Corsica

We decided that if we were in this part of France, we should really take the opportunity to go to Corsica. The choices were a 5 hour ferry ride from Nice or a 45 minute flight. O.K. a lot more expensive to fly, but gee whiz, I did not want to be talking to the "big white telephone" for 5 hours ! Arrived on Monday morning and landed in Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte....first clue...the airport is called "Napoleon Bonaparte". He left the island at 9 yrs. of age. The northern town of Calvi was the birthplace of Christopher Columbus.

In 1755 the Corsicans achieved independence from Genoa under the guidance of Pasquale Paoli. He used the symbol below to reflect the struggle the the Corsicans have gone through for independence over the centuries. In reality, the symbol has a long explanation and history, but I don't want to bore the readers, notwithstanding this, I love the graphic and it is pictured everywhere.

In 1769 Corsica was conquered by France and incorporated in 1770. The island is 183 kilometres long at longest, 83 kilometres wide at widest, has 1,000 kilometres of coastline, more than 200 beaches, and is very mountainous, with Monte Cinto as the highest peak at 2,706 metres (8,878 ft) and 20 other summits of more than 2,000 metres. Mountains comprise two-thirds of the island, forming a single chain. Forest comprises 20% of the island. Tourism is the major economic driver, so needless to say, it has suffered in the past few years. Population is around 300,000 and we are told that their are about one million Corsicans around the world. Our guide, Xavier told us that most young people have to move to the mainland to get work.

There is still a sector of the Corsicans who continue to wish for independence from France, but they do realize that realistically and economically, that this is not possible. All of the street and road signs are in French first then in Corsican below. You will often see the French name has been spray painted so that only the Corsican name appears. A lot of the names of towns and streets seem to be more Italian than French, which is probably due to the fact that Corsica was once ruled by Genoa.

During WWII, Corsica was occupied firstly by the Italians, then the Germans took over and in 1943, the Americans were able to oust the Germans. The Americans used Corsica as a staging area and they established 17 air fields across the island to help with air strikes on the continent.

On our first day, we rented a car, drove into Ajaccio and oh my gosh it was busy. We think there is a Princess cruise boat following us! There were too many tourists in Ajaccio that were spending the day there. We did outsmart them though, we went to a tiny bar for lunch called " Le Trou dans Le Mur" ...." Hole in the Wall" and we know that the tourists wouldn't come here as it was filled with locals. Had charcuterie which included all local Corsican meats, cheese and of course a glass of wine, all very good. Monday the 20th, is a holiday in France, as well as Canada! When we parked our car on the street, I went to pay at a parking machine, but was told by two separate gentleman, that today was a holiday and I didn't have to pay....lucky.

Coastline view from our hotel room, Ajaccio in the background

Then decided to drive inland to scope out the island. Our first impressions is that it is much lusher than one would imagine, very mountainous ( which we sort of knew) and very old stone buildings in the countryside. Very, very windy roads....Lisa...do not come here, you would not do well. The beaches we have seen so far are lovely. We decided to spend more of our kids inheritance and are staying at a lovely resort just outside of Ajaccio, the capital of Corsica set on a spectacular beach.
We organized a one day tour of part of the island with a local tour guide. We were joined by a couple from Belgium. The tour guide, Xavier, spoke French most of the day, with some English. Robin was able to grasp most of what he said when speaking in French and I did some translating. I am always amazed by Europeans as they understand the gift of being able to speak more than one language. Our guide spoke French, English and Spanish. The Belge couple spoke Dutch, Flemish, English, French and some German. Very humbling.

The small town of Ota

What a great day we had. Xavier was the perfect guide, very knowledgeable, courteous, well known and a sense of humour. He also knew the special places to stop and could find parking wherever we went. We left at 8:30 in the morning and not back till 7:30 in the evening. We got a real sense of the topography of Corsica, it's history and that of it's people. We drove to some of the mountainous areas where there is a total of three ski hills, visited the highest possible point that a vehicle can reach, Col de Vergio, which also divides the north and south of Corsica. Went to the small town of Ota, then down to Porto and took a boat ride which took us to a preserve where we were shown incredible sights in the Reserve Naturelle de Scandola and stopped in the town of Girolata, which one can only reach by foot or boat. This is all part of the reserve and is a Unesco World Heritage Site. The vegetation here is classified as scrubland, the French refer to it as "maquis", a term I had never heard before. We referred to the countryside as "rugged", a term that our guide had never heard, so when we stopped for lunch, he looked it up on his IPhone translator app.....gotta love technology!

When we stopped in the small town of Girolata, we were told by the captain of the boat, that we would be departing in 30 minutes and we weren't to be late. As we disembarked the following sign was displayed....

The sign says...." We depart at 4:50 p.m. and for those of you who are late, enjoy the end of your holiday". I love the smile on this guy's face! Remember the only way you can reach this tiny town is by foot....a long way...or by boat.

Then by car again to see Les Calanques de Piana, a Unesco World Heritage site. Giant red granite cliffs and spiky outcrops, carved into bizarre shapes by the forces of wind and water.

Then onto the town of Cargese. The history of this town is interesting. There was a Greek population in the north of Corsica and years ago, the Greeks would not support the local Corsicans in an uprising, so they were banished from the north and settled in Cargese. There was only a Catholic church in Cargese and the Greeks wanted to share it which was not to happen. The church was burnt down and today a Greek Orthodox Church stands opposite of a Catholic Church. Over the past 11 summers, art students from Europe have to come to the Greek church and painted religious scenes all over the walls and ceiling. Quite wonderful.

The countryside is full of eucalyptus trees which were brought in from Australia. Eucalyptus trees need lots water. Corsica had a problem with too much water, lots of swampy areas, and they felt that the trees would soak up the water and get rid of the mosquitoes. Now there is an over abundance of eucalyptus, albeit no mosquitoes! The other tree you see a lot are chestnut trees (chataigne in french). The local Corsicans use the chestnut fruit in a lot of their cooking. We had a chestnut mousse, which was very good. The rocky outcroppings are either a gray granite or a rose quartz which vary throughout the island. Therefore the houses are either gray or pink.

Of course, olive trees everywhere. A lot of people think that green, brown and black olives come from different trees. I think I was one of those long ago. Anyhow, hope I don't bore anyone, but I will just explain. The olives right now are classified as overripe. They are black and simply falling off the trees. Nets are put below the canopies to catch the olives. In Oct/Nov. time frame, the olives are green. Most of these are used for olive oil, but also a great deal are eaten. Come Jan/Feb. the olives ripen to a brown colour and these are eaten and used for cooking.

All over you see pigs, cattle and goats simply roaming around the countryside. No penned animals here....just think, in North America, we charge extra for "free range"!

The two nights we spent in Corsica, we ate at a restaurant next to the hotel...o.k. couldn't spend all the kid's inheritance, the hotel restaurant simply too expensive. The restaurant 's specialty was moules (mussels) and they had two pages of different mussel recipes and all very good; not that we tried them all. They also served everyone a complimentary "Mirto" liqueur after dinner. This is a specialty of Corsica and Sardenia. The myrtle berry is very similar to our blueberry and many families make homemade Mirto.

We always laugh at the fact that you see lots of restaurants that begin with "Chez".... our guide said he did most of the cooking at home, so he called himself, Chez Xavier. Remember the old car game where your parents tried to keep you occupied on long trips, ie: spot how many white cars, spot how many cows. etc. etc. In France you could say...spot how many restaurants start with "Chez" ! That would definitely keep one busy.

I know I keep talking about food, but after all, we are in France. Another dish they serve often is vegetable beignets, vegetables deep fried in batter, similar to a corn fritter. The most popular at this time is beignets de courgettes....deep fried zucchini, as they are in season...very good to eat, but probably not for the cholesterol check!

Corsica is welcoming three stages of the "Tour de France" this year and you can see the signs everywhere. The locals are very excited about this as they hope this will heighten the awareness of Corsica and hopefully encourage more people to visit. Our tour guide told us, he had never seen so many cyclists here, and yes, they are everywhere, you need to be careful driving. The roads are so windy here and no shoulders. We have not seen a straight stretch of road anywhere.

On our last morning in Corsica, we drove towards the south of the Island along the coastal road. Stopped in the small port town of Porto Polo, then returned to Ajaccio to catch our flight home. Although distances not that great, it takes time due to the windy roads.
Corsica was definitely a wonderful experience, and one we are so glad we took; we would encourage anyone who is in southern France or Italy to visit Corsica. A rugged, mountainous country with beaches!
In closing this post, I will share our guide's final words to us......" Be very careful, be very careful. If you spend too much time in France, you won't want to leave"!