Corsica and Northern Italy

 

The city of Séte seen from the ferry, just as we pulled away.

My, it's been a while! But we're just in from a long road trip through Northern Italy, starting with a ferry to the island of Corsica.

There's a lot to this, so let's start with that ferry trip......

We've been to Corsica before (it's that big island in the crotch between France and Italy). Twice, in fact. The first time we flew in and rented a car; the second time we had our own car, and took it on the ferry.

But a new ferry port has opened, less than an hour's drive from Montpellier, and we could not resist this "easy" route. ("Easy" in that last time, we had to drive to Toulon—3 hours—and spend the night to be on the ferry early in the morning.)

Eight in the evening found three of us (for our friend Debra accompanied us) waiting in the gathering darkness at the ferry dock in Séte. Eventually we were let on board and settled into our respective cabins, for this was a long overnight passage.

Sunrise, seen from our lodgings on Corsica. "Our" beach is down there somewhere...

We arrived, well rested and ready, at L'Île-Rousse in north-western Corsica. It was the early afternoon, so we made the quick drive to our lodgings, a house overlooking the Sea a few miles down the coast.

"Our" beach, a few minutes walk from our apartment.

We quickly discovered a quite fantastic beach a short walk down the hill. Every day we made it a point to put up our umbrella and lay out our towels, although we spent most of our time in the water. The lovely, warm, breathtakingly clear aqua water, where we would just float enjoying the sunshine and the hills surrounding the bay.

On our way to the beach, through the rocks and the pines.

Sunset.

Oh, but we got around a bit, too, visiting some of the hill towns, and some other beach towns. One evening we took a "sunset cruise," hiking around the point near our lodging as the sun went down. Memorable!

View of the Mediterranean coast from the interior.

A colorful door in the hill town of Pigna.

Again in Pigna. It's a very colorful town, full of art and music.

Paula looking through an iron gate, also in Pigna.

Our "sunset cruise" evening hike took us to the entrance to the Baie d'Algajo

Debra on the hike.

The Baie d'Algajo, not far from our lodgings.

Wind sculpted rocks seen on our hike.

But like all things, our stay there ended. We had a ferry to catch on the other side of the island taking us to Livorno, Italy. Actually, it was a bit more complicated than that, since we got word that our afternoon ferry was cancelled; we would have to take the one at 8AM instead. That shifted our schedule!

We say a final farewell to our gorgeous beach, Plage de Sant'Ambroggio.

We considered several options, finally deciding to leave our fine house overlooking the Sea a day early, and spending our last night in Bastia, close to the ferry dock. We lost a night in that house, and a morning on the beach. Oh, and host wouldn't refund our money. But when circumstances change...

Seen from a viewpoint as we crossed the island, looking north.
It's a very rugged interior!

We made a day of it, crossing the island from near L'Île-Rousse to Bastia. And it was a good thing, too. We'd briefly considered staying in our lodgings for one more night, leaving at 4AM to arrive in time for the ferry, but that would have been a Bad Idea: Corsica is very rugged, with the whole interior being a long mountain range, home to the toughest hiking trail in Europe. We stopped often on that incredibly narrow, winding road (no, not the hiking trail!), to join other cars, tour vans (too narrow for buses!), and many many motorcycles to enjoy the fabulous views. (Motorcyclists love Corsica; something about those endless, narrow winding roads.)

Seen in one village as we crossed the interior: a whole veal roasting for dinner. (We were told this large outdoor restaurant charged about $55USD per seat...)

And, the restaurant!
It's the Ferme Auberge Chez Edgard in the town of Lavatoggio, if you're thinking of going...

(Photo from the restaurant's website on Google) 

And we were horrified to think what it would have been like to drive these roads in the dark! Endless curves, never knowing what lay beyond the next turn... Yeah, we'd made the right choice, driving during the day.

We stopped for a leisurely lunch in the coastal town of Saint-Florent and saw a poster featuring an interesting-looking church, made of black and white stones arranged in stripes. We'd seen something similar on Sardinia, so we made a slight detour on our drive to Bastia.

The Église Saint-Michel de Murato, near Murato, Corsica.
A black-and-white church like the one we saw on Sardinia!

A detail from the doorway of the church,

Interior of the church.

Our drive across the island was leisurely, relaxed, and got us to Bastia in plenty of time to find our AirBnB and settle in for the night. We were up early the next morning to catch the ferry; we never did see much of Bastia!

Our ride to Italy, still unloading vehicles at 8AM.

We finally got on board! In the cavernous hold of the Mega Regina. 

What we saw of Bastia; from the deck of the ferry as we left.

Most of what we saw of Bastia was what was visible from the upper deck of the ferry as we pulled away. But that was ok, we had a whole 'nother adventure in mind, visiting some of the cities in Northern Italy.

 But you'll have to wait for the next blog to read about that...

A fine sunset, seen during our evening hike on Corsica.
(The tower is one of the many defensive towers built by the Genovese, who ruled Corsica for 500 years.)

Sardinia; Week Two

 

The territory: the island of Sardinia showing our route and stops.
Area to the left of the orange line was our first week (previous blog);
area to the right of the line was our second week (this blog).
And to the north is the French island of Corsica.

This is the second week of our two-week trip to Sardinia. For the first part, look here.

After the Chiesa di Santa Sabina (we talked about that in the last blog) our next adventure was driving through the town of Orosei to our lodging—it gave us a chance to practice our precision driving. We crept through a very narrow street, pulling the mirrors in just in case. Meanwhile our host blasted on ahead of us in his much larger car. But we made it unscathed!

        Orosei

Another pleasant but not extraordinary town. For us the best part was the view from our vast terrace, directly above the town church. We caught a glimpse of the sea to the east, and the distant hills south of us. Very satisfying!

View from our vast terrace. The back of the church façade is on he right.

And, the front of the church, at night.

North of town we found some wonderful beaches with lucid, aqua water. Although, as it turned out, we did little beach lounging on this trip: too much to see and explore!

Paul finds alien life forms.

We are very happy at this beach on Baia Lu Impostu (Lu Impostu Bay)

        Palau

After a few days of exploring this part of the north-east coast we moved further north to the sweet port town of Palau. It’s claim to fame, in addition to more wonderful beaches, is the island archipelago just to the north. The major island of La Maddalena is only a couple of miles away, so one morning we took the quick ferry trip over.

From on-board the ferry in Palau looking across to the island of La Maddalena.

We asked among the information booths along the waterfront and found that while there were several companies giving boat tours, the routes and times were all essentially the same: leave at 10AM, visit several beaches, have lunch, visit some coves, then return around 4PM.

 We weren’t up for an all-day trip; we strolled around the town (also called La Maddalena) for a bit, located the tourist office, and found that the there was a bus that took visitors to the national park on the neighboring island of Caprera.

The remains of a long-abandoned dockside crane on Caprera.

We found this concrete map of Italy! That's Sicily at the lower left;
Sardinia & Corsica are mid-left.

Even here on remote Caprera, a bicycle as object d'art.

We rode the bus across the island and eventually across the narrow bridge to Caprera, drove through a thin forest, and eventually emerged at a deserted dock. After wandering around for a bit—we didn’t want to miss the bus which came only every 90 minutes—we gladly re-boarded the bus and were back in the city just in time for lunch, and another fantastic sea food meal.

Debra and Paul with their stern buddy Giuseppe Garibaldi back on La Maddalena.
An unidentified bystander looks on.

Once more on the ferry we take our leave of La Maddalena.

By now the afternoon was well under way; we took the ferry back to Palau and considered it a good day. There is much to explore among the many islands and beaches, but spending all day on a boat to visit the “most liked” sites did not really appeal to us. Perhaps on a future trip we will find a better way to explore this stunning groups of islands, islets, and inlets.

We heard about some natural rock sculptures in the hills around Palau and one day went looking for them. Well, it. Roccia dell’Orso—Bear Rock, to be precise.

The ideal: digital art by Marco Arduino. (Inspired by real life.)
(https://pixels.com/art/roccia+dell+orso)

The real: Telephoto from a half-mile away.

Turns out it’s a bear from a distance, but close up… it’s a rock! It was a good, short, steep hike up, with fabulous views. The powerful wind at the top was like to carry us off; there was a lot of nervous giggling from some of our fellow climbers. We managed to stay earth-bound, but up close the rock was not particularly bear-like.

Paul under the "bear."

OK, no bears but truly fabulous views!

Our few days in Palau—and exploring the marvelous beaches and bays around it—came to an end, and we moved on to our next lodging in Stintino.

The town of Castelsaro topped by the Cattedrale di Sant'Antonio Abato.

        The Wedding Kurfluffel

Driving along the north coast we stopped at the town of Castelsardo (the name may derive from something like Castle of Sardinia). The lower city was fine, but what we really wanted to do was see the view from the Cattedrale di Sant'Antonio Abato, perched above the town. There was a road, so we drove. There was also a wedding, so we did not enter the cathedral, and didn’t really stay long. We did get some great views out over the water, and were thrilled to see the French island of Corsica off in the distant distance.

Great view of the Sardinia coast with Corsica in the distance.
But see that crowded road on the right...?

What we didn’t see was a way to get out. The road we came in on was a dead end, narrow, and jammed with cars for the wedding. It was impossible to turn around.

We carefully drove forward, ever deeper into the mess. We finally were able to turn around… and faced a long line of cars eager to get to the church and park.

Nobody was going to back up; after all, this is Italy, where nothing comes between a man and his macchina (motor car).

After several minutes of us facing off with the on-coming BMW and waving for him to back up, only to have him wave for us to back up, Paula decided to set things to right.

        And she did!

It took a few minutes, but eventually cars backed up; cars found room to turn around. The path cleared, and we moved resolutely on until we were well out of town.

Our arrival at the Basilica, stark against the sky.

        The Striped Church

Once clear of that mess we turned south to visit a rather extraordinary church, the Basilica della Santissima Trinità di Saccargia (Basilica of the Holy Trinity of Saccargia). Opened in 1160, expanded over the years, it was abandoned in the 16^th century to be reopened some 400 years later.

Close up of that fabulous façade.

We found the black and white stripes, and the tall bell tower, highly reminiscent of the cathedral in Siena, although this church is considerably simpler (and built 100 years earlier!).

Inside the church.

Close up of that great front porch!

Detail of one of the columns.

When we arrived there was a drummer in front making a music video, and we were not allowed near. Fortunately, he took a break after a while and we had full access. Just as we were leaving he started up again. It was a weird juxtaposition: a modern drum set, this small elegant church, the stark, isolated setting.

An amazing surprise in this isolated loacation.

     

           Stintino

Our final lodging on this trip, and in some ways the absolute best. The weather was not humid but sill warm, the sky was blue, and the view was several shades of awesome!

View from our hotel terrace near Stintino.

Our small hotel was on a hillside well above the bay. Boats came into the expanse of the bay and anchored for the night; to our left was one of the most famous beaches on Sardinia. We just sat on our terrace, mesmerized by the scene.

        The Beach, finally!

On our last day we finally got to Spiaggia della Pelosetta, Pelosetta Beach, considered one of Sardinia's finest. Beaches in Europe tend to be far more commercialized than those in the US (the wild New World). Large areas of a beach are given over to a concessionaire with mats and loungers and umbrellas for rent. In fact, renting is required if you want to be on that part of the beach. This is quite strange to us United Staters, so we always opt for the free-range part of the beach.

Our first view of Pelosetta beach: umbrellas for hire. Ouch!

But at Pelosetta we still had to pay. This beach is normally so crowded that an on-line reservation is required; when we arrived we were issued a wrist band that was checked before we could descend the stairs to the sand.

Fortunately, this late in the season (mid-September) and this late in the day (after 4PM) the crowds were thinning, and we had no trouble finding a place for our mats, our towels, and, of course, our umbrella. (Interestingly enough, a straw mat was required at this beach, something we hadn’t seen elsewhere. At one point I saw some “beach monitors” come by and talk to one woman who had laid her towel directly on the sand. She got up and left; I don’t know what the point is, but they do seem serious abut it!)

Then, into the water. OMG, magical! Warm, clear, aqua. Nothing to do but float, or admire the view of the nearby islands, and the boats anchored in the bay.

It was so wonderful that we even considered squeezing in a dip the next morning before driving on to Porto Torres.

Ah, the water is SOOO nice!!

At breakfast the next morning, as we discussed packing and leaving, the beach was far from our minds. But we were to find another, even better, that afternoon!

        Porto Torres

The ferry port, and our ride home (and that would be the big black and yellow ship in the background!)

Check-out time was 10AM; we drove off with sad farewells to the fabulous view and turned our wheels towards Porto Torres and our rendezvous with the ferry at 8PM.

We still had a lot of time, so we headed to the center of town and the Basilica di San Gavino, built in the 11^th Century by craftsmen from Pisa. It was very long and narrow, and had an interesting story.

Basilica di San Gavino, seen end on.

The front entrance of the long and narrow church.

It was built to honor two 4^th Century Christians, Protus and Januarius, who refused to renounce their faith. The Romans weren't happy, and confined them to await execution the next day. During the night, though, the two converted their guard, Gavanus (for whom the basilica is named), and he let them go. The next day Gavanus offered himself for execution in the place of Protus and Januarius. The Romans accepted his offer, sort of, but then caught the other two and beheaded all three a short ways out of town.

A small church marks the spot of the beheading. All three were later canonized and the basilica built to honor them.

Interior of the basilica. Long and narrow; an exercise in perspective!

The unpretentions Chiesa di San Gavino a Mare overlooking the sea.

Well, that seemed to indicate our next move: we drove out to the small church. And what a find that was! The little white-washed chapel was very picturesque on its outcropping over the sea. Even better, it overlooked a very fine public beach. And when we saw that there was a fresh-water shower available, the rest of our day was decided!

The public beach right across the cove from the church.

After a few hours of laying on the warm sand and floating in the pristine clear water—as magical as the day before—it was time for our late lunch. We rinsed thoroughly and returned to our car/changing room, then drove off in search of a restaurant.

Monday, the traditional day off for restaurants, is a bad day to find lunch in a strange city. But we did eventually find a good pizza, then drove to the ferry port. As more cars and RVS began to congregate, the parking lot resembled the church we’d visited a few days before; typical Italian chaos. But we knew it would end; eventually the ferry people would come and straighten it out.

Which they did, and soon we were all driving through the enormous doors of the ship.

Ready to depart!

Porto Torres, seen from the deck of the ferry as we leave the dock.

We’d booked cabins for this overnight passage. They were nothing fancy but the beds were good and we slept well. Up early the next day, we caught the sunrise and noted that others didn't have cabins, but found clever ways to pass the night…

An inflatable bed in the dining hall? Worked for this person!

A seafaring solution! Hammocks on the weather deck (outside, that is).

We had breakfast and made our way to our car, at the very lowest level of the ship. We were early in line for the departure; how come we were among the last to get off? But get off we did, and were back home in Montpellier in time for lunch.

We had set out for Sardinia not sure what we'd find. We came back very pleased with our trip!

We've settled back into Montpellier, where fall is definitely progressing. Still lots of  leaves on the trees, but more and more are ending up in the streets. We're enjoying daily life here, and making plans for a November trip to Paris and our end-of-year migration to Seville. And something about Norway in March...

A 7AM sunrise; on the horizon are islands off the coast of Toulon.