Month: October 2023

A short one today. The wind built overnight until we were getting gusts around 40 to 50 miles per hour. From our campground the ocean looked pretty rough. We spent the day hunkered down in François with him shaking pretty vigorously in the wind. We finally followed the example of our Dutch neighbors and moved over by a tall line of shrubbery that blocked some of the wind, though we would still get knocked around pretty good. We spent a good part of the morning watching our email fearing that the ferry would be cancelled. Finally about 3:30 we moved down to the ferry port where we are currently waiting. The departure board says we are leaving at 7pm. I expect it is going to be a rough 13 hours to Toulon.

Today we visited the second largest city on Corsica. Bastia was founded around 1370 as a Citadel guarding a port that Genoa was trying to use to rule Corsica. Over time it became the primary port for Northern Corsica and today is the primary ferry port to connect to mainland France and northern Italy, we will be departing from here on Tuesday. Italy is closer to Corsica than France is, and there are two prominent islands off shore that are part of Italy, one of which is Elba where Napoleon lived in exile until his death.

Corsica has always been a tough place to govern. All of the major cities are fortress towns where the off island rulers (Genoa, and France) have tried with mixed success to control the interior of the island. The extreme ruggedness of the center of the island makes it a rebels paradise. Even today as we were driving into Bastia, most of the highway overpasses and bridges had “Corsica is not French” spray painted on them, so even today there is a Corsican independence movement.

We accomplished another thing today as we decided to park at the ferry terminal for the day, so our trip in to catch the ferry on Tuesday will now be a little easier as we know the route and the layout of the terminal. As we walked into the town center we came across a sprawling Sunday market on the main square of the city.

The largest part of the market was a huge flea market. While interesting for people watching, other peoples junk is generally not our thing. So we passed thru pretty quickly.

We kept on thru the center of the city and next found ourselves at the harbor. The harbor was where all of the high end restaurants were located. We did some window shopping, but in the end decided to have a home cooked lunch today.

Our last stop for the day was the citadel built above the harbor to protect it. The citadel was a good climb up, and as we were walking up it I saw a sign saying that one of the problems that Bastia has always had to deal with is connecting the citadel above the town with the harbor. Today the answer appeared to be that the lower town and the harbor are the center of the town, and the citadel is very quiet.

The lower town was very lively, the market was busy, and the restaurants were full. When we got to the citadel it was mostly empty, and except for one restaurant all of the businesses were closed. It was quite a contrast.

We wandered about for a few more minutes looking at signs describing the buildings, for the first time today we heard languages besides French. Our conclusion was that the citadel was for tourists and since the season is over all of the businesses have packed up. So we headed back to François and out to our campsite for the day.

On the way to the campground we wanted to swing into a grocery store to pick up a few supplies. Unfortunately, all of the parking lots at the major grocery chains we saw had height barriers. This is a uniquely annoying French thing where they put gates at about 2.6 meters above ground to keep oversized vehicles out of parking lots. Sometimes you can find a back entrance, or a secondary lot that is not restricted, but today I didn’t want to go on the search, so we decided to keep our money to ourselves.

Today we shifted to the other side of the island to Cap Corse. If you look at a map of Corsica you will see a panhandle sticking out of the northern part of the island. That is the Cap Corse.

We headed out pretty early as we have learned that Corsican roads are twisty and hilly things that require some time to negotiate. Todays road was pretty straight by Corsican standards so we beat my estimated time by nearly 30 minutes.

We followed the east coast of the cape for about 20 kilometers after leaving the largest city on the island Bastia. I was expecting something like our drive down the D81 but it was completely different. Much of the coast line here is developed and we were more impressed with the beautiful homes than the coast. The coast line was impressive but after a week on Corsica our standard for a spectacular coast line has gotten quite high.

We had a quiet afternoon relaxing and conversing with our Dutch neighbor whose 3 year old took a shine to me and was teaching me Dutch so I would play with him. Later in the day we headed down to the beach. During the afternoon we had heard a few gun shots in the vicinity of the campground. On the trail to the beach we came across a gentlemen in hunting gear and carrying a double barrel shotgun. I got his attention and asked him in my best French c’est Securite, pointing down the trail. He gave me a big thumbs up and replied Oui c’est bon. So we hustled down the trail to the beach.

We took a quick walk along the beach as the wind was up and it was getting chilly. There were a fair amount of locals around, all bundled up also. There was a dark cloud coming over the hill, and after the downpours of the last few days we didn’t want to get caught out so we headed back to François for the evening.

After our short train ride into Calvi yesterday, we decided to head the other direction to the opposite end of the line to the town of Lisula. On the maps the town is labeled by its French name of L’Île-Rousse, but given its history and our observation of the preferred name in the town we decided to go with the Corsican name.

The town was founded as a port by the Corsican separatist Pasquale Paoli in 1758. It was put on a point of land that allowed the Corsicans to cut the flow of goods between Genoa and Calvi during the rebellion that was going on at that time. The rebellion was successful for a short period of time and Corsica became an independent country for a few years, before Genoa sold the rights to the island to the French and it was occupied by them in 1768. So in this area there is an ongoing rivalry between Calvi and Lisula going back to the 1760s.

The wind has been howling since last night and when we arrived we decided to head out to the island first. The walk across the causeway was pretty intense as a couple of gusts of wind actually staggered us. The high wind was a constant companion all day, even at lunch when one gust blew thru the covered seating area we were in and knocked over chairs, signs, and blew glasses off of tables. Ton and I both showed good reflexes to grab our wine glasses before they blew over.

When we walked into town we saw a bunch of tents set up and a lot of people on bicycles. It turns out that the town is hosting the Corsica Bike Festival this weekend. So in addition to enjoying the pretty waterfront we were entertained by different bicycle events and displays.

One of the events is an urban race course that runs thru the streets and alleys of the town. The surface is cobblestone mostly and at one point it runs down a set of stairs near the town hall. We watched one race and it looked pretty challenging as they had to navigate tight corners and run up narrow alleys, all the while dealing with changing surfaces and curbs.

We enjoyed our stay at Lisula enough to extend to a later train back. Our old train was packed with people returning to Calvi after a day outing to its rival Lisula. The coast line here is also stunning and we really enjoyed looking out the window of the train at the cliffs, beaches and inlets as we headed back to François. Corsica as a destination is a beach bums dream.

We finally got our chance to go to Calvi today. After a day and a half stuck in François while a huge storm passed thru, we were anxious to get going. So at 9:40 we were at the train stop.

10 minutes after boarding we were deposited at the foot of the citadel that is the main attraction for Calvi. Most of the tourist oriented places were closed as we walked up to the citadel. The citadel is impressive, built out on a point of land guarding the harbor. It really looks like an Americans vision of an European castle/fort.

As we walked into town two things made me connect to Calvi immediately. The first was the cities motto carved into the main entry to the citadel in Latin, “Civitas Calvi Semper Fidelis” The city of Calvi is always faithful. Semper Fidelis is also the motto of the Marine Corps. The second thing I saw was on one of the old fort buildings was a sign that said it was the officers club of the 2nd Foreign Legion Parachute Regiment who are based here. I worked with one of the officers from the 2e REP (as it is abbreviated in French) during my brief time in Lebanon, the only time I worked with the French Army.

We walked around the citadel for about an hour enjoying the views and admiring the fort.

Calvi makes a claim to be the birthplace of Christopher Columbus. The locals admit that there is no evidence to support this claim, just local stories passed down over generations that he was born to a fisherman from Calvi. But when he went to get help from the Spanish for his voyages he couldn’t admit he was from Corsica because the Corsicans had a bad habit of slaughtering Spanish soldiers and sailors who came by. So instead he said he was from Genoa who were the rulers of Corsica at the time. Research on the internet allows for some doubt about Columbus true birth place, most scholars say Genoa, but others say he was Greek and a few say he was a Pole, but no one but people from Calvi say he was Corsican.

After our tour thru the citadel we went into the new town and explored the marina and did some shopping at a SuperU grocery. We learned that the same train that we took to Calvi, goes to two other towns that are on our list to visit while we are here, so we will be taking the same vintage train in the opposite direction tomorrow.

Our last stop for the day was at a microbrewery near the campground. It looked promising. The set up was much like we are used to in Portland with a chalkboard of todays beer offerings. We ordered a couple of beers and asked about food, the only thing they had was some dips made from olives, eggplant and tomatoes and bread so that is what we ordered. After our order arrived we were then ignored and eventually abandoned. When we were ready to leave Ton finally went and knocked on the window to the back room to get somebody to come out and take our money. It was a strange visit, the beer was fair.

The picture at the top is Calvi taken from the train stop near the campground. We almost got there today, but ended up staying buttoned up in François all day. The bad weather from yesterday cleared up for a few hours last night so we planned to head into town about 11:30. But just as we got to the train station it started raining again in buckets so we scampered back to François.

We decided to take a day off and take advantage of the good internet here to stream some movies and relax. I did a little work on the blog adding a page for Sardinia, and updating Sicily, but otherwise we did not accomplish much.

We woke up early as we were both a little nervous about the Controle Technique that François had to undergo. The Controle Technique is an inspection that every motor vehicle in France has to go thru every two years. There are 136 points of inspection and if you fail you have to find a mechanic to fix the issue and bring it back in to have it reinspected. We were also worried because our inspection was due in August, but we were in the US and François was in Greece, so we did not know if we were subject to any penalty for being late.

If the timing was better and we knew a mechanic in town we would have arranged to have someone go over François before we went in for the inspection. I took a look at the list of 136 things, and while some of them were easy to understand such as are all of the lights working, is the windshield intact, are the tires in good condition etc. Some were pretty obscure, and some require a diagnostic computer. So after talking it over we decided to just go in and get the inspection and see what happens.

The other concern I had was if something was wrong would I be able to communicate effectively with the technician to understand the issue. Google translate is pretty good, but sometimes for technical issues things are not that clear. When we arrived we were both pretty nervous, but the guys in the office and the other customers put as at ease by treating us as an interesting twist to their day and having fun with it. I surrendered our registration document to the technician and he immediately got a giggle out of the name of the “company” François the motorhome is registered to which is Corbin Voyage. He showed it to a couple of the other customers who smiled and one of them gave me a thumbs up.

The tech finally asked for the keys and drove François into the bay for the first station of the inspection. Ton and I were at the window looking into the shop like two parents watching their child trying out for a team. We watched the monitors, and tried to guess from the reaction of the tech if he was doing good. After about 20 minutes of nervous observation interspersed with being teased by an older gentleman who was there getting his Smart car tested. The tech drove François out and came into the waiting area and announced that our score was perfect! Though I did see him shoot some air into one of the tires, so it wasn’t quite perfect. There also wasn’t a fine for being three months late getting the inspection. We were very proud of François and celebrated by going to a LeClerc and buying some French goodies that we both have missed since our last foray here.

I had picked out the closest campground North of Ajaccio that was still open. It was only 38 kilometers, but we are learning that the coastline of Corsica is very rugged and the roads are full of hairpin turns as a result. Between some traffic in Ajaccio and the hairpin roads it took us nearly an hour to cover those 38 kilometers. As a result we arrived 10 minutes after the campground office had shutdown for their two hour lunch break. I may have muttered a curse word when I realized we were going to have to park and wait two hours, when I heard a voice behind me ask if I spoke English, she then said she was going to open the gate and let us in, and that I should then come back at 2pm and check in.

We set up François, and Ton whipped up a wonderful lunch. It was our first food of the day, which probably contributed to the high bill and the amount of deserts we had bought from our pass thru LeClerc. All in all a good day.

The day got off to a good start as when I woke up Ton looked at me and said we should wash some clothes while we are here. She then sent me out to look for a laundromat. I scouted the main road in front of the hotel, and just as I was about to give up, I spotted a laundromat in a little strip mall walking distance from the hotel. So we gathered up our laundry in François and by 10 am had our laundry done. To celebrate our logistical victory we stopped in a Boulangerie and bought a nice French breakfast.

Ajaccio is the birthplace of Napoleon and his name shows up on many of the buildings, streets, and businesses in downtown Ajaccio. We spent a good part of the day walking from one memorial to Napoleon to another and finally to the street where he was born and raised. He last visited his boyhood home in 1799 and never returned as he became Emperor of the French and then went into exile after he was defeated at Waterloo.

Beside being the birthplace of one of the most famous Frenchman ever, Ajaccio is also the capital of Corsica. But it is a nice compact city that is easy to move around in. The city is surrounded by mountains in 3 directions and the ocean in the fourth. It is a beautiful setting for a city.

Sundays are usually pretty low key in France, but the waterfront in Ajaccio was humming and the unseasonably warm weather had all of the cafes full. We enjoyed walking around and noticed that for the first time in a long time we heard nothing but the native language of the town being spoken. We can’t remember the last time we went a whole day without hearing either English or German being spoken by a significant percentage of the people. There were so few tourists around that all of the people we needed to talk to just assumed we were French until we proved otherwise. It was fun.

We noticed that the market was open, so we made a bee line for it as most things grocery related shutdown around 1 pm. The market is always a happy place for Ton. This was a good one with a great variety of foods.

The food looked a lot like what we saw in Sardinia. Great looking seafood, a lot of smoked meats, and cheese primarily made from sheep. There were vegetables and fruit available, and while nice were not up to the quality and variety we saw in Sicily.

Ajaccio was a great introduction to Corsica. The natural setting of the town is beautiful, the people looked happy and prosperous, and the food looks like it is going to be a treat. Even the Corsican beer we tried at one of the cafes was a cut above anything we have had since we left Belgium. We are excited to begin digging in to Corsica tomorrow after we take care of our technical inspection and make François legal to drive again in France.

Well today is going to be a short one. We woke up early after a night of steady rain. We wanted to get on the road pretty early as we were paying for a hotel room we were not using in Ajaccio.

The drive over from Porto Vecchio to Ajaccio was only 150 kilometers, but I noticed that google had it pegged at 2 hours and 40 minutes, and they base it on driving a car at the speed limit. I told Ton it looked like it was going to be a tough drive thru the mountains. The roads themselves were in good shape but it was mountain driving with multiple switchbacks and steep slopes that frequently had me down to 3rd gear. On top of that it was raining most of the way, so we took about 3 and a half hours to cover the distance. Our first impression is that Corsica is much more rugged than Sardinia was.

Next to our hotel is a Buffalo Grill. This restaurant chain is very popular in France. We have seen them in almost every large town and city here and I have told Ton we should try it to get the French take on an American steakhouse. While we were eating Ton googled the company and found out there are over 300 Buffalo Grills in France, plus a few in Spain and Switzerland. I had a hamburger and Ton had a pepper steak and we were both pleased. It is a lot like a Sizzler or a Applebees, but red wine costs the same as a coke.

One of the stereotypes of the French is that they hate all things American. But, our personal observations are different than that. We see more American themed things here than in any other country in Europe. In addition to the Buffalo Grill, there are more McDonalds, Burger Kinds and KFC’s in France than any other country in Europe, so while they might not like the best of American food, they don’t seem to have any problem embracing some parts of our food culture. Several times we have come across clubs of French with vintage US cars, police cars, or military equipment, with some of the club members even dressed as American police officers or soldiers. I mention this because we do not see the amount of Americana in other countries as we do in France. Except McDonalds, they are everywhere.

I think some of the issue is that the French are just not very good English speakers, just as we are not very good French speakers. Because of that the communication breaks down. When you can break thru the language barriers the French are just as charming as any other people we have met in Europe. It just tends to be harder than with other European to break thru the language barrier.

We left Italy and Sardinia today for France and the island of Corsica. This involved another ferry crossing. This one also turned into a bit of an adventure. The weather has been unsettled the last few days, very windy with occasional showers and then clear skies. The wind has also been very warm. Our friend Ovi says that this weather pattern is common in the fall in the Mediterranean and is called a Libeccio.

We had a mild panic yesterday evening when we received an email from the ferry line saying our crossing was cancelled due to weather. We had booked a hotel in Ajaccio for the weekend, because we are going to get François’ Controlé Technique ( safety inspection for all French vehicles) done there on Monday. We needed to get to Corsica as our hotel was non-refundable and we want to get the inspection out of the way so that we are legal to drive in France. When I went to book the inspection the only time left for the week is 9am on Monday.

The email from the ferry had a link to book other options. The link recommended a crossing leaving for Corsica from the same port on Sardinia but leaving 2 hours earlier than our original booking. When I looked it was the same ship. I clicked that I would take it, and they transferred our original appointment to the new sailing time and even automatically assigned us to the same room we had on our original sailing. I thought that it was a weird way to tell us the ship was leaving two hours earlier than before. But the devil is in the details.

We still had plenty of time in the morning to pack up, fill François with LP gas, and diesel and head over to the port unrushed. We arrived and there was no ship in port, but there were cars and motorhomes parked about waiting.

When we received our boarding paper, I noticed that the port on the paperwork did not say Ajaccio, but Porto Vecchio. I told the guy from the ferry that we were going to Corsica he said yes Porto Vecchio Corsica. Remember I said the devil is in the details. So I quickly googled Porto Vecchio and saw that is was 140 kilometers from Ajaccio on the other side of the island.

I then noticed we were put in a separate line with about 20 cars while the other motorhomes were put in a separate line with all of the other cars. I thought all of the other vehicles were going to Ajaccio and we somehow had been assigned to the wrong port. So off I went with my phone in hand only to be told that all of those people were going to Toulon after they dropped us in Corsica.

The reason we changed ports was because the storm over the past few days had raised the sea state to a point where the ferry line decided to go to the east side of Corsica instead of the west side as originally planned for safety reasons. So right at sunset we arrived in Porto Vecchio, I found a scruffy looking campground near the town as I have a pretty strict no night time driving rule. Tomorrow we will drive over to Ajaccio and claim our hotel room.