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.
