Bonjour from Bastia, Corsica!Well, last Sunday, I got up bright and early and hopefully didn't wake up too many of the girls in my hostel dorm in Nice (although another woman did wake me up a couple of hours beforehand - at 4am- when she got up, had a shower and left) and headed to the ferry terminal. The ferry terminal was about a 40 minute walk from my hostel with my backpack on, and I had done a little practice run the night before just to make sure that I knew where the port was and how long it would take me to get there. When I got to the ferry terminal, I showed a lady there my ticket and she said "yes, you have a ticket, that's fine", then she must have thought about it for a few seconds and she asked to see my ticket again, so I showed her, and she said "Oh, you're going to Ajaccio, the ferry is on the other side of the port, there is a free shuttle bus, but it may be easier for you to walk", sure, SHE wasn't the one carrying my bag! I thanked her and headed towards the other side of the port, which would have taken about another 15 minutes to walk. Luckily for me, the shuttle bus appeared, just as I was heading out the door, and he saved me the walk!
The ferry took about four and a half hours to reach Ajaccio from Nice, and I'm pleased to report that I didn't have to spend the trip drugged up on Travacalm, or with my head in the toilet - it was a very calm ride across the Mediterranean. I did actually spend half the trip snoozing though, then the second half watching the movie that they showed (In Her Shoes - which I also once saw on a plane trip to Perth, WA, but I quite enjoyed it, and it was a novelty to read the French subtitles).
Ajaccio (pronounced Ajax-sea-oh) is a beautiful little fishing village, which also has a nice swimming beach and is surrounded by mountains. It was also the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte, and on the Sunday afternoon, I visited the Maison Bonaparte, the house in which he spent the first nine years of his life. Quite a grand building. They're pretty proud of their Home-grown emperor, these Corsicans. Pretty much every town has a main street named after him and a statue.
On Monday I caught the early bus to Bonifaccio, which was another four hour trip. I'm sure the scenery on the ride was quite lovely, but unfortunately, I couldn't keep my eyes open for it! We arrived in the port of Bonifaccio shortly before 1pm. Immediately the first thing that strikes you in Bonifaccio, is the citadel that is situated on the cliff, towering over the port. 
I checked into my hotel and had some lunch before deciding to tackle the climb up to the Citadel and haut ville (high village). The view of the citadel is awesome, but as you make the climb up to it and turn the corner, you catch a glimpse of the houses perched precariously on the edge of the sandstone cliff, over the sea, and it is quite spectacular!
I went for a walk along the cliff to the east of the Citadel, and took in the view of the houses, the Citadel, and the mountains behind it, and then to the south, a short distance across the sea, is Sardinia.
I checked into my hotel and had some lunch before deciding to tackle the climb up to the Citadel and haut ville (high village). The view of the citadel is awesome, but as you make the climb up to it and turn the corner, you catch a glimpse of the houses perched precariously on the edge of the sandstone cliff, over the sea, and it is quite spectacular! I went for a walk along the cliff to the east of the Citadel, and took in the view of the houses, the Citadel, and the mountains behind it, and then to the south, a short distance across the sea, is Sardinia.
Below the cliffs are a couple of pebbly little bays, and at the base of the Citadel are steps leading down to some of them. I went for a quick walk up through the Citadel and through the old city, before heading back to my hotel (which was right on the port), getting changed, and heading back to one of the bays, Plage de Sutta-Rocca, for a swim and relax, before dinner.
The next day I headed to Porto Vecchio, which is another nice fishing village. Alex and Ryan would have been in Little Piggies Heaven: there were lots of flash looking boats down on the harbour. I had breakfast at one of the cafes lining the harbour, and was congratulated by the Canadian waiter for choosing to visit Corsica on my travels. After Breakfast, I decided to look for my hotel and the tourist office, and of course, they were located in the haute ville, so I had a steep little walk with my pack up the hill. At the tourist office, I enquired as to how to get to Santa Guilia, and the girl had absolutely no idea where I was talking about. I showed here a picture that they had in a brochure at the tourist office and she said "Oh! Santa Guilia!" It seems that it is pronounced "Julia", and not "Goolia", which is really something that I should have known after my French lessons!! She pretty much dismissed the idea of me getting there if I didn't have a bike or car, as it was at least 7km away and no busses at this time of year. I asked her where I could hire a bicycle and she showed me on a map, and told me that I could also rent a scooter from there as well.
That afternoon, I decided that I may as well get some use out of my bike helmet that I have been lugging around Europe with me and haven't used since The Netherlands, and headed to the bike shop to rent a bike. I decided that I would probably need my passport and some cash to rent a bike, but I didn't want to take too many valuables with me to the beach, and decided that after I got my bike, I would go back to the hotel, drop off my passport, then be on my way to the beach. I decided that 50 Euro would be plenty of cash to take with me to hire a bike for the day. When I got to the bike shop, the man behind the counter said sure, I could hire a bike, did I have some ID? I got out my passport. And did I have a credit card? No, didn't have that with me, sorry. So how would I be paying for the deposit? I said "Cash". The man looked at me with disbelief "ok, you're going to pay the 350 euro deposit in cash?" Oops! No, I thought the deposit was the 16Euro that it cost to rent the bike for the day, seems that they also needed a 350Euro deposit, which I assume was refundable! I told him that I would come back, and made the hike back up the hill to my hotel to get my credit card. I decided halfway back however, that instead, it would be easier and quicker to just drop off my helmet and passport back at my hotel, and walk to Santa Guilia instead (Yes, good one Lisa! Quicker? And what University did you say you went to?)! I was also a bit wary of leaving the hired bike on the beach when I went for my swim and didn't want to have to say goodbye to my 350euro if someone knicked it.
So, at about 3:20pm, I headed off in the hot sun, to the beach, 7km away. I was a bit wary of the passing cars and a bit scared that someone would pull over and offer me a lift. By the time I was about two-thirds of the way there, I was absoulutely OFFENDED that noone pulled over and offered me a lift! About an hour into my walk, and just as I had nearly finished all my water, and I was contemplating turning back, and wondering if I was becoming delirious from heat stroke, and if any place could actually be worth this: Voila!
I caught a glimpse of Santa Guilia, and it was all worth it. I started running in the direction of the beach (the sight of it gave me a second wind, and by this stage it was downhill anyway).
The sand on the beach at Santa Guilia Bay is white, and the water is varying shades of aqua-blue, and crystal clear!
The next day I headed to Porto Vecchio, which is another nice fishing village. Alex and Ryan would have been in Little Piggies Heaven: there were lots of flash looking boats down on the harbour. I had breakfast at one of the cafes lining the harbour, and was congratulated by the Canadian waiter for choosing to visit Corsica on my travels. After Breakfast, I decided to look for my hotel and the tourist office, and of course, they were located in the haute ville, so I had a steep little walk with my pack up the hill. At the tourist office, I enquired as to how to get to Santa Guilia, and the girl had absolutely no idea where I was talking about. I showed here a picture that they had in a brochure at the tourist office and she said "Oh! Santa Guilia!" It seems that it is pronounced "Julia", and not "Goolia", which is really something that I should have known after my French lessons!! She pretty much dismissed the idea of me getting there if I didn't have a bike or car, as it was at least 7km away and no busses at this time of year. I asked her where I could hire a bicycle and she showed me on a map, and told me that I could also rent a scooter from there as well.
That afternoon, I decided that I may as well get some use out of my bike helmet that I have been lugging around Europe with me and haven't used since The Netherlands, and headed to the bike shop to rent a bike. I decided that I would probably need my passport and some cash to rent a bike, but I didn't want to take too many valuables with me to the beach, and decided that after I got my bike, I would go back to the hotel, drop off my passport, then be on my way to the beach. I decided that 50 Euro would be plenty of cash to take with me to hire a bike for the day. When I got to the bike shop, the man behind the counter said sure, I could hire a bike, did I have some ID? I got out my passport. And did I have a credit card? No, didn't have that with me, sorry. So how would I be paying for the deposit? I said "Cash". The man looked at me with disbelief "ok, you're going to pay the 350 euro deposit in cash?" Oops! No, I thought the deposit was the 16Euro that it cost to rent the bike for the day, seems that they also needed a 350Euro deposit, which I assume was refundable! I told him that I would come back, and made the hike back up the hill to my hotel to get my credit card. I decided halfway back however, that instead, it would be easier and quicker to just drop off my helmet and passport back at my hotel, and walk to Santa Guilia instead (Yes, good one Lisa! Quicker? And what University did you say you went to?)! I was also a bit wary of leaving the hired bike on the beach when I went for my swim and didn't want to have to say goodbye to my 350euro if someone knicked it.
So, at about 3:20pm, I headed off in the hot sun, to the beach, 7km away. I was a bit wary of the passing cars and a bit scared that someone would pull over and offer me a lift. By the time I was about two-thirds of the way there, I was absoulutely OFFENDED that noone pulled over and offered me a lift! About an hour into my walk, and just as I had nearly finished all my water, and I was contemplating turning back, and wondering if I was becoming delirious from heat stroke, and if any place could actually be worth this: Voila!
I caught a glimpse of Santa Guilia, and it was all worth it. I started running in the direction of the beach (the sight of it gave me a second wind, and by this stage it was downhill anyway).The sand on the beach at Santa Guilia Bay is white, and the water is varying shades of aqua-blue, and crystal clear!
I had a swim straight away, to cool down, then walked to the other side of the bay and had another swim there (just to compare- it was just as good on that side). The water was lovely and refreshing- and actually quite warm. Of course, there were more topless bathers about, and one woman in a very fetching g-string (it seems that if you don't have a bikini body here, they figure that it's best just not to wear anything), but apart from that, the view was beautiful!
I could have happily spent a whole day at Santa Guilia, just relaxing and swimming, and laying on one of the lounges, ordering drinks from the restaurant, but after an hour or two, I thought I better start the long trek back to Porto Vecchio, so that I was back before dark. That night, I thought that I needed a bit of an energy boost, so did a bit of Carb loading and had a delicious cheesy, creamy pasta dish from an Italian restaurant (very garlicky too!).
The next morning, I caught the bus to Santa Luccia, which the lady at the tourist office had suggested to me when I asked her where the nearest waterfalls were. I then had to walk for about 2km out of town, through another town, and the falls would be there, along with some natural basins that would be good for swimming in. I walked the 2km, and saw some waterfalls that may or maynot have been the ones that I was looking for (there weren't any signs directing me where to go, or any well marked paths).
I asked a few guys who were mountain biking in the area if they knew where the falls where, but they were tourists too, and didn't really know where they were, but looked on their maps and told me to keep walking further up the road. I walked about another half hour up the road, seeing no waterfalls, before deciding that I didn't really want to go swimming in some stupid natural water basin near some stupid waterfalls, and decided to walk to the beach instead, which was another 2km from Santa Luccia in the opposite direction.The Beach was called Pinarellu Bay, and it was another beautiful beach, with clear water and white sand, and the water seemed to be a little warmer than Santa Guilia, but it didn't have quite the same atmosphere.
I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and swimming at the beach, before deciding that I should walk back to Santa Luccia, to make sure that I caught the last bus back to Porto Vecchio. On the way back, a couple of guys pulled over in their car and asked me if I would like a ride back to Santa Lucia with them, I politely declined, but it made me feel better about myself after the previous day of walking in the hot sun with no offers!
When I got to the town, I asked one of the locals where to catch the bus for Porto Vecchio, thinking that it would either be across the road from where it dropped me off that morning, or up the road further, where there was a sign for the bus. The man I asked didn't know, but he asked the bar tender in the bar next door to his shop and she pointed me in the direction of the sign for the bus. So I stood there and waited, and started to get a little worried when the bus was late, as it was the LAST bus for the day, and I really had to catch it, I didn't want to have to stay the night in Santa Luccia, that was for sure- it started to look a little dodgy to me, and nowhere near as nice as the other towns I've been to here in Corsica. I eventually spotted the bus coming down the road, and - you guessed it- it stopped down the street, just across the road from where it had dropped me off that morning! It was too far for me to run and catch it though, and I knew that it would have to pass by me, so I decided that it was either going to pick me up or run me over! As it approached, I stood out in the road, waving my hands at the driver. It turned out to be the same driver that dropped me off that morning, she saw me and slowed down (but didn't at any stage come to a stop) enough for me to jump on! I have never been so glad to be on a bus in my life. That night I had another lovely meal- a VERY cheesy, Four Cheese Pizza! Delicious. And I treated myself to Tirramisu for dessert!
The next day, I decided that I needed a sleep in before checking out of my hotel in Porto Vecchio, and catching the bus back to Ajaccio that afternoon. I managed to keep my eyes open for the whole trip this time, and I'm pleased to say that the scenery was beautiful! We passed around lots of mountains, and through villiages built on the mountainside, and saw lots of sandy beaches. There were a couple of towns that I wouldn't mind visiting if I get the chance to come to Corsica again: Sartene and Propiano.
That night I stayed in a different hotel from the one I had stayed in the first night I was in Ajaccio. I think the 60's and 70's had vomited all over my room. The decor was revolting! There was a furry chair in the corner, that I was too afraid to sit in in case it had fleas! Yuk! But it was very close to the shops and restaurants and a comfortable nights sleep at least.
Yesterday (Friday) I took the train to Corte. The ride between Ajaccio and Corte is spectacular. The train passes through tunnels through mountains, along the edges of the mountains, through forrests, over bridges which the rivers pass under, many metres below.
Corte is another nice villiage in Corsica, and very different to the other villiages I've been to.
When I got to the town, I asked one of the locals where to catch the bus for Porto Vecchio, thinking that it would either be across the road from where it dropped me off that morning, or up the road further, where there was a sign for the bus. The man I asked didn't know, but he asked the bar tender in the bar next door to his shop and she pointed me in the direction of the sign for the bus. So I stood there and waited, and started to get a little worried when the bus was late, as it was the LAST bus for the day, and I really had to catch it, I didn't want to have to stay the night in Santa Luccia, that was for sure- it started to look a little dodgy to me, and nowhere near as nice as the other towns I've been to here in Corsica. I eventually spotted the bus coming down the road, and - you guessed it- it stopped down the street, just across the road from where it had dropped me off that morning! It was too far for me to run and catch it though, and I knew that it would have to pass by me, so I decided that it was either going to pick me up or run me over! As it approached, I stood out in the road, waving my hands at the driver. It turned out to be the same driver that dropped me off that morning, she saw me and slowed down (but didn't at any stage come to a stop) enough for me to jump on! I have never been so glad to be on a bus in my life. That night I had another lovely meal- a VERY cheesy, Four Cheese Pizza! Delicious. And I treated myself to Tirramisu for dessert!
The next day, I decided that I needed a sleep in before checking out of my hotel in Porto Vecchio, and catching the bus back to Ajaccio that afternoon. I managed to keep my eyes open for the whole trip this time, and I'm pleased to say that the scenery was beautiful! We passed around lots of mountains, and through villiages built on the mountainside, and saw lots of sandy beaches. There were a couple of towns that I wouldn't mind visiting if I get the chance to come to Corsica again: Sartene and Propiano.
That night I stayed in a different hotel from the one I had stayed in the first night I was in Ajaccio. I think the 60's and 70's had vomited all over my room. The decor was revolting! There was a furry chair in the corner, that I was too afraid to sit in in case it had fleas! Yuk! But it was very close to the shops and restaurants and a comfortable nights sleep at least.
Yesterday (Friday) I took the train to Corte. The ride between Ajaccio and Corte is spectacular. The train passes through tunnels through mountains, along the edges of the mountains, through forrests, over bridges which the rivers pass under, many metres below.
Corte is another nice villiage in Corsica, and very different to the other villiages I've been to.
It is the capital of Corsica and situated right in the centre of the Island, surrounded by mountains. I spent the day lugging my pack around the streets, doing the tourist walk, checking out all the historical monuments. It was a nice place to spend the day. I caught the train in the afternoon to Bastia, in the North of Corsica. It is yet another fishing villiage. My hotel that I'm staying in is the cheapest I've stayed in since being in Corsica, but is also by far the nicest! I have a little balcony, and the decor is quite tasteful, but at the same time it has a little French touch to it. This morning I was going to catch the train to Calvi, and spend the day there, but I decided to have a rest day instead (I couldn't face taking a 3 hour train ride, spending 3 hours there, then taking another 3 hour train ride back), so Calvi will have to wait until the next time I come to Corsica, with one (or some) of you, and we will hire a car, so we have a bit more freedom in where we can go! I had a long luxurious petit déjeuner (breakfast), before heading out and seeing the sights of Bastia (which didn't take very long, to be honest!). 
So now that I have spent a good couple of hours on the internet, I think I'll spend the rest of the day relaxing, and eating, and generally trying to recharge my batteries, ready to tackle Paris in a couple of days time!
I only have one more week in France, before heading to the UK, and although I have enjoyed my travels immensely, I'm looking forward to doing some work and staying in the one spot for a few weeks, and meeting some new people (as well as catching up with some old friends). For those of you who don't know, my first job is in Belfast for 4 weeks, starting on July 4th.
So, I guess that's it for now.
Love,
Lis x.
I only have one more week in France, before heading to the UK, and although I have enjoyed my travels immensely, I'm looking forward to doing some work and staying in the one spot for a few weeks, and meeting some new people (as well as catching up with some old friends). For those of you who don't know, my first job is in Belfast for 4 weeks, starting on July 4th.
So, I guess that's it for now.
Love,
Lis x.
No comments:
Post a Comment