakfast.

Off to Leicester Sq. to buy tickets to the Jersey Boy’s….the story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons. Had to wait for the tickets for 1/2 and hour so we watched them setting up for the grand opening of the movie Mamma Mia in the square. They had brought in big potted lemon trees and people were tying lemons on them!! All the stars were going to be there so much hoopla going on. Picked up our tickets (55L each) and worked our way over to Covent Garden, which is a really neat indoor/outdoor shopping area with some great shops, restaurants and a big market/flea market. Lots of fun to wander around. Down to the Strand and past the Royal Courts of Justice. Very impressive building!

Had a great lunch in a pub….fish pie for me, that was excellent, a burger for Ken. Walked along Fleet street to St Pauls Cathedral. Beautiful church…..just too big to get the whole thing in a picture from anywhere around there. Didn’t pay to go in (18L!!) but did just stick our heads in the door to have a quick look…what we saw was impressive. London is a little odd in that you pay to go into the churches but the museum entrance is by donation!! Probably a better deal anyway! Walked down to the river past the Tower of London…..was going to go in but huge line-ups.

Walked over the Tower Bridge and then all along the south bank. A good mix of shops, pubs and restaurants and streets with neat names like Clink Street and Puddle Dock ! It goes on for miles. Hay’s Galleria (Hay’s Wharf) is a covered mall with more of the same. Stopped for drinks at a nice little pub to give our feet a rest then on past the Globe Theatre and the Tate Modern where there was a “street art” exhibit. The Tate is an old power station that has been converted to an art gallery…..no time to go in this trip, next time.

Crossed the Milleneum pedestrian bridge and caught the tube to go back to the hotel. Had just got on the tube only hear an announcement that there had been a fire at Earls Court station and all Circle Line trains were delayed or rerouted….not good because we didn’t leave time (after 5 already!) for an unexpected tube issue. We got off and walked to a different tube station which meant we had to change trains….seemed like it took forever. Made it back to the hotel just in time for a quick clean up, change and back out the door.

No time for dinner…..decided we’d just have Chinese or Japanese after the play. Made it to the theatre with about half an hour to spare (play started at 7:30) and found out we’d been upgraded to the lower orchestra or “stalls”….so a good deal, I guess! The play was excellent. Good story with lots of great music. Lasted way longer than we thought (10:30). Ate at a little greasy Chinese joint just down the street. Ordered wings and noodles which was surprisingly very good. Back on the tube and to the hotel. It was close to midnight….read for a bit and slept great. Wake up call for 6AM.

Tues July 1 (Happy Canada Day!)

Up earlier than the alarm. Checked our flight to make sure it was on time, had a quick breakfast and off to Victoria station to catch the train back to Gatwick.

Got to the airport only find out that our flight was delayed 4 hours!! A bit of head scratching on that one. Sat around outside in the sun for a bit, headed in and wandered around in some of the stores….bought a couple of books and finally time to board.

Uneventful flight home.

A great trip! Corsica is amazing and worth another visit some day. In hindsight, of course, we probably should have split our time there between the north and south end….a week at each end. We covered a lot of territory in the south but other than Calvi we really didn’t see much of what the north had to offer. Missed Bastia all together and, other than the airport, Ajaccio too, which is where Napoleon was born! The east coast had some glorious beaches, not major resort areas, that would have been nice to spend some time at. But you can only do and see so much and I think we did a pretty good job. We also didn’t get an opportunity to hear any of the Corsican traditional polyphonic songs (a capella) or see the folk dances. Next time! I could live without the myrtle liqueur and chestnut anything.

Corsica 2008 – Week 1…..

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!