Corsica

• 
  We took the morning ferry from Santa
• 
  
• Teresa to Bonifacio, Corsica- one 
• hour.

We left our bags at our hotel (too early


to check in) and headed to Haute Ville 


(high city-also considered the Old


Town). The first stop was a tour of the 


bastion, a fortress with a lot of history. It 


withheld attacks and sieges over the


centuries, surrendering one time, due to 


a little trickery and a lot of starvation- 


very nice town, lots of English and nice

views.

We then walked through the Old Town 


stopping in at St.Mary Majories where 


another bit of the true cross hangs out


– a gift from Helen, mother of 


Constantine.

We then walked down the steps of the 


King of Aragon, which was supposed to 


take us to a spring which didn’t exist.

We walked around some more, to the 

cemetary and then back checking out 

the restaurants and the stores.

Back to the room where we snacked on 

leftovers.

For dinner we went to Il Poste. I had a 

pretty good pizza and Teresa had a 

Nicoise salad “her best salad of the 

trip”. 

No dessert tonight. We did walk down by

the port.

The next morning was pick up the car at 

the airport day- which is impossible from 

Bonifacio. There is no bus or other

service to the airport other than taxis. 

There is a taxi stand but no taxis, there 

is a list of 6 phone numbers which did us

no good as without wifi we had no 

working phone. We were perplexed. We 

then met Jean, a sailboat operator from

Monaco who fortunately also needed to 

get to the airport for a flight. He called 

all 6 numbers. The 6^th one could make 

it, but in an hour. We strolled to kill time; 

Jean went to get a beer. We raced 

Titania out of the port.

Teresa became quite enthralled with 

Jean and told me if she was 30 years 

younger I would be finishing the vacation

without her.

We finally got to the airport, got our car 

and drove back to the hotel. We picked 

up some sandwiches and drove to a

secluded beach, then eventually walked 

15 more minutes to a more secluded 

one.

We drove back to the room at 5:15.

We walked to Haute Ville for dinner. I 

had pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes 

and salad. Teresa had another Nicoise

salad. I got gelato. We then started our 

hike up the cliff which lasted about 40 

minutes. We walked down to the port 

area, checking out the yachts. Teresa 

got upset because I was talking to the 

crew of the Volpini.

In the morning we headed out; first to 

Filitosa to view the remains of the 

neolithic civilization from 8,000 years 

ago.

They left some statues, some homes 

and presumably a worship area.

On to Ojaccio, the birthplace of 

Napoleon. We checked in then walked 

through the Old Town. We went to the 

Fesch Museum which had artwork, but 

most of the Renaissance stuff was 

unavailable.

We then walked to some churches 

(including the Cathedral where Napoleon 

was baptized) and some piazzas. Back 

to our room to get beach stuff then we 

walked down to the beach.

Came back- cleaned up, found 

Napoleon’s house then finally settled on 

a restaurant- good choice. I had steak 

roquefort and french fries- Teresa had 

veal cooked in olives with carrots and 

palenta. I had gelato on the way back.

In the morning we walked to the open 

air market (not at Place Foch); got 

breakfast and stuff for lunch. 

We checked out- headed north along a 

very scenic drive along the coast. When 

we got near Porto it became scenic

on steroids as we drove (and stopped) 

through the red rocks.

Before going to our hotel we decided to 

drive the inland gorge, again scenic, but 

Teresa’s highlight was the livestock

on the road- cattle, pigs, and goats. We 

came across Lisa Fortner on the way 

and she and Teresa fed the goats by

hand.

Down to Porto where we checked in. 

We decided on the 2 ½ hour tour boat 

excursion to the Scandola National Park 

which is only reachable by boat.

We stopped at Girolta, another 

sealocked place.

Back to the room to clean up.

We walked around the small town and 

checked out 3 recommended 

restaurants. We chose Le Tour Genoise 

and it was great. Teresa had lamb, 

shish kebabed vegetables and potatoes 

with cheese- all delicious. I was going to 

have the fishburger when I saw another 

patron get what I thought that was. He 

came over to me and pointed out that 

his was the Le Chef Burger, which was 

a bacon cheeseburger which employed 

bleu cheese for its cheese, french fries 

and salad- wonderful.

In the morning we took a walk to the 

local beach then again another scenic 

drive to Calvi.

We checked in at noon and walked to 

the beach- after a while we took a stroll 

to get a sandwich and gelato.

Sola Mare was our hotel, a good 

location, everything worked, and our 

receptionist, Angie Harmon was very 

helpful, lending us the use of the 

refrigerator and freezer for our lemonade

and to make ice in a bottle.

After cleaning up we toured the Citadel, 

then walked along the wharf before 

going to the restaurant recommended by

Angie. We ordered the dishes she liked- 

veal with potatoes roasted with cheese 

and spaghetti with seafood sauce and

spider crabs. The spider crabs were too 

much work for too little meat.

In the morning we drove first to Pigna, 

known for being a quaint beautiful town 

and for its ceramics. We bought some.

More mountain driving before getting to 

Saint Florent, a resort town with some 

history. The Tour de Mortella was a

Genoese Tower- reused by the French 

to guard the gulf. It inflicted heavy 

casualties on English warships, including

Horatio Nelson’s. Finally the English 

took some cannon to land to bombard 

the tower into submission. Its design 

was copied however and used for 

decades.

We walked around the town, split a 

sandwich then to the room to get our 

beach gear. We took a boat to Lotu 

Beach about a 25 minute trip- my 

favorite beach of the trip. We went

swimming, played paddle ball, walked, 

read, and enjoyed the scenery- me more

than Teresa.

We took the 5:30 boat back. We ate at 

The Little Corporal.

We shared a Nicoise salad, overpriced 

for it size, and we shared a good pizza. 

We discussed politics with a British

couple at the next table. I had a single 

scoop gelato as we had 2 Magnums 

back in our freezer.

In the morning more mountain driving 

as we headed east to Bastia. We got 

there very early but were allowed to 

check in.

We had to drive into town as our hotel 

was chosen based on proximity to the 

airport.

We first toured the Citadel and the 

buildings inside it, including the 

cathedral. We then walked into Old 

Town and strolled along the shopping 

streets (I bought a T-shirt).

We ate lunch at a restaurant in Place St. 

Nicholas.

We decided Bastia didn’t have that 

much to offer so we headed back to our 

hotel which is also a spa. We swam 

in the indoor poll and read on lounge 

chairs.

We ate at our hotel for dinner. Teresa 

had the entree buffet while I had the 

Chef Cheeseburger.

In the morning we turned in our car at 

the airport and flew to Paris.