Corsica at last

We arrived early yesterday afternoon at Figari airport in the south of Corsica. The beautiful weather followed us here with blue Mediterranean skies and warm temperatures. The first thing we noticed climbing down from the plane was the palm trees and the smell of the ocean.

Our hotel is in the town of Bonifacio on the southernmost tip of Corsica. Our room overlooks the little harbour full of sailboats and the citadel perched on a cliff. We walked up the hill to the old walled town and explored the amazingly narrow streets and crumbling churches. There are a lot of churches. The town reminds me a little of the old part of Quebec City, but dingier. In the summer the place is absolutely packed with tourists but at this time of year it's very quiet. Restaurants, hotels and tour companies are just getting ready for the summer season.

At the southern tip of the peninsula is the cemetery which looks like a village of the dead because people are interned in small family tombs that look like little churches. This probably is done because the town is built on solid rock so you can't dig a hole to bury people. From the cemetery  you can see the island of Sardinia, which belongs to Italy, in the distance.

Sharon had a particular restaurant in mind for dinner last night but it was closed as so many are right now. So we just went to the grocery store and bought some wholesome goodies to eat in our room for supper.

Today we drove into the interior of Corsica along an incredible switchback road in the mountains. Much of the Alte Rocca area is a national park, with a few small mountain villages clinging to slopes. We stopped a couple of times at villages to have an espresso and talk to some of the locals who definitely have a laid back lifestyle. The people here are incredibly friendly - at least to tourists.

On the way back we did see a lot of road signs with the French words spray-painted out. The remnants of the Corsican independence movement still lingers.

For dinner, Sharon and I trudged back up the hill to the old part of Bonifacio to another restaurant recommended in the Lonely Planet guide book, the Doria Cantina. It was the only place that seemed busy, which is a good sign and we weren't disappointed. It was the kind of restaurant I like crammed with old photos and weird local tools and contraptions hanging from the ceiling.

At the Doria, we met a French couple with their two children who wondered how we found the place. The man grew up in Corsica but married a Parisian. He was delighted to hear that we came all the way from Nova Scotia to visit his homeland and she was glad to hear from us that the Parisians weren't rude.

The wind is picking up and we had a blustery trek back down the track to our hotel. We'll plan tomorrow according to the weather.