06-Dec-2024
We've moved again. From the top of Corsica to the bottom.
Bastia kept up its picturesqueness right to the end:
A different way to the coast
The view from a different breakwater
And although we'd have sworn we'd already covered every byway in the citadel area, yesterday we found a whole historic street that we'd never set foot in:
This house was owned by the Lota family. Rumour had it that their fortune derived from the barrels of gold coins left behind by Sir Gilbert Eliot, when he had to leave Corsica in a hurry...
No walk is complete without a Paoli find
The Casa Carbuccia, belonging to one of Bastia's grand families
And, of course, there were lots more of the little details that make Bastia so fascinating:
Then it was the usual last-evening shemozzle of packing and cleaning. Oh, and the firemen called, selling calendars:
Up early this morning. Beautiful sunrise:
First, a bit of a walk to catch the first of the day's buses (unfortunately, Corsica's wonderful train doesn't cover the east coast). We were running slightly early, so we decided to stop off in the big square, which was cold and pigeon-filled, to eat our breakfast sandwiches. Good job we did, as it turns out you're not allowed to eat on the bus...
You can book the trip to Porto Vecchio online; the journey takes about three hours; and you're not lacking in views, although they're not as dramatic as the ones you get from the train:
We'd expected a bus station in Porto Vecchio. And indeed, that's the designation that you see on the signs as you approach the town. Actually, what you get is a parking space and a little shelter with a seat in it... We had about 90 minutes to put in, so we headed off down the road in search of sustenance:
Again, a scenic place, looking quite dramatic on this iffy-weather day
Paoli...
No Corsican town is complete without some sort of fortification
The bakery on our map turned out to be shut. So we retraced our steps to the creperie we'd spotted on the way. We don't eat out much on these trips. Restaurant meals eat into the budget, so we normally limit ourselves to bakeries for a coffee and a pastry. But sometimes needs must, and they musted today.
Excellent galettes
Back to the "bus staion", and just before 1300, one of those large minibuses rolls up, and we're off to Bonifacio. No other passengers today. Just the two of us.
You can't imagine a more theatrical backdrop than the one offered by Bonifacio. You get off the bus, and the picture at the top of the post is what you see. A humongous citadel, perched on a massive lump of rock.
And up there is where our accommodation is...
Views while climbing
That's Sardinia over there. Our next island, we hope...
Up, up, up...
Yes, this really is the way in. You feel like you're in a movie
And finally, we're here. First there are the outside steps. And then the inside steps
This is our downstairs area
But we're not done with the steps because the bedroom is a floor up
And there are a few more steps to get to the toilet...
We ventured out again to do some shopping. It's very quiet in the citadel at the moment. I can imagine that it's running with tourists in the summer, but most places are shut for the winter. We don't mind. We're crowd-phobic, and would rather see places a little deserted than ram-jam full. It's the first time our locality has been this quiet, though. Ajaccio and Bastia are "ordinary" cities, so there's plenty going on all year round; Calvi was a predominantly summer place, but a reasonable number of places were still open, and the supermarket, which must serve a large hinterland, was excellent. Here it's very different.
Still, there's a little grocery store, with all we need for dinner and breakfast.
Tomorrow, we'll explore.