We LOVE Bonifacio. If you go to Corsica, don’t miss it! There’s a lower town, around the marina and it’s quay, and an upper town accessed via many steps up to the Citadel, which encompasses tiny ancient streets, shops, restaurants, churches and one of the most beautiful cemeteries in the Mediterranean..all perched on top of sheer striated limestone cliffs with views of the sea all around. Since we would be leaving by ferry to Sardinia, I booked the Hotel Stella Mare on the waterfront, thinking that this would be convenient for the ferry departure. Wrong. The embarkation area I had seen was for the tourist boat trips around Bonifacio or to the Lavezzi island. That it was close to. However, the ferry boats departed from an area in the Marina that was a fairly long walk, and not one we wanted to pull two suitcases each to. So, the taxi I had hoped to avoid was now required. Note: Suitcase recommendation: I bought a 26” rolling duffle bag from Lipault, a French brand of luggage that was just available in the States in June....I LOVED it. Very durable, roomy, easy to pull, and it stands up on it’s own...plus, it “feels” really nice... great colors, too.
Getting back to our arrival, we must’ve gotten one of the worst rooms in the hotel. It had a french door that opened to an incredible view of the harbor and Citadel, but only grille work no balcony you could go out on. And, it was tiny....the bathroom was like being on an old cruise ship. Very plain...no decor. But, we lucked out that the Europcar return office was very close (the Europcar website shows it in an entirely wrong location)...we just had to go the wrong way for half a block and return it...it’s connected to a gas station. The Europcar guy comes out in just shorts, no shirt (wouldn’t see that in the States!), looks at the full gas tank and says “OK”...didn’t look for damages at all. What a relief to return this rental car with no damages with all the treacherous driving we’ve done...congrats to my dear husband for a job well done! We did like that Renault Kangoo a lot.
We wandered around the Marina area checking out the shops. I find a French Marina Yachting blue & white striped long sleeved shirt for half off. We decide to take that cute Petit Tourist train up to the Haut Ville because it looks like a pretty steep climb. Don’t count on using the train thought because the schedule seems to change at whim and it stops running at 7pm. Up there, are narrow streets filled with more cute shops and sunset views out to the Fallen Rock and Cap Perpetusa...very picturesque with the walls of the Citadel framing the other side.
Our restaurant, Stella d’Oro, is close by and charming with white stone walls inside. We take their set menu and have an excellent meal....stuffed mussels, Eggplant Bonifacienne (eggplant stuffed with cheese, tomato sauce in a baked pasta, a little similar to lasagna) ending with a great lemon meringue tarte.
Now, we have to figure out how to get back down to the Marina, since we didn’t walk up. Our waiter gives us directions, but somehow, we end up going down a totally black tunnel, no one around, and luckily we have a flashlight to see the steps. Very scary. If you were trying to design the perfect place to get robbed, this would be it. We ended up coming out in a deserted car park, far to the left of the marina area, but unscathed. I don’t want to repeat this tomorrow night!
Awaking early the next morning, the port was totally fogged in, but by 7:30a it had cleared. In all of Corsica, it’s wonderful how we can sleep with the windows totally open and nothing flies in...and it gets delightfully cool at night then warms to the 80’s during the day.
We skipped the expensive hotel breakfast, instead choosing a waterfront cafe with a view of the boats. We decided to try walking up to the old town, and it wasn’t too bad with broad, shallow steps. About half way up, you come to a ledge where a chapel sits to commemorate where the last Plague victim died. From here, you have views to the Fallen Rock and this is the start of the hike to Cap Perpetusa. Continuing up, (and looking down to great views of the Marina), you pass through the massive Porte de Genes, the Genoese Door that enters the Citadel and the Haute Ville. We saw the Sainte Marie Majeure church from the 12th century with it’s loggia, admired the stone bulwarks which connected church to the streets, and wandered through town to it’s edge, past the barracks to the Cimeterio Marin (Marine Cemetery), considered to be one of the most beautiful in the Mediterranean. It’s full of elegant, small family mauseleums and has great views across to their lighthouse. After walking our legs off and back down the right steps to the Marina, we enjoyed a well-earned pizza lunch at a waterfront cafe.
This afternoon we had decided to take an excursion boat ride. We’d debated about which one to take...one goes out to the Lavezzi Islands, where you can swim and wait for a return shuttle, and one just goes around Bonifacio to some grottoes and to see the village from the water. Originally, I wanted to go to Lavezzi but read some negative reviews, so decided to take the shorter excursion. At 2p, we boarded a very crowded boat for Circuit 1...the caves were just OK, but it was nice to catch a breeze on this hot afternoon and the views of the cliffside town were remarkable. Note, the price on these boat trips seem to be negotiable.
Dinner tonight was at U Castellu, a charming restaurant sited right on the edge of the cliff of the Upper Village. When you make a reservation, be sure to specify sitting on the balcony...there are only 3 tables. There was a mix-up in our reservation, so we had to take the first table inside looking to the outside. It was fine and we were given a glass of champagne in retribution. There are also two restaurants of this name, one a more casual one, and if you go there first like we did, they’ll walk you to the other one. The food was excellent and tonight we walked down the correct way.
Note: All the beds and pillows in Corsica are rock hard. Yet, we slept like babies...probably exhausted.
Next morning we caught a taxi (10E) just to go around the waterfront to the other side for the ferry, but it was worth it. Pulling two suitcases each that far over cobblestones wouldn’t have worked. I had bought the ferry tickets on Saremar online in advance, so we had time to grab a petit dejeuner from a little cafe on the side of the ferry terminal. The 50 minute ferry crossing to Sardinia was warm and calm....as we passed through those limestone cliffs and the Bonifacio light house one more time, we felt as if we were leaving a friend.
If you’d like to see the photos from this trip, visit
http://www.smugmug.com/photos/swfpop...lbumKey=68vL9D
Our trip to Sardinia and Sicily will be continued on separate trip reports, under Italy.
