Bonaparte, beaches & breathtaking views

Hello from Corsica, an island in the western Mediterranean that is actually part of France although it is geographically closer to Italy. The main language here is French but many still speak the Corse dialect as it is taught in school. Much of the island is very mountainous and rugged with the major towns located on the coast via very windy and narrow roadways. Transportation planning desperately needed.

After a rainy visit to Montpellier on Saturday we took a quick hop on -
a Volotea flight ( now renamed by Mac as Volunteer Airlines) to Ajaccio, the capital city of Corsica and the main tourist hub. We spent 3 very pleasant nights in a rather posh hotel in Ajaccio that Fiona had arranged. We were right on the ocean and spent the time strolling up and down the boardwalk to town, riding the hotel bikes around, swimming in the pool, sitting in the cafes , seeing a few sites and drinking aperitifs on the beach.
Napoléon Bonaparte was from Ajaccio and so there are many statues, streets and restaurants named after the family and even a brewery. The fact that our waists were expanding, our wallets contracting and the restaurants seemed to be perpetually "fermé "we chose to visit a pizza food truck - which only in France- served us very nice wine!! We had a particularly fun meal on our second night at a family run establishment ( yup named Restaurant Napolean) . We were so happy with the meal and service that we invited the chef to join us for a drink. A number of eau de vie later........ he was regaling us with his stories and he and Jiggs were comparing notes on cooking game.

Helen left on Monday morning for London as she had a Tuesday meeting she couldn't change but she's flying back today and we'll scoop her up in Calvi this evening. ( you can only do that in Europe when you need to pop home for a meeting.)

Yesterday Mike took over the driving in our rented Peugeot and we took a very scenic but hair-raising drive north on the Corsican roads . Jiggs sat in the back and enjoyed Mike's discomfort having spent the first week at the helm of Le Boat. The Peugeot actually responds a lot better than The boat. The roads here are narrow and twisted like bad varicose veins.
Last night's hotel was in the small village of Piana , up in the hills and with spectacular views looking out over the ocean and surrounding mountains. We drove past Piana to the seaside village of Porto which was a mere 13 km further along what had to be for all of us the scariest drive of our lives. Sheer drop offs on one side and rock face on the other , wandering camera-toting tourists, the occasional goat and a tour bus. Very dramatic scenery if you had the courage to look up. The area is noted for the calanches or very narrow, steep-walled inlets which plunge dramatically into the sea. We stopped at one of the pull-outs and went for a hike to get some good camera shots. We returned to our small, simple mountain village for a lovely fresh fish dinner served by a very surly Corsican waitress. Good fish.

Today we went back down the windy 13 km - easy , peasy, and took a zodiac ride out to see the calanches and the various grottos or sea caves on the coast.

Tonight we're in Calvi at a restored Franciscan Abbey. Not too austere fortunately.
That's it for now. Tomorrow we head to the North coast in search of more Corsican beaches. Fi and I really want to kayak.

Love to everyone,
Fiona and Heather xxMeer informatie