And so to Bonifacio, fantastic walled city which was originally founded in 828, but most of the citadel that is visible today is relatively modern...around the 9th Century! It is just as spectacular as the postcards (maybe not our photos) suggest, and we really enjoyed our time there. Predictably, the city is a big tourist trap, so parking is hard to find, and at a cost, if you are lucky enough to score a space. Arriving at around 5pm, we somehow found a free car park for patrons of the boat tours that leave the harbour every hour. As the last trip left at 4.30pm we decided that no-one would be any the wiser if an extra car appeared, so we parked up for free.
The views along the cliffs were beautiful, and we watched a peregrine / kestrel like falcon attacking a crow for about half an hour, dive bombing it from above - at the last minute the crow would do a 180, flipping onto its back so it presented its claws to the falcon! We seemed to be the only ones watching the action, while everyone else was more interested in the ice-creams and postcard shops.
The following day we beat the car parking police at their own game again. There's a stunning walk along the cliffs from Bonifacio to the lighthouse 1 1/2 hours away, therefore involving about 3-4 hours of more car parking fees. We drove to the lighthouse, where we could park the car wherever we liked for free, and did the walk in reverse! We took most of the day, stopping at some of the stunning beaches on the way which we climbed down to - they made Wharariki look rather tame. The little dot in the centre of the photo is Lew...just to give some sense of scale!
The camera went into overdrive that day, but I'll try not to fill up the blog with just one day..
At Bonifacio we stayed at a bed and breakfast owned by a young Italian woman, helped by her parents. This was a very different experience to the first B & B, very modern, with large rooms, big windows, double glazing, a huge bathroom, and.....just for Lew.....a massive shower he could stand up in, wave his arms around, and STILL not hit the shower head! Some of you (not us ) will be familiar with taking your children on a holiday, showing them all sorts of amazing sights, giving them experiences they will surely remember for life, and at the end, when you ask them what was the best part of the holiday, they reply "the chocolate ice-cream on the plane"?!? Yes, you guessed it, when I asked Lew what he enjoyed most about Corsica, the reply was..."the shower at Bonifacio"!! I guess when you're six foot four, the chance to stand upright in a shower doesn't come along very often!
After Bonifacio we turned north, and had a day of beaches on our way to Porto Vecchio. Unfortunately not warm enough to swim, but very tempting as the water was so blue and clear.
Porto Vecchio was a pleasant city, with a good mix of culture and tourism, beaches and mountains. It's hosting the start of the Tour de France at the end of June, which is the first time the Tour has been to Corsica, so there were signs of the efforts being made to clean up the city and prepare for the event. The cyclist on the building was made out of corks...not sure what the dog was made of!
One of the parking meters got us into an interesting discussion with the B & B owner. We noticed that you don't have to pay for parking between 12 and 2pm. The reason? Everyone goes home for lunch, of course: the only reason for coming INTO town between 12 and 2, is to go to a restaurant for lunch, and why on earth should you pay for parking if you're doing something so important as eating out?!?
Corsica is a great island for walking, and there was evidence everywhere of walking parties, guides, and individuals like us, taking advantage of the well sign-posted tracks. The main walking track, the GR20, goes from north to south, taking 15 days, and is apparently not to be undertaken lightly. The shorter Mare a Mare (Coast to Coast) track is a mere 3 days, and we walked on part of it up in the mountains behind Porto Vecchio. The weather that day was a bit grey and drizzly, so no pictures worth publishing for that walk. Instead you get a couple of photos from our drive back to Ajaccio to get the ferry the next day.
All in all, a great week. Weather: variable. Scenery: stunning. B & B's: all different, all very good. People: friendly, but anxious to point out the Corsica is not France. Food: not for the gluten-free, dairy free population. Ferries: entertainment all round, and way cheaper than the Cook Strait ferry.
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