Farewell, Corsica!

On our last night at Casella, on Easter Monday, we  enjoyed dinner with the Poggios. We were joined by a Dutch couple, Suzanne and Jerome, who arrived unexpectedly at the last moment. They had been driving around looking for accommodations. It was amusing to hear that Suzanne and Jerome had planned to do a lot of cycling in Corsica but didn't realize how big the hills were, especially compared with the hills in the Netherlands.

The meal consisted of several Corsican courses including a combination of a crepe and omelette and veal stew. Cathy also served a diabolical local cheese which Jean-Marc described as an "atomic bomb". He went on to describe it - "she's a cheese who lives alone". None of us ever had a cheese like it before. It did have a sort of initial shockwave like an atomic explosion, followed by aftershocks of garlic. I could still taste it the next morning - which is not necessarily a good thing. Sadly, the cheese has no official recognition and has no name - only a smell.

Yesterday we bid a fond farewell to the Poggios and made our way to the Bastia airport. It's always a relief to return a car to the rental agency without a scratch. Sharon negotiated many tight spots in Corsica like a native. But I drove us back to the airport as Sharon pulled a muscle in her back last night and was in a lot of discomfort.

Our flight to Paris was full of families who had gone home to Corsica for the long Easter holiday. There were a lot of children and grandchildren on board. And we saw a lot of packages of what looked like cheeses and meats sticking out of people's carry-on luggage.

In Paris we were delighted to be greeted with gorgeous weather. Our hotel, the Mahler (actually the "Grand Hôtel Malher"), was located a few blocks from the one we stayed at a few weeks ago, right in the epicentre of the historic and famous sites of Paris.

We went for a walk in the nearby Place des Vosges, a square surrounded by gorgeous apartments built in the early 1600s. They reminded me of the restoration of Louisbourg in Cape Breton. From there we wandered to the monument of the Bastille which was a focus of the French Revolution. Then we did what everyone else was doing and went to a sidewalk bar for a beer. Sharon took a peek at the book she just bought, "Asterix en Corse", which Cathy recommended.

The Malher is in the old Jewish quarter of Paris, Les Marais. Of course the early Jews were forced to live in what was a swamp centuries ago. Now it's one of the hottest addresses in Paris. For supper we bought two falafels at a take-out window of a busy Yiddish restaurant. There was  a huge line-up so we knew it would be good - a guide book was not required to tell us that.

This morning we had the last continental breakfast of our vacation (croissants and coffee) in the restored cellar of the hotel before going out onto Rue Rivoli to buy the last few gifts. Then we lugged and prodded our luggage through the Paris subway system and onto the train to Charles de Gaulle airport. I didn't let Sharon lift anything to avoid antagonizing her pulled back which is healing well so far.

I said good-bye to Sharon before she entered the security maze of Terminal 2 Departures. I thanked her as best I could for planning an excellent trip that exceeded both of our expectations by far. We would love to go back to Corsica someday and I believe that we will.

They're Corse, of course!

Over our last glasses of wine on this visit to the wonderful island of Corsica, Sharon and I jotted down some of our impressions of the land and its people who are known as "les Corse" in French. In no particular order...

Corsicans are very friendly. We found this during our entire trip, with a single exception in a remote mountain village where people seemed to be rather cool. But the village was so small they didn't even have a pub so what do you expect? Folks are very polite and a bit formal when you meet them on the street, always greeting us with, "Bonjour madame, monsieur". The Corsicans speak a very nice French - not too fast and not too fancy. And they have their own language, Corsu. But today very few speak Corsu as their mother tongue.

The drivers tend to be good - "precise", Sharon says. They have to be good to keep their cars on the road on narrow mountain tracks. Driving along you see that place names are written in French and Corsu but the French words are almost always spray painted out - a Corsican independence thing. For some reason Corsicans use road signs for target practice. But there's no discrimination here - both French and Corsican words are equally shot up.

The Siesta is commonly practiced in Corsica. In most towns and villages virtually all stores are closed between 1:00 PM and 3:00 PM. Exception: bars. We had to get used to remembering to buy our picnics before noon.

Dogs roam free and are very friendly. Many assume the duty of guarding the village - inspecting and approving each stranger that arrives. We watched one greet every single person who descended from a tour bus. A number of dogs accompanied us on walks and seemed to guide us. They wander in the middle of the road oblivious to traffic. And there is a Corsican breed of dog, the Cursinu. We met a number of these very gentle medium-sized dogs.

Farm animals roam free too. We encountered pigs, sheep, goats and cows - frequently, and sometimes in the narrowest mountain roads. We were told that in the old days pigs and cows were in proper fields and shepherds tended the sheep and goats. But today there's no one willing to put that much effort in to keeping animals so they just run wild. It's very Corsican. Then there's the famous giant wild boar or "sanglier" which, luckily we didn't encounter, although we ate some!

I love the stone architecture here. It grows right out of the ground and lasts for centuries - even millennia. And it's a land of stone churches but today most of them stand idle and locked. There just aren't enough praticing Catholics anymore to support them. It's a shame if they fall into disrepair, as many already have, as the church is the centerpiece of every villages and many are very beautiful. Although we were in Corsica for the Easter weekend, there was no sign of Easter at all except that the shops were closed on Easter Sunday and Monday.

It's a land of sparkling mountain streams with delicious drinking water spouting from fountains and springs all over the island. And to see the fountains and springs, forests and beaches, there's an incredible system of hiking trails from coast to coast and the mountains in between. We only sampled a small part of it.

In Corsica, we had excellent food at restaurants and B&B, alike. The Corsicans have a huge number of traditional dishes and we got to try many of them. There's a high level of "gastronomy" here which makes us think that the Corsicans combine the best traits of the French and Italians. One Corsican agreed that they are better than both the French and Italians.

Spring rains and ramblings

The weather continues to be a mix of rain and sun but our exploring continued undampened. After another enjoyable breakfast with our host Cathy, we set out for the middle of the chestnut growing region, la Castagniccia, about an hours drive south and inland. There's a fair of local crafts there every Easter in a pretty village called Piedicroce. We learned a lot about the chestnut forest and the "chestnut economy" that lasted in Corsica for hundreds of years. The protein from chestnuts was traditionally much more important than that from wheat. Today, the chestnut forests and orchards are in poor conditions from neglect and from the effect of pigs foraging around them which spreads a fungus that kills the trees.

At the fair we met a Corsican photographer, Antoine Perigot. Cathy lent us his most recent book "Opera Umana" or "Traces of Humans" the night before and we liked it so much Cathy arranged for a friend to pick it up for us at a local bookstore. We certainly didn't expect to meet the photographer at the fair!

We spent much of the day driving from village to village admiring the views and ancient teetering stone houses. We also visited a spring at Orezza where naturally carbonated water bubbles up in a fountain. Known since Roman times, les eaux d'Orezza are exploited today as a major source of bottled water.

At the end of a long day of driving we discovered that most restaurants are closed on Easter Sunday. Searching for supper we ended up in the picturesque town of San Florent on the southwest of Cap Corse. It turned out to be clear there and we were able to catch the last light of the day on the waterfront after sharing a pizza in a beautifully restored restaurant.

This morning at breakfast we got talking about old houses and our host Jean-Marc told us about his mother's house a few doors away that he is renovating for her. he gave us a tour of the partly restored stone house. The house is thought to be typical of the older houses in the village which date from the 1500s. It has a characteristic arched entry way to the ground floor where animals used to be kept. Jean-Marc showed us how the old stone walls are finished on the inside with a vapor barrier and concrete sheet. On the bottom floor the walls are nearly a metre thick. New walls are cinder block on the inside and a single thickness of stone on the exterior, that looks exactly like the original. One wall had to be replaced as the original was unsound. Another wall was black with soot and Jean-Marc explained that it was from the fires used to roast chestnuts for centuries. An architect designed the renovations and a company with a lot of experience in renovating local stone houses is doing the work. It will be a gorgeous little house when completed.

Today, Easter Monday, we spent the morning walking a trail between two nearby villages and a famous Romanesque church at San Michelle built in the 1100s. The theme of the trail was "stone and water" and there were many superb stone huts, houses, churches and fountains along the way. Although most stores were closed for Easter, we stopped at a bakery and bought a traditional Easter loaf which is a sweet bread baked with a whole egg in it. We at it in our car as a sort of picnic in the rain.

We are looking forward to having Cathy's supper at Casella tonight!

Cap Corse

Cap Corse means two things; a delicious drink made of fortified wine spiked with quinine and the 40 km long peninsula that sticks out of the North end of Corsica and looks like a middle finger pointed at France.

We are now based at the bottom of Cap Corse in the smallest village yet, called Vallecalle. The parking provided by the B&B (A Casella) is on the narrow street in front of our room and you have to turn the passenger-side mirror in so it doesn't get knocked off by passing cars. Luckily there are no big American cars here.

Our luck with the weather finally ran out when it started raining yesterday afternoon and got worse today. But hoping for the best, we set out this morning to drive around Cap Corse. We started the day with breakfast from our B&B hostess Cathy Poggio who counseled us on things to see and not to bother with on the trip. Sound local advice.

I had wanted to see a lot of the Geonese towers that this coast is known for, but with the rain it wasn't worth the trek from the car to see most of them. And I didn't want to get my camera wet after having ruined one in the rain only last summer in New Zealand.

One of the villages we passed through was Nonza which has a church dedicated to Saint Julie, the patron saint of Corsica, who was crucified in 303 AD for her Christian beliefs. In the church there's a painting over the alter of St. Julie on the cross. It looked very strange to see a female figure portrayed in a crucification scene.

Late in the afternoon we arrived in the industrial town of Bastia. This is the largest port close to Italy and the main ferry connection with the continent. It might have been the capitol of Corsica but Napoleon, who was born in Ajaccico, decreed that his home town would be the capitol.

We had a tour of the Bastia citadel which is now an excellent museum. But we wanted to get back to the B&B before dark so we bought some food at a grocery store to make a little supper at home. In the fog and rain we made our way back along the incredibly narrow donkey track they call a road here.

Sharon has done most of the driving on this trip while I navigate and cling to the door handle. She has done an excellent job keeping the rental car free of dings and keeping us from flying off a cliff.

Tomorrow we are going to a food festival. Food has been a main theme of our visit to Corsica so it makes sense to keep it going.

Ancient capital Corte

We continue to take advantage of the never-ending sunny weather to hike the mountains of central Corsica. Yesterday we spent much of the day on a trail south of our village along a clear mountain river and an old mill, up to a mountain pass. Even at high altitudes, there are stone walls that recall the old days of high summer pastures for live stock.

Last night at dinner at our B&B we met a group of eight, a family from Paris, who are doing some serious hiking and staying at primitive refuges. They are staying at our B&B for a couple of nights to relax and prepare for an ascent of Mount Cinto, the highest peak in Corsica (2710 m).

Last night the discussion between the French family and the B&B owner Jean-Francois became heated as they crossed the forbidden boundary and started discussing politics.

Today Sharon and I braved the white-knuckle switch-back road from here to the town of Corte which was the capital of Corsica from 1755 to 1769. Even then the Corsicans never controlled the major cities of the coast which remained in the hands of the Geonese. The Geonese were pretty nasty. In the last village we stayed at, Piana, the entire male population was killed and the females banished so that the village was uninhabited for 300 years.

In Corte we visited the Corsican museum which had a particular exhibit that struck us. Its was about the Corsican brotherhoods where men participate in processions dressed in gowns and hoods that look like the Klu Klux Klan. Very creepy, but apparently the hood idea is to hide the identity of the member because he is ashamed of his sins and is seeking redemption from Christ. Or some such crap.

But the highlight of Corte was the spectacular "Eagle's nest" citadel which was started in 1419. It's a small fort on top of a 100 m tower of rock. An amazing visit and we had a picnic at the base of the citadel.

We had another surperb Corsican meal at the B&B tonight, this time wild boar was the main course. We heard a lot about production of local food from host Jean-Francois and why it's so expensive. We were joined by the French family again and we had a real dinner party. Lots of good conversation.

Tomorrow, Good Friday, we are off to our next and last B&B in Vallecalle near the east coast.

Moving inland

Yesterday we hiked to the Geonese tower at Cap Russo, the western-most point of Corsica. It's a very popular walk that takes about four hours. This is the beginning of the two-week school Easter holiday so there were a lot of families out enjoying the perfect weather. I was glad I didn't have any kids to run up to the edge of the cliffs. The view from the top of the tower was worth the trip.

Sharon had our last night in Piana booked at the Maison D'Hote Giargalo, so we moved from the Roches Rouges to the other side of the village. We missed the view at the Giargalo and the accommodations were eclectic to the point of bizarre (possibly verging on "derelict" decoration), but the place was highly recommended in the Lonely Planet guide for the food. We had dinner there with a very nice family from Belgium, and just as the guide said, the meal was fantastic. It started with a delicious beet salad (and I hate beets) with cod as the main course. Dessert was homemade chocolate eclairs.

This morning we set out inland for the geographical centre of Corsica in the mountains near the former capital of Corte. We are staying at a B&B called Casa Vanella in the small village of Casamaccioli. The main tourist attraction here is the intersection of routes of the Corsican hiking trail system. Sharon and I did a short stretch this afternoon that passes right in from of the B&B. At dinner tonight, the host Jean-Francois, recommended other hikes for us to do over the next two days that we are here. The meal at Casa Vanella tonight was good too, with entirely local ingredients that I might tell you about later. But now to bed - the mountain air made me tired.

Les Roches Rouges

Yesterday we reluctantly bid farewell to Elisabeth and Dominique at the Châtelet de Campo and made our way out of the mountains to Ajaccio then north along a spectacular coastal route to the village of Piana. Perched on the rocks overlooking the Gulf of Porto, Piana is officially recognized as one of the prettiest villages in France. We had planned to continue on to Porto, but Piana was so charming that we stopped at its famous Hotel Roches Rouges to see if they had a room available, and they did.

The Roches Rouges is an amazing hotel for one reason only - it overlooks Les Calanques, a crazy rock formation of red granite splintered into spires and columns. For most of the drive here I thought that the scenery was comparable to the Cabot Trail, but when I saw Les Calanques I realized I had never seen anything like it before.  Les Calanques are a UNESCO World Heritage Site and the view of them from our hotel room can only be described as mind-blowing.

This morning dawned perfectly clear, so I set out shortly after sunrise to take pictures of Les Calanques. There's a twisty, narrow road that winds through them which was completed in 1850. Early on a Sunday morning there was no traffic but it must be a nightmare in the summer with cars and tour buses.
I joined Sharon for breakfast at the hotel then we went to Les Calanques to do one of the many hikes. We met a young American architecture student who accompanied us on the hike. He had an antique camera that uses film.

After the hike we drove along another nail-biting switchback track to a beautiful little beach called Plage d'Arone. Thanks to the freezing cold temperature of 20 deg C (water about 16 deg C) we had the whole beach to ourselves and had our first swim of the season (after our swim a local showed up who had to show off by taking a dip too).

Late in the afternoon we went on another hike overlooking Les Calanques in the setting sun. The red rock formations against the blue Mediterranean was one of the most spectacular scenes we have ever seen.

We wrapped up a great day at a little restaurant within walking distance of the hotel. Just about everything in our pizza, salad and drinks was locally produced.

Ajaccio and beyond

Today we descended from the mountains of Campo to the port of Ajaccio, the birthplace of Napoléon and the capitol of Corsica. We got mired in traffic where the main road goes directly through the center of the town but we ditched the car at a big parking lot at the other side.

A stroll through the town took us past the citadel, which is still a French navy outpost, and past one of the biggest tourist attractions in Corsica - Napoléon's house, Maison Bonaparte, which is now a museum. Unfortunately we arrived just before noon and Napoléon's house had just closed until 2:30 PM. It reminded me of a famous quote from Napoléon - when asked why he hadn't done more for his homeland of Corsica, Napoléon replied, "je n'ai pas eu le temps" (I didn't have time). Well we didn't have time to see Napoléon's house.

We bought some bread, cheese and other goodies at a large outdoor market and had a picnic in shady square in front of the town hall. They'll let you use the bathroom in the town hall which is pretty handy since there are no public toilets anywhere.

After lunch we continued west to the end of the point of land called Pointe de la Parata. There's a spectacular Geonese tower there and a couple of others in the distance on the Iles Sanguinaires. It's such a gorgeous scene, it's on the cover of our Lonely Planet guide book. I could'nt take a decent picture, though because it was the wrong time of day (should be early morning). We had a nice walk up to a look-off and through fields of spectacular purple flowers.

We put our feet up briefly at Châtelet de Campo, briefly, after the long drive back from Ajaccio. But we had to get something to eat so we went to a wonderful little restaurant in near-by Ste-Marie Sicche called U Fiumicellu. It's owned and operated by friends of the Herzet's. A great recommendation and a fitting end to a great day of exploring.

The most beautiful B&B in Corsica

Yesterday we drove from Bonifacio along the southwest coast of Corsica and into the interior mountains. Following a chain of ever-smaller villages and increasingly twisty roads, we arrived at Campo (or Campu in Corsican). The most prominent building in the village is Châtelet de Campo (www.chatelet-de-campo.com), a maison d'hôtes (bed & breakfast) owned by Elisabeth and Dominique Herzet, Belgians who fled city life for the pure air and water and the peace of a quiet mountain village.

The house was build by a Corsican who went to Panama and made a fortune as a contractor involved in the construction of the Panama Canal. He returned to Corsica and built this magnificent mansion to show off his success. There are many of these rags-to-riches show-off houses in Corsica where they are known as "Maisons des Américains". The Châtelet de Campo house is audacious to be sure (it overlooks the village church) but respects the local architecture, constructed of quarried granite blocks, and is beautifully designed for its site with a magnificent view from every window.

The house had been more or less abandoned for 30 years when the Herzets found it. They had to track down nine descendants and negotiate with all of them before they could buy the house - an ordeal that took three years. Then followed seven years of renovation which they did almost entirely by themselves for the usual reasons - to save a fortune and to make sure work is done properly. Wandering the halls of this stately home, it's no exaggeration to say that the Herzets loved the house back to life. I doubt there's a more beautiful Châtelet in all of Corsica. Good call, Sharon, for finding Châtelet de Campo and thanks Elisabeth and Dominique for the good company.