Corsica: One giant rock

Old Nov 10th, 2011, 02:47 PM
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Corsica: One giant rock

It will take me awhile to complete this report, but to summarize, we loved Corsica and it’s wild beauty. It definitely has a different character and culture than mainland France, similar to how Sardinia and Sicily are different from mainland Italy. (And, compared to those two islands, it was our undisputed favorite). It seemed like the entire island is mountainous, which made driving a challenge. The food and wine did not disappoint.

When planning this trip, I was surprised by the lack of information about Corsica, compared to other places in the world. I guess this goes along with the fact that we rarely heard English spoken in the two weeks we were there in early September, which was fine with us. We almost had perfect sunny and warm or hot weather every day. My thanks to those Fodorites who did post trip reports or answers to my queries.

Itinerary: Sept.4: Chicago-Paris on American, connect to Easy Jet to Ajaccio
Sept 5 Ajaccio: Hotel San Carlu Citadelle.
Sept.6-9 Piana: Hotel les Roches Rouges
Sept. 9-12 Algajola: Hotel Stella Mare
Sept 12-14 Corte: Hotel Dominique Colonna
Sept 14 Levie: A Pignata
Sept 15-17 Bonifacio: Hotel Stella Mara
Then, ferry to Sardinia (1 week), fly to Sicily (2 weeks) & Rome 3 nights

Arrived uneventfully on EasyJet (first time flying this) and took a taxi into town. Our hotel, San Carlu Citadelle had a wonderful location overlooking the Citadel and sea, was recently renovated with a simple, clean and comfortable room #444 with a large shuttered window of the beautiful view. Wandered around and watched men play petanque near the harbor. Felt amazingly good without much jetlag...I swear by those homeopathic “No jet lag” pills. Dinner was at “Da Mamma”, very atmospheric with high stone walls and dark wood beam ceilings down one of the Old towns’s narrow passageways. Other than a very tough rib eye steak (last time we ordered beef) the food was delicious and reasonable... fish soup with crusty bread, a whitefish in a tomato sauce and a fig tart with dark chocolate glaze. Our first taste of Pietra, the local lager beer brewed from chestnuts and it was excellent. Wish we could find it in the States. The local wines were uniformly great. We had Domaine di Pietrella from Ajaccio region.

Skipped the hotel’s breakfast the next morning (too pricey), and instead went to one of the Cafe’s across from the morning market. I loved this market. It was so clean, calm and different from the ones we’d visited in Asia and Ecuador. One vendor encouraged me to sample all the various honeys...I liked the chestnut one and one from the mountains around Sartene, “ Miel des montagnes de l’Alta Rocca”, which I bought to take home. Then bought a variety of olives, white peaches, and delicious strawberries. We simply walked around the narrow streets of Old Town, very charming, and the harbor area backed by mountains with cruise ships and ferries docked was picturesque.
We didn’t feel like touring Napoleon’s house. I wanted some local music so got a CD (after listening to several) of Il Mirvana, a polyphonic group who uses electronic instruments (not just voices) for a more modern sound. We ate lunch at the beautiful dining room of the Grand Cafe Napolean...tall floor- to -ceiling French windows overlooked a tree-shaded courtyard, sunlight streaming onto the black & white terrazzo stone floors, stucco wall crests and ornamental beamed ceilings. Great food and and a lovely respite in the middle of a hot day.

Picked up our rental car from Europcar (booked through AutoEurope for cheaper rate). Got an upgraded car, a Renault (5000?) that at first we declined because we thought it was too big. But actually, the footprint was more car size, it just sat up high with a high roof....very good windshield for viewing the mountain tops and comfortable.

We set off for Piana, but I started us off on the wrong road out of town and had to backtrack to join a very congested road. Took about an hour just to get out of town. After that, the drive was beautiful traveling through layers upon layers of mountains looking down upon scenic beaches with rolling waves. At Sagone, we stopped for a much needed break at Dulci Geronomi, known for it’s excellent glace.

Next: Piana
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Old Nov 10th, 2011, 03:24 PM
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Your trip sounds great, barefoot beach! It is somewhere my husband and I have considered as well along with Sardinia, so am eager to hear more. Do you mind saying how it was your favourite as compared to Sicily and Sardinia? Thanks!
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Old Nov 10th, 2011, 03:54 PM
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Thanks, raincitygirl,
We thought Corsica was scenically more beautiful than the others...higher mountain ranges, beautiful interesting villages...and dare I say it, better food. I feel like a heretic even saying that because most people think Italy has outstanding food. Sardinia had the best beaches, but some of Corsica's rivaled those....and we weren't there for a beach vacation. Sicily was the most frustrating, but had a lot of historical significance and a variety of attractions. You'll have to read my other trip reports on those islands, which I'll get to after Corsica.
And on the other hand, Corsica was our first stop and I think travel fatigue set in by the time we got to Sicily.
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 06:22 AM
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I've really been looking forward to this trip report. Off to a delectable start.
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 08:06 AM
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We arrived at Hotel Roches Rouges, a grande dame of an old hotel, about 6:30pm, already awed to be sited high up among the Calanques looking down on the Golfe de Porto. I had asked for an upper floor sea view room with balcony, and boy, did we get one. Room 335 is actually four flights up, no elevator. My husband carried the two carry-on bags up but luckily Maddie, the owner, found a guy to carry our larger suitcases up. This hotel is all about the view. The room was spartan but with 14’ ceilings and french doors leading to two small balconies (one in the bathroom) looking out to the mist-shrouded mountains (Calanches) and sea and also to the village of Piana. Simply stunning. (If you rent the French film from Netflix, “Queen to Play”, you can see the hotel since some of it is set there..it’s a good flick.) In the bathroom, you can leave your shutters open since no one can see in. And, nothing (birds, bats, or insects) ever flew in. In fact, this is another thing I loved about Corsica....very few birds. Since I have a bird phobia, this was a blessing although I’m sure most would think otherwise.

We had made reservations to eat at the hotel the first night in an elegant, large dining room with huge windows framing that awesome view. Like most of the restaurants we would eat in in Corsica, it was over lit. I don’t know why they don’t dim the lights for dining...way too bright...and, fake plastic flowers on the tables!!! Shame! Again, we’d encounter that too frequently. We liked the smaller size of wine bottle you could order in Corsica....like a 3/4 bottle size...just right. Although we didn’t like our wine selection...Petite Close Cannarella from Figaro region. Our food was good but not great...chocolate dessert wasn’t worth it, and service also was just OK. Glad we’re not on half-board.

A continental breakfast with fruit and juice was served outside on the terrace. We had planned to take the boat trip to Scandola Nature Preserve that day but our server informed us that the seas were too rough today and tomorrow and no boats were running. We’d have to go Friday am, which I didn’t really want to do because it was a travel day. The only boat they book is the Pass Partout and we were shown a picture of a smaller boat that would get in among the caves easier. We booked it.

We took an early hike in Les Calanches, driving through incredibly beautiful jagged rocky formations on twisty roads to “Tete e Chien” a relatively easy hike that led along the top of a ridge, with some steep and rocky sections so I was glad I had my hiking stick. We took it easy and spent about an hour there looking down to the views of the Bay of Porto.

Now it was about 11am and the road back to Piana was clogged with stop and go traffic.
The darn busses were the major hold up as they unloaded their human cargo , especially around the Cafe Roches Bleu, and hordes of people walked along the sides of this very narrow road taking photos. I would hate to see this road in July or August when it’s high season.

Finally got through the bottleneck and took the scenic drive to Plage d’Arone, again along the top of the mountain looking down to the coast. We had a delightful lunch at Cafe de la Plage on a terrace with a vine-covered pergola set back from the beach.
I had a delicious salad with Colombo Rose wine (great) and my husband an excellent penne seafood pasta dish and tried another local beer Colombo, not as good as Pietra.
There was a little glass of white liquid on the plate, and I poured some on my salad thinking it was dressing...it was a cold soup...my faux pas!

We used their changing rooms, and took a nap on the pretty crescent beach on our new favorite travel item, a “parachute beach blanket” that you can find at Amazon or LLBean. It’s so lightweight, cool, comfortable, double sized and sand shakes off it easily. The corners have pockets that you scoop sand into to hold it down. It folds up into it’s own little pouch. We used this a lot. Unfortunately, the clouds came out when we lay down.

On way back to hotel, we explored the attractive little village of Piana. Dinner tonight was a picnic on our little balcony with our favorite red so far, Domaine di Pieterella, olives, ham, cheese, baguette, and peaches....and were treated to one of the most colorful sunset afterglows I’ve ever seen....the panorama of sky before us was ablaze in oranges, reds and blues. The final treat was a huge moon setting over Piana.

Next: Spelunca Gorge, Evisa and Porto
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 11:13 AM
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GReat start!
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 01:00 PM
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Considering how long I have lived in France, it shameful that I have spent only one weekend there in all of these years, and of course I thought it was great, just seeing a bit of Ajaccio and Corte.

My German, Swiss and Dutch friends constantly rave about Corsica and go there year after year...
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 02:06 PM
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Another gorgeous day, and yogurt was a new addition to our CB...guess you could ask for it...who knew?

Got on the road early (8:45a) to avoid the crunch on Les Calanche road but there were still many people walking along the road but only one bus. At Porto, we took the smaller road, D124 through Ota, then on to the Ponte di Pianella, a Genoese stone bridge from the 1700‘s crossing the Spelunca Gorge. It’s a lovely, shady place and good to take some walks along the river with beautiful reflections of the bridge. There, we met up with the D84 enroute to Evisa, passing more outstanding Spelunca gorge views. There we stopped in the local food products shop at A Tramula and bought spring maquis honey, fig jam, salted almonds, and Canestrelli cookies with fig and hazelnuts. (Note: these local cookies are more of a rustic, crisp biscuit that don’t look that interesting, but are surprisingly tasty. We kept them in the glove box for a quick snack while driving since they keep in the heat very well. They’re made from chestnut flour that I hope I can find in the States. I had bought a pound at the Ajaccio market, but when trying to “make weight” on a little plane flight from Sardinia to Sicily, I needlessly tossed with a bunch of other things.)

More about food: We ate lunch at their little restaurant next door, on a terrace overlooking the countryside. A Tramula is well regarded for featuring local produce. My husband tried sanglier, wild boar in a sauce with chestnut crepes...very good but he thought once was enough. I had an omelette with brocciu, the national cheese, which is a fresh, young sheep or goat cheese, similar in texture to ricotta, and local tomatoes with another local cheese, complemented by a good Rose from Figari region. It was so hot sitting out there so had to have chocolate and chestnut glace to finish the meal.
Afterwards, we drove further into the Foret d’Antoine looking for a wonderful place to walk. We tried to find the waterfall walk, but couldn’t, so just took a short one in this shady area.

On the way back, we detoured into Porto to look at the boat we’d be going out on the next morning to Scandola...the Pass Partout. We found it and it was much smaller than the photo in the brochure we’d seen...basically a zodiac type with no free-board, no shade, of course no bathroom....for four hours (on potentially rough seas) crammed in with 12 people? No way! (if we were in our 20 or 30’s, we might not have minded) So, we got into a bit of a tussle with the woman in the booking booth who said “No annulaire!” She didn’t speak English, and we kept insisting...she got a shopgirl to translate “no refunds” ...(of course, we were going to pay through our hotel so technically hadn’t paid yet) We protested...she called the owner, and suddenly it was all right. I was actually glad we cancelled because we had to pack and drive to our next destination that day, which meant we would’ve had to wear our money belts and probably get wet. We figured we could catch the boat tour from Calvi instead, which was a bit farther away but still doable.

Again, the road back to Piana through the Calanches was a big pain, especially with those buses trying to make the tight turns. That night, we ate in Piana at La Casanova, a charming little family restaurant with stone walls and a great value. Tried a myrtle wine aperitif...served over ice, surprisingly since ice is a rarity...and it’s like a lighter port, not too sweet. We shared their Coquilles St. Jacques, scallops in a myrtle sauce with rice...excellent! Along with a wood-fired pizza with artichokes, mushrooms, black olives, cheese and tomato sauce....great! For dessert, I’d read about their nougat glace in raspberry coulis, but they were out so settled for a chocolate fondant. By the way, their Orezza sparkling water is great. Restaurant takes cash only.

P.S. The towels at Roches Rouges are threadbare.

Next: To Calvi area, staying in Algajola
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Old Nov 11th, 2011, 02:15 PM
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lovely report - thanks for posting.

looking forward to more!
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 05:21 AM
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Another warm and sunny morning, another lovely drive to Algajola, midway between Calvi and L’Ile Rousse. I struggled with where to stay in this area...Calvi seemed too congested and I couldn’t find a charming, reasonably priced place to stay. Ile Rousse had gotten some mixed reviews. And, we planned to travel around the area a lot, so thought Algajola would be a good central location and the Stella Mare had received good reviews. In hindsight after being there, I might have picked the “Best Western Santa Maria” (yes, I know...Best Western?) in Ile Rousse simply for it’s outstanding location on the water looking across to La Pietra headland and lighthouse. The views were incredible with a short walk into town.

We arrived too early to check in, so spent an hour on the village beach which was unremarkable. The Stella Mare looks charming enough, a three story villa sited up a hill with some Moroccan type cushioned booths outside. The reception people were very nice, the common areas had lovely natural artistic touches, but our room was tiny. It was on the first floor (we would say 2nd floor) so the standard size window looked out to a partial view of the sea just over a terracotta roof. If we could’ve been on the second floor, they had a full French door with a better view. The bathroom had colorful turquoise tile framing the mirror, a single pedestal sink, and the standard small, triangular shower module we encountered everywhere...large people beware! The furnishings were simple and natural colors. They had a mini bar, but a sign on it said if you put anything in it, they’d remove it! Bizarre. The hotel is located on the mountain side of the tracks of the tiny train that runs between the towns, but you don’t hear it. Breakfast featured a more lavish buffet than usual including scrambled eggs, local jams, honeys, muesli, nuts, juices and fresh yogurt. Turquoise mosaic tables lined a lovely open terrace, with more of a garden rather than sea view.

Later in the afternoon, we set off to explore a few nearby artisan mountain towns. The first was Sant Antonino, the oldest and highest perched on top of a mountain. It was fun to wander around their narrow stone alleys looking down to distant views of the Mediterranean but there were really no artisan shops. Then, we went to Pigna, which I liked much better. It was prettier and offered more shops. Bought another “modern” polyphonic CD, which I later threw out. Enjoyed our dinner on Casa Musicale’s terrace looking down to the sea. We had a friendly, cute waitress who spoke English well....very rare. Tonight we tried a citron and a muscat Patrimonio aperitif...both delicious. I had read that Corsica had outstanding veal, but I was disappointed in my veal roast, which was a little tough. My husband’s langoustines (crayfish) were very sweet but you don’t get much meat from them.

We came to Pigna tonight to attend a polyphonic concert at their Auditorium. When we got there, the group that had been scheduled had been replaced by a single woman singer, Battista Aquaviva, who apparently was famous because the crowd of locals went wild for her and they filled the seats and lined the aisles. She was very thin with massive black curly hair wearing black jersey knit slacks, top and heels. Standing with a slight tilt with one hand covering her ear, she had a most amazing voice, but frankly, the concert was torture. It was too hot , it was too long (9:40-11pm)...and it was boring. I think the whole point of polyphonic is to have a multitude of voices that cover the spectrum. A few songs, she sang with one other person, which was better, and at the end, about 20 people came up and sang with her which was outstanding. But, for the most part, a single singer was just monotonous. It reminded us of the Fado, from Portugal....more of a lament, a wail. Unfortunately, I had to listen to my husband’s (who can’t sing a note) interpretation of this for the rest of the trip.

Note: Be sure to have plenty of 1 and 2 Euro coins for parking. Often,you can’t even enter a parking lot without depositing them. And, the vendors seem to hoard coins. When you buy something, they do not want to give you a lot of coins in change insisting that you give them some coin so they can give you a bill back.

Next: Calvi and Scandola Nature Preserve
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 07:46 AM
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The next morning we headed to Calvi, about 15 minutes away, for our delayed boat trip to Scandola. First, we hiked up into the Citadel and admired the views of the marina and surrounding mountains, had a good lunch at La Scola tea room, ducked into the Cathedral and headed back down to the Quai Landry where we admired all the yachts and colorful buildings. At 3p, we boarded the Colombo Line boat to Scandola, which was larger and held about 100 people. It was full, but we snagged the upper deck back facing seat, so had an unobstructed view and it felt like our private little boat, as long as we didn’t turn around. It was another sunny, low 80’s day, so getting a breeze from cruising felt great. It took about an hour to get to Scandola, and then the ship weaved in and out among the massive and intriguing red rock formations for another hour before we headed back and returned by 6pm. It was a very beautiful, calm and relaxing ride.

Shopped a bit in the cute boutiques and my husband got a white linen shirt and flax clamdiggers. Then, a quick drive out to the Chapelle Notre Dame de la Serra for a sunset view of Calvi, where we quick changed in the car for our dinner at U Fanale. We sat on a lovely terrace shaded by a huge tree and tried vin d’peche aperitif...delicious. The food was good but not outstanding (except for my braised lamb) and it was quite a wait between courses. Did enjoy a local red wine from Lumio, Clos Colombo.

Today is 9/11 and we are so glad we’re not in the States knowing that all the broadcasts will be replaying the events of the 10th anniversary of this tragedy.

Drove to Ile Rousse and first visited their market, housed in a historic covered building, and bought a few items. Then, we walked along the waterfront and up to the top of La Pietra, the hilly area after the ‘umbilical’ cord isthmus to the lighthouse on top. Amazing views of aquamarine water, the town and mountains. It was pretty hot already and I envied the people who had ridden up on the cute little historic train that we found in many towns.

We skipped lunch and I tried to find some glace before we headed for the beach, but we couldn’t find any that were open yet. For some reason, ice cream shops often don’t open until late afternoon. We drove to Ostriconi beach just to look at it, because it’s a very steep climb down....beautiful. Then backtracked to Lozari beach, which was almost as beautiful but is much more accessible. The color of the water is incredible...not blue, not turquoise, something in between and very clear. It was very refreshing, but took a little while to get used to it. While in the water, you look back at and see the waves of giant mountains and realize again that Corsica is like one great Rock...full of differing shapes, textures and colors.
Back in Algajola, we tried again to find artisanal glace, but had to settle for a packaged Magnum bar, which was actually quite good. There’s not much in Algajola, except for it’s central location. That night, under a full moon, we enjoyed another picnic sitting outside on the Morrocan style low cushions, enjoying our favorite red, Domaine Gentile, and eating our bounty from the morning market. (I had packed a small, collapsible cooler and ice pack so the cheeses, etc. we’d bought earlier would stay good).
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 07:47 AM
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Forgot to add:
Next: St. Florent and Nonza on way to Corte.
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 12:51 PM
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Glad you enjoyed Corsica, we LOVE it and have been for the last four summers. We stay in Lumio, which is a very small town but a handy location for the Balagne region ( and it helps that a friend has a house there....) (in fact the house we stay in in close to Clos Colombo - I am partial to their Rose)
I'm sorry to hear your meal at U Fanale was only OK, we have had a couple of fab meals. But o agree the service can be hit and miss.
What did you think of the Citadel in Clavi? I love the Route D'Artisans but sometimes when you get stuck behind a caoch, oh my goodness that journey can take a while.
Looking forward to more of your report.
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 12:52 PM
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Did you try Le Chariot at all in Algajola?
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 01:06 PM
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Hi smeagol,
No, our night we were going to eat in Algajola we decided to eat in for a picnic. My one regret was not touring the winery in Lumio...just ran out of time. We just got a quick look around the citadel in Calvi because we had to get to our boat. But, loved the views and the tea room. That's about all we saw. I liked the Colombo Rose as well....especially with lunch.
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Old Nov 12th, 2011, 04:36 PM
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We’ve now been in Corsica one week and we’re on the road again. This time we’re heading into the mountainous interior to visit Corte, but first, I wanted to experience a bit of Cap Corse and see “the little St. Tropez” of Corsica, St. Florent. After about a 2 hour twisty, drizzly, mountain drive through the Desert d’ Agriates, which actually didn’t look like a desert at all, we reached St. Florent and the sun came out. For some reason,I felt mildly car sick although we’ve been driving hairpin turn roads all week. I liked St. Florent a lot, with a lovely harbor filled with boats, big and small, and hazy mountains looming in the distance. Finally, great shopping. My husband found a long-sleeve version of the thin, white linen shirt at 50% off (which he proceeded to put on immediately and wear almost daily for the rest of the trip), and I located a recommended jewelry shop, Aqua Dolce Bijoux, in which the owner/artist displayed very unique pieces at very reasonable rates. I found a silver necklace and earrings with little semi-precious stones, and he had to photograph it before I took it because it was the first of it’s kind. ( I had to wear it immediately, also) We followed this with lunch on the Quai at Cesar with a big bowl of mussels and fries. Hit the spot.

From here, we drove further north to see part of Cap Corse to the picturesque hillside town of Nonza. It was very pretty, especially the pinky peach church of St. Julia, devoted to the patron saint of Corsica who was brutally martyred here. (“brutally” might be redundant...is there any other way to be martyred?) Then, we climbed up to an old Genoese watch tower built by the national hero Paoli Pascal and had a great view of the schist town roofs and the grafitti scrawled gray beach, discolored by the now-closed asbestos mine further up the coast. The town doesn’t allow swimming along the beach claiming an undertow, but perhaps asbestos pollution is the real reason.

From here, we turned around and headed back through St. Florent where we stopped at a grocery store for some items. Here’s a major gripe: supermarkets don’t let you use their bathrooms even though you purchase things. Generally, the only place you can use a restroom is in a bar, cafe or restaurant...which is very inconvenient if you don’t want to stop and take the time to have a drink or eat. If you go to a major tourist attraction or museum, you can also use one there.

We drove to Corte under a threatening sky and ran into traffic on the east coast, south of Bastia. By 6pm, we’d reached our hotel, Dominique Colonna, set just outside of Corte on the Gorge de Restonica. The hotel looks like a standard 2-story motel on the outside, but our second story room, with a balcony overlooking the river gorge, was newly remodeled and filled with welcome conveniences...a bathtub! (instead of a tiny shower), a minibar refrigerator, flat screen TV with (gasp!) English speaking CNN, a wall safe and L’Occitane toiletries. Dinner was a convenient walk across the parking lot to their Auberge de la Restonica restaurant. We had one of our best meals here...a trio of scallops, sea bass and shrimp in a ginger sauce and a duck breast that was outstanding, finished with a chestnut sundae.

The next day began coolly with an excellent breakfast sitting outside along the very dry river bed. We began the challenging drive up along the beautiful Restonica gorge road and luckily the traffic wasn’t bad going in/up. But, the road is extremely narrow with sharp rocky outcroppings with few pull-outs and no guardrails. When you came upon another car, one frequently would have to back up until the other could pass. I’d thought we could hike through this area, but the hikes looked too challenging for us so it turned into a car drive.

By 11:30am, it was already very hot when we came back to the university town of Corte. ( I thought it was supposed to be cooler in the mountains....still in the mid-80’s and sunny) We hiked up to the Haut Ville where the Citadel and it’s museum were located. The museum was pretty boring, but it did have a toilet and a comfortable chair for a short nap....worth the admission. Much more interesting was walking further up to the Eagles’ Nest castle with outstanding views of the surrounding mountains. On the way back down, I was feeling punky....tired and hot, so we stopped for dessert at Casanova Patisserie on the main street.

At this point, we should’ve gone back to our hotel and enjoyed their beautiful setting in the forested mountains from their lovely outdoor pool deck. But no, instead we pushed on to Omessa to visit a cultural center with artisans at work that I had read about. Couldn’t find it in the town and I tried asking a couple of old ladies sitting on their porch where it was. The only thing I could make out from their gestures was that it was somewhere outside of town. So, we drove some more and I asked a guy for directions. He went on and on in fervent French, gesturing again that it was somewhere “out there”, until at the very end he said it was “Ferme”. (closed) “Ferme?” I asked, and when he replied again, I got that it had burned to the ground. Why hadn’t they told me that in the first place instead of telling me how to get there! Gotta ask the right questions, I guess.

On the way back, we stopped and checked out another pretty (from afar) hillside town, Soveria. Nope, kinda scary looking and definitely not a welcome tourists vibe. So, by the time we returned to our restorative, tranquil setting around the pool, the sun was starting to set behind the mountains and the water felt too cool to go in. We ate our picnic dinner on our balcony, under an almost full moon, and the glow from our maglite flashlight.

Tip: Concerning having enough coins for parking, my husband reminded me that a great source is the guy giving tickets to expired parkers. He empties out the change machine and has a ton of coins on him.

Next: Through the Col de Bavella to Levie.
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Old Nov 13th, 2011, 04:01 AM
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I too get car sick on that car journey but it is worth it isn't it once you get to St Florent.
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Old Nov 14th, 2011, 07:23 AM
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Today’s scenic drive took us up through the Aiguilles (Needles), which is what they call the red granite spiky rocks and it was truly awesome mountain scenery along a decent road. People swarmed over the pass, the Col de Bavella, taking photos and short walks. From there, we descended a bit to Zonza and had a great lunch outside at L’Incudine. I bought some of the Nepita olive oil I’d read about and some Myrtle liqueur.
We arrived at our destination for the night the country inn, A Pignata in Levie, renowned for it’s 7 course dinners of local specialties. It’s a charming place with a wonderful view and we were in a stone annex off the reception with a little terrace and two chairs. However, despite it’s expense, there were a number of omissions or inconveniences that you don’t expect in a luxury inn, however rustic. There was a nice bathroom with tiled shower and vessel sink, but no where to hang a towel, no door on the shower, no shampoo or lotion, just liquid soap, no a/c, no minibar refrigerator, no hair dryer (unless you ask for one, and they charge 5E to use a beach towel for their indoor pool. There was a lovely terracotta tile floor and an antique daybed, besides the king bed.

We were in the mood for a walk, so drove about 5-10 minutes to an archeological site,Cucuruzzu and Capula, to see stone ruins from the Bronze Age. The best part was walking through a “Tolkienesque” shady forest of ancient gnarly Oak strewn with huge mossy boulders to get to the Cucuruzzu fortress, a round stone chambered tower, with it’s commanding views. Luckily, while we were exploring the one covered chamber, it started to rain. So, of all the places we could’ve been in this open air museum, we stayed dry during the brief shower. I should’ve brought my hiking stick because it was a lot of climbing up and down over rocks and uneven surfaces. Capula was a medieval rather than Bronze Age ruin. We spent two hours there and rushed back to clean up for our gourmet feast.

The set menu dinner was served in a charming, rustic dining room. It began with a delicious pumpkin soup with chestnuts, then canneloni with broochiu...excellent! Then a very tender and flavorful roasted lamb, (accompanied by a great Clos Colombo Red), then a green salad and a dry ewe cheese with homemade fig jam, a bowl with oranges and apples, and finally, a white creamy pudding with carmelized sugar (similar to creme brulee)....way too much to eat! Luckily, we didn’t have to drive anywhere and could waddle back to our room.

An extended continental breakfast included chocolate cake (yum) and was served in an open-sided building overlooking the Alta Rocca.

The very twisty mountain drive down to Porto Vecchio on the coast took longer than I expected. My plans were to eat lunch there, but driving through the upper Old town was a zoo parade with no where to park, so we didn’t stop. It did look like a fun place to shop if you’d spend the night there. I wanted to see one of the beaches on this part of the island, so stopped at Santa Giulia and shouldn’t have bothered. Very crowded, lots of aqua junk (jet skis, etc.)...so we just stayed a half hour and continued on to Bonifacio.
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Old Nov 14th, 2011, 08:36 AM
  #19  
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Forgot to add: Bonifacio next, then on to Sardinia & Sicily
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Old Nov 14th, 2011, 04:25 PM
  #20  
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Forgot to mention how delicious their Nougat candy is. My only previous exposure to nougat was a poor imitation... little wrapped, white, tough to chew, rectangular candies from Brach. These were very fresh and loaded with different types of nuts. Again, a good travel snack since they don't melt.
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