Corsica Part I

We finally had a trip planned to Corsica, a place I had had on my list of places to visit ever since we came to France. Corsica is French island which is 114 miles long by 52 wide lying between France and Italy. Sardenia, which is Italian, is immediately to the south. Corsica through many conquerers and rulers finally ended up being French although apparantly there are radical citizens who want to have their own country and sometimes set off bombs. As late as the 50's it was very primitive and under-developed and the Corsicans were known for their violent disagreements, usually over honor, and the shooting and killing of offenders often as many as 900 in one year being killed. Once 36 people died as the result of a vendetta when a sheep was wounded. I think it is pretty much a thing of the past. Now there are people involved in drug rings usually set up in Marseilles from what I read. It is now a haven for tourists with all sorts of hotels and resorts. There are many rugged mountains with forests inbetween and it is known as The Granite Island. It is also the birthplace of Napoleon although his family had to flee to France during a political uprising there and Napoleon only returned there once on his way back to France from Egypt.




We set off for Toulon to catch the ferry to Corsica. Various ferries can be caught in many places along the coast from France but Toulon was our hopping off point due to last minute tickets. We got in line with other cars and were supposed to be boarded and on our way by 10:30 PM but another huge ferry pulled in first and ours finally did afterwards. They are all enormous, able to hold six to eight hundred cars. We didn't board the ferry until 10:30 and we didn't set off until 11:30. It turned out that this was going to be an overnight trip taking almost eight hours. If we had left from Marseille and gone to the town of Calvi in Corsica it would have been a five hour trip. Sometimes you just can't plan these things in time. Almost everyone in France that I told that we were going to Corsica always replied, “So are we!” It turns out Corsica is a very popular vacation spot for both French and Italians. We didn't have tickets for either rooms with beds or special chairs that reclined into beds. Luckily, we just went to the bar, claimed long couches and, in a few hours, were stretched out trying to sleep. Of course it was noisy, full of bright lights and people walked around for hours. Around 2 AM a little girl started acting up and yelling “No!” over and over. Luckily they took her out. Around 4 AM a baby started crying but hushed up before long. Actually, I didn't sleep much worse than I do on a plane from Paris to the States although Maurice got very little sleep.



Finally we landed in our port of Ajaccio. Imagine two huge ferries carrying hundreds of cars each, both unloading at the same time. It took us quite a while to finally get on the road. We didn't even take time to explore Ajaccio as we had to head north to Calvi where Maurice's son and his girlfriend had to find a space at a camp where they were going to stay for a few days for a music concert and they had to get there early enough so there were still some places to chose from. There are two ways to Calvi from Ajaccio. One is a picturesque, winding road along the coast and the other is cutting across the island, then heading north and then west to finally reach Calvi on the northern end of the island. On the map it looks like the coast road would be best but actually, because of the curves, it takes twice as long. As it was, we twisted and curved our way across mountains across the center of Corsica actually circling the base of what looks like an enormous chain finally reaching Calvi in about three hours. A camp site was secured. The camps seem very nice with huge buildings holding shower stalls, toilets and sinks, swimming pools, trees to camp under, a unit with small refrigerators to rent, and a short walk to a beach.
We then had lunch and set off to have a look at Calvi which has a beautiful harbor full of huge sail boats and yachts and then a climb to the top of the village for breath-taking views of the turquoise and blue waters below. Calvi seemed to me to be a typical French village full of ancient buildings, interesting churches and shops for tourists. That evening we sat on the beach with a bottle of Corsican rose wine and watched the sun set. Nearby a small bar was playing music, a mix of pop and techno and young people were on the beach dancing and enjoying the music. I think I was the oldest person on the beach. We then had a pizza at a little place at the camp before calling it a day.