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.