Bonjour Bonifacio Fri 20 - Sun 22 May 2011

Sometimes words are not enough. The setting for Bonifacio is breathtaking. Anyone interested should look it up and I make no apologies for the number of pics put up, even if they don't begin to do it justice. On the approach all you see is a white limestone cliff ahead of you, with the fortified town perched high on top. Carved into the vertical face of the rock is a staircase (Escalier du Roi d'Aragon) allegedly chiselled out in one night by the King of Aragon's troops (means of escape or attack not sure!). You cannot see the entrance. You need to almost bump into the cliff face and round a point before the harbour opens up - rather not a harbour, but a cleft or crevasse in the rocks that delves deep inside. You go in and the cliffs are high on either side, a bit canyon-like. After a gentle sail there, the wind suddenly funnelled down this cleft, making getting sails down and settling ourselves a major undertaking (and I just wanted to take pictures). We turned left into the second calanque (another fissure off the main cleft) and tied ourselves stern to the rocks, picking up a lazy line of laid mooring that we took to the bow of the boat to hold us off said rocks. A difficult manoeuvre with just two of us, luckily there were a couple of German boats there (youth sail training vessels I think) with some obliging young chaps who helped us with lines, etc.

Our friends on Free Spirit (Viv and Alan) arrived about 1 hr after us, so we could help them do the same. Such is the cruising life.

Now this harbour (home of the Laestrygonians - barbarous lot) is described in Homer. Odysseus and his fleet sheltered safely here, or so they thought. Odysseus sent out 3 men to recce the site - one was ripped apart and eaten 'toute suite', the other two were chased back to the harbour. They hurled down huge boulders onto the fleet from the tops of the cliffs and Odysseus limped out intact, but with a large part of the fleet decimated. Voila!

There is evidence of habitation from Neolithic times & artefacts from 3,000BC. It has been Genoese (don't say Italian) for much of its time (after the usual barbarians, Carthaginians, Romans, etc) amidst all the French squabbling with aforementioned Roi d'Aragon. Only recently back to the French (a few hundred years that is). The Corsican dialect is heavily influenced by Italian.

The main part of the old fortified town is 14th Century, with lots of later additions. Because of the nature of the limestone cliffs being undercut by erosion, those buildings closest seaward actually overhang the water (a bit like corbelling over fresh air). Very picturesque, but one would be scared to live there! We stayed a couple of nights, climbed the cliff and toured the ramparts, the town with its dinky arches that supported rainwater aqueducts, and the business end of the strategic fortification cheek by jowl with the cemetery.

Yes, there were the usual touristy bits, cafes and restaurants and shops with "typical Corsican produce". But the setting was so pure and awe inspiring and unspoilt that you could imagine the Odysseus fleets holed up in that tremendous crack in the limestone.