Porto Vecchio, Corsica …..our “vacation” in Southern Corsica

September 5th,2022

Another gorgeous morning we opt for breakfast at the hotel, half the price of the previous hotel but then again a more typical French breakfast…pleasant nevertheless. We are not in a huge hurry as today is basically a travel and restocking day. Google maps predicts it will take 3 hours and 15 minutes but realistically it will be at least 4 hours without stops. Click map below to zoom in/out.

Some windy roads at the beginning but after Bastia, a fair-sized port town we are on the flats and the driving is easier. it is hot at 33C and the aircon is on full blast. We gas up at a Total station, they seem to have the lowest prices and at 1.50 Euros it is way better than our previous fill-up at 1.76 euros per liter. As we are staying 5 nights in an apartment we stock up on food etc. at a Casino Geant…very similar to Carrefour. Arrive at the apartment complex at 14:00 and the owner greets us and hands over the keys, explains some of the apartment ins and outs ….leaves us a welcome gift of a bottle of wine, 2 Corsican beers, and some jam, and voila time to relax a bit!.  We are quite happy with the apartment which is of decent size and has a great view over the harbor …it will be nice to be in the same place for several days!

The knife block has terrified Moosey (our travel buddy and she refuses to leave her backpack…

Tonite we are happy to eat in and enjoy the view from the terrace with a nice bottle of Corsican wine!

 

September 6th, 2022

It sounds repetitive but another sunny morning as we head off to the beach…we have read it is best to get there asap as parking can be scarce and fills up fast…..about a 40-minute drive …. lots of twisty roads as getting to each beach requires a torturous drive down from the hills above.  We luck out and find a spot close to the beach access …. we are on Palombagga Beach which is very pretty, bordered by pine trees featuring turquoise waters and white sand. As it’s the most famous beach in Southern Corsica, it appears on many postcards of the island. As one can see from the pics below it is not overflowing with beachgoers but I can imagine the scene a few weeks ago! While quite enjoyable the heat saps one’s strength and after 3 hours we are ready to toss in the towel and head home.

Dinner in the old town so we walk up the hill …Chez Pino is our pick and both the pizza and pasta were very tasty … 52 euros with a liter of quite drinkable wine…perhaps we should have had less, as we managed to miss the road back to the apartment and what should have been a 15-minute walk turned into a 45-minute marathon….lesson learned (again) > make sure to remember a landmark, especially when returning in the dark.

 

September 7th. 2022

Today as we are visiting Bonifacio some 45 minutes drive to the south. It is not hyperbole to say few towns can boast such a dramatic, seemingly precarious position as Bonifacio! Teetering perilously atop an eroding limestone promontory that juts out into the sea, east to west, for around 1.5km, it has to be seen to be believed. It is situated at the extreme southern tip of Corsica with the Tyrrhenian Sea surrounding it and the neighboring island of Sardinia, 12km to the south.

I guess we should have left earlier as by the time we reached Bonifacio the free carparks were already full and we had to settle for paid parking a bit of a walk from the marina area.

Although it is mostly a pleasure port now there are still some fishers selling seafood to individuals and local restos, the fellow in the rubber boots just completed a transaction with the brasserie…

 

 

The start of the climb to the old city and citadel …

… lots of people huffing & puffing, however with a reward of some excellent views at the top…

We enter via the Porte de Genes (main gate rebuilt in 1830) and tour the old town which as one would expect is chock full of restos, shops, etc. but is well done and very appealing with only a few streets swarming with tourists…

 

Refreshed after grabbing a sandwich and downing a bottle of ice-cold water, we head to the limestone outcropping in the pic above, where there is a path that follows the coastline. Although quite pleasant we only go for a short distance to several fantastic viewpoints:

Reverse our course and head back down to the marina, then drive back to Porto Vecchio … and another day is done!