La Corse

Our original plan had been to spend two weeks in Corsica, but it got progressively shorter and shorter as other places looked more and more interesting... And because of our short foray into Bosnia and Herzegovina we had to lop a few more days off again until we were only left with about five nights for the whole of Corsica.

We needn´t have worried...

Corsica is practically impossible to get around on public transport (as in, "No, there are no trains today, you´ll have to wait until tomorrow"), so even if we had had more time I doubt we would have seen much more!

But what we did see was absolutely gorgeous. So far it would be the first place that I (Amelia) would go back to with no hesitation at all - and that´s saying something that it actually lived up to the hype (I have been wanting to go to Corsica for literally years and years).

It started off with a mad rush for the ferry in Livorno, Italy, but once we boarded our luxury cruise liner (dance floor, free snacks at the bar, deck chairs included), we were definitely on Corsica time. We arrived into Bastia on the eastern side of the island at the top and headed pretty much straight up ´Cap Corse´ to a place called Pietracorbara. Being dropped off by the only bus that day to a campsite that was several kilometres away was a bit nervewracking, but as always, it all worked out in the end. The place had a giant pool, incredible value meals, and was definitely the cheapest place we had been for a while!

The following day we tried to go for a hike - it was, after all, the main activity we had planned for Corsica. However, despite the routes being ´marked´on the map (and yes, those quote marks are definitely intentional), we failed miserably to find anything remotely ressembling those illusive squiggly lines. Undeterred we crossed barbed wire fences (they leave quite deep holes in soft legs if you were wondering), marched steadily uphill, crossed rivers, scared a herd of goats, got completely entangled in tea-tree like bushes trying to find the road, and ended by having to cross a friendly local´s backgarden to finally make it back to civilisation. Eventful to say the least!

Heading back to Bastia we had ideas of going to Corte in the middle of Corsica before we headed back up to Calvi to get the ferry to Nice. It was not to be (see above...). We nearly ended up in Ajaccio because we didn´t realise that we had to swap trains halfway through the journey, but a mad dash from one to another and we were on our merry way again. The train trip was pretty incredible actually; they were these really rickety trains that went right through a series of jagged peaks and dense bush - will have to get a better look next time!

When we finally got to Calvi it was a bit of a shock, there were so many campsites and so many people, but completely understandable when you find out that the beach is 4km of golden sand with water so warm it´s like a bath. It was the first place that Adrian got into the water without taking about half an hour to ease himself in...


It was so nice to have some real ´holiday´time too after some pretty hardcore sightseeing in Italy, even though we managed to fit in a bit of citadel viewing and a visit to an exhibition of the French Foreign Legion (they have an alpine unit that was appealing to a certain Mazur). As I said, the beach was FANTASTIC - it effectively nixed any and all thoughts of doing any further walks! I´m trying to cultivate laziness as a virtue instead of a vice (Mum I´m sure you´re having a great laugh reading this, people never really do change their spots much do they).

Corsica gets a 10 out of 10 in my book. Photos on the next disposable camera!

Next stop, mainland France (bring on more croissants).