I’ve decided to put the last two days of Corsica on to the one post; not laziness on my part, more to do with the trip being a little more of the same and, I’m being economical with space.
Corsica is half the size of Wales, maintaining that Celtic theme, an eighth of Ireland. Despite its size, I expected a population into the millions. With 4 international airports, two big cities etc seeming to support my theory, however, it’s only 340,000 in number. I can only assume tourism and it’s supporting hospitality industry, swells the numbers significantly.
We left the beautiful hotel in Montecello in search of breakfast; call me cheap, but €35 for a breakfast seemed a tad expensive! Sadly, we were to realise that the very smelly cheese from our picnic was also left in the fridge. It ponged so much I felt obliged to send an apology, by email, to the management! We have a recent article from Conde Nast about this part of the world, using it we headed for a recommended breakfast. “Unfortunately not, Monsieur” said the restaurant when we arrived!
You know how, on a long journey, parents amuse the kids with “I Spy with my little eye”? Our version is lavatorial humour. We are winding our way through the mountain villages, names like Lavatoggia and Avapessa, provide excellent subject matter!
We, finally, found a village which hadn’t sold out of croissant! These places are lost in time; plastic furniture and table cloths, a belief that a cappuccino involves whipped cream, a comprehension that some customers might be veggies… while eating the “banquet” petit dejeuner, a small, local dog meandered into the square to climb into the fountain and cool down, after all, it was well into the 30Cs. From the look on its face, and that of the villagers, it would appear to be a daily ritual! Who can blame it?
We are heading from one side of the northern tip to the other. Corsica is incredibly popular for motorbike touring. Groups of 2-10, from places all over Europe, stop at every vantage point while peletons of cyclists whizz by. Quite why you’d want to be in leathers, or climbing gradients of up to 45 degrees, while it’s 30C+ somewhat beggars belief!
We pass through Bastia, doing a recce for the port and hotel for our last day, on the way. We head up the east coast towards our overnight stay at Cagnano, a hotel recommended by an old French neighbour from Cape Town. The coastline is great, you can see two islands, Elba and Capraia, which sit on the Tuscan archipelago, 30 miles distant. When checking in, our bubbly receptionist, Aurelie, tells us she has a 38’ yacht moored at Richards Bay on the Eastern Cape. She and her husband, parked up there, having arrived from Rio de Janeiro, came here to work the season, before returning to voyage on to Reunion and Madagascar, as you do!
Having been disappointed by the veggie offerings at the previous night’s hotel, our faith was restored by a fantastic quinoa salad that had been made to evoke the sea, it was very, very impressive.
We think that part of the joy of travelling is reading in your downtime. Without the distraction of home, you make better use of your time. We are both on our fourth novel and happy grabbing half an hour, here and there. A lack of cellular data helps, too!
Our final day on Corsica has a very limited agenda, which is probably why we both surprised ourselves by sleeping in quite late. In my case, it was nearly 10.00am, this normally involves riga mortis!
We are driving to Centuri, a fishing village on the northern tip of the finger which extends out of the main body of the island. It’s a beautiful spot with the harbour surrounded by fish restaurants. Despite the single lane roads that approach it, it’s a very busy spot so we decided to bail and head back to Bastia for the afternoon.
On the roads you see two signs, one in Italian, one in Corse. Invariably, the Italian sign has been spray painted out. You see lots of posters featuring the independence symbol, La Tete de Maun, and pro independence graffiti. Last year, there were violent protests which resulted in over 150 police being injured as well as a number of French owned holiday homes being attacked. Clearly, quite an issue but one that’s very unlikely to play out. The Mafia are also very present here, most notably in the time permissions take to be processed, which is how they get involved, by offering to “smooth” the passage.
In four days, we’ve probably seen 20% of the island having used a full tank of petrol. I’m delighted to return our final hire car without incident. We’ve had four, in total, no two companies the same, some charge for the slightest thing, however, we’ve got away with it!
French speaking is made more difficult here by the thick Corse accent, however, the look, the feel, the ambience of Corsica is everything you know, had you visited the South of France. I say French speaking because AD has really enjoyed jumping in to parlez while we’ve been in France. I’ve got all the words but, appalling grammar, which, frankly, I could care less about, I think the French are just happy that you try, despite them being bamboozled by what I might try to say!
It is a lot more expensive in France than recent experiences of Italy, Portugal, Austria and the UK and, unlike those countries, it doesn’t have the general levels of quality, cleanliness or sophistication. That’s not to say you wouldn’t like it but, you’d have to be a committed Francofile to ignore comparisons, given the cost of the experience. Ironically, it’s our least favourite country on the trip, however, it’s easily our favourite place, Puligny Montrachet…so far!
Things are getting strained in our suitcases! I’m on my last pair of clean pants wondering if I should employ the”Clarkson” rule? This involves wearing them inside out, back to front! A two night stay at the same hotel while we are in Italy means I can get “stuff” for the final 5 days, recycled.
Inevitably, the end of the holiday is in sight, we shall be home in less than a week. It’s hard not to look forward to re-entering our normal, which is a shame, given some great days ahead, before we do. Last night, Angelka was recounting her Top 20 favourite moments,a relatively easy task, despite us only being on holiday for just over two weeks, it’s been such great fun!