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.)

Corsica, 2022

View of Calvi, Corsica from a not so distant hilltop.

 We’d been to Corsica before, two years ago. We liked it! We went in September, which we found to be the perfect time to go. As we've said before, this year the weather in Montpellier was still hot and humid in September, and we were still looking for relief. Time to revisit Corsica. 

This time, though, we did it differently: we took a boat. Last time we flew from Montpellier to the south of Corsica and rented a car; this time we took our own car on the ferry, to a town in the north of the island. And this time, we’d get more beach time, because Corsica really does have some fabulous beaches, with delightfully warm water!

And also this time, we were accompanied by our friend and fellow adventurer Kate, who contributed some of these photos.

 

The beach at Algajola.

First thing: the ferry doesn’t leave from Montpellier, but from Toulon—at 7 in the morning. So, we drove to Toulon, about two and a half hours, and spent the night. We were up very early to be at the ferry dock well before departure.

Meanwhile, while we slept, a tremendous storm passed through Toulon, with torrential rains and heavy winds. But by the time we left, around 5AM, the streets were deserted—and very clean! It was surreal, driving through the empty streets to wait at the ferry dock, with hundreds of other cars, in total darkness. 

Waiting in the dark...

The air was scrubbed clean by the storm but was still warm and very humid. The sky lightened, we saw the massive ship, and we all slowly began to move into its cavernous opening.

...and finally packed into the hold of the ferry.

It was a seven-hour ride to L'Île-Rousse, the ferry dock on Corsica—much longer than the one-hour plane flight! While not an overnight, we booked a cabin onboard because… hey, we got up at 4AM! Beauty sleep, yah know… There was too much to see and do aboard the ship (including breakfast) to spend much time below in our cabin, but we were still very glad to get our heads down for a bit, and to have a place to leave our things. 

The trip itself was uneventful (except for being on a ship at sea!), and soon enough we were driving out those huge doors onto solid land. And waiting, and waiting, as the tremendously long line of cars slowly made its way through town and onto the highway.

Sunset, from our hotel in Algajola.
(This one by Paula.)

Same spot, a few hours later.

Our first stop was a 20-minute drive down the coast: the village of Algajola, where we spent three nights overlooking the crashing ocean. The ocean wasn’t supposed to be crashing, it was supposed to be calm and picturesque; but the wind was up. In fact, it blew like stink—as we used to say in our sailing days—for our entire stay. That made lounging on the beach less pleasant, so we drove up into the hills to visit the very historic and endlessly interesting villages there. And take in the tremendous views out over the sea. 

Our beach-side hotel in Algajola had a pleasant garden for breakfast, or just sitting.

Algajola from a distance (vertical as well as horizontal!)

The village of Corbara, in the hills above Algajola.

Another view of Corbara.

We did make it to the beach, finally, for a half-hour or so on our last day in Algajola. It was relaxing in the sun, but the beach in Algajola was steep and the wind-driven wave action serious, so we stayed on the sand.

 

We really did like Algajola! Another view of the water front.
(A great photo by Kate.)

A windy day on the beach.

Our next stop was back in L’Île-Rousse, of ferry dock fame. We had a very nice apartment a short walk from the town center. The beach along the city front was gorgeous—long and clean, with the water an incredible azure, and warm. Oh, so warm! So enchanting! We were only in that lovely sea once, though. It was still windy! 

The warm, shallow waters of L'Île-Rousse, with the ferry dock in the distance.

There are only a few train lines on Corsica (maybe the amazing thing is that there are ANY train lines on this very mountainous island!), and one terminus is L’Île-Rousse. We thought we might take the train to Corte, a city in the interior, one-time capital and center of a powerful independence movement. Thing is, the train leaves at 7AM. Up at 6? On vacation? Ah, don’t think so!

The Citadel: the highest--and oldest--point in Corte.

Place Gaffory; the statue is of Jean-Pierre Gaffory, a hero in Corsica securing independence from Genoa (it's a long story...) 

Corte is a very vertical city!

We drove. But only half way, to Ponte Leccia, where we got on the train to Corte at noon. That way we avoided the most tortuous part of the mountainous road, as well as the city traffic and the need to find parking in Corte. (And avoided rising too early!)

Turns out that the train station is on the edge of town, in the flats. The interesting part, the Citadel—the old fortress—is up. And up. And up…

An engraving by MC Escher of a church and tower. (We tend to forget that Escher was an accomplished artist before he became famous for his series of fantastical designs.)

Eglise et campanile l'Annonciation as it is today (well, a few weeks ago).

We did make it though, thanks to a well-placed restaurant half-way up. We spent some time exploring the city center, then began the long descent to the station in time to catch the afternoon train back to Ponte Leccia, and then back, by car, to our place in L’Île-Rousse.

 

Our path back down to the train required crossing this bridge.

Almost there! Looking back at the Citadel.

Our final stop was in the relatively large city of Calvi. Again, we had a pleasant, modern apartment, this one with a good view of the bay. And the wind-driven whitecaps. But the wind came off the land, leaving the beach itself calm. Ah, we thought, tomorrow will be a great beach day!

Except, the next day the wind changed, and came off the ocean, driving waves far up the beach. Ah well… 

The beach at Calvi on a calm day.

On this not-calm day we headed for the hills. Calvi and its gorgeous bay. 

The church A Madonna della Serra with its broken statue in the hills above Calvi. It was blowing hard enough to imagine the wind was responsible!

Wind-carved rocks near A Madonna della Serra.

The water around Corsica really is beautiful!

So it was not the beach holiday we had envisioned, but it was interesting, and adventurous, and steeped in history and culture. And, we ate very well! There was a huge choice of tourist restaurants everywhere we stayed, and all those we tried served good food at a good price, with good service. (Well, there was L’Île-Rousse, but we’ll skip that part…)

 

Our final dinner in Calvi.

Then it was time to go. This time the ferry left in the afternoon, so no early rising! But we still booked a cabin, because we’d be arriving around midnight, and a bit of a rest on the ferry seemed like a good idea.

 

This time, in the daylight, we could see the ferry arrive.

In a few moments, we'd be driving on board...

 

...to nap in our cabin while the car waited below.

As it turned out, the departure was delayed, which meant we’d be on the streets of Toulon around 1:30 in the morning, faced with a 2-1/2 hour drive. That was too much of a stretch, so Paula did what she does so well, and found us an Airbnb for the night; arrival time 2:30AM. Ouf!

On the ferry, leaving L'Île-Rousse behind.

And, after a half-hour drive on the nearly-deserted but very dark Autoroute, that’s exactly when we arrived. We were very glad to get off the road, and after a bit of unwinding, gratefully laid our heads down. 

The next morning the drive went well, and we were soon home to a cooler, less humid Montpellier. Yes, the weather in the South of France is now fantastic, sunny and warm and dry. We did have a tremendous rain storm that has greened things up nicely, but, conveniently enough, it happened at night. We know this winter we will be griping about the cold, but right now the weather is just where we want it!

L'Île-Rousse seen from its peninsula; that's the ferry dock on the far left.