This year has whizzed past in a blur of chocolate nuts and bolts, hundreds of chocolate trios for holiday lets, wedding cakes and I don't know what else, but it seems I have been busy 24/7 which is why the blog has got forgotten. Thought I should attempt to resurrect it for our summer holiday which this year is Corsica.
We were receommended to come here by Carine as an interesting place to visit and a place where English isn't widely spoken. It hadn't crossed our minds, but the more we looked into it, the more it looked appealing and before we knew it we had booked ourselves in, even if it did mean having to take a 6.10am flight from Gatwick to get here!
So, we got the train down, spent a couple of hours in Gatwick plane spotting for Tom, had tea and then checked in our one suitcase (EasyJet are robbers - cost so much to put luggage in the hold so we went for 1 suitcase only!), then to the hotel, for a couple of hours sleep before heading back to the airport to get through security - must say it was easy and Gatwick airport was much nicer than I remember!
We got to the tiny Figari airport ahead of time, walked out into the sunshine - it was hot hot hot and only 10am! We had a drink and then headed to get our hire car (only after having to contact security as we had lost one of our bags - which we had left behind in the cafe by accident - ooops! Never done that before, but think it was because we didn't have a suitcase each meaning everyone thought someone else had it! We got it back ok, good first use of our French!
We got our hire car and then headed to a village I had read about in the guide book on the way over. The roads were in good order and not too busy which was good. We found the village and from there we found a footpath up a mountain to an ancient site with an amazing view. It was a little hot though! Luckily we had the forethought of buying a big bottle of water so were able to stay hydrated. We got back thinking we would go to a little cafe we saw at the base of the walk for lunch - but it was closed...for lunch?!!!!! We carried on our way and stopped off at a Spar where we grabbed some lunch items which we ate in the car.
We then carried on to Ghisonaccia (our most local big town) and E.Leclerc for a shop. By the time we got there we were very very tired - we had been up at 2.40 this morning and we had climbed a mountain in heat we aren't used to. It was all a little overwhelming, so we didn't do the best shop but got most things we thought were needed. We got to the campsite at 4pm on the dot - the earliest we could check in, got to reception to find that our cabin wasn't ready yet - so we went to the bar area and waited and waited - it felt like forever before they finally called and we could get ourselves in and showered - we were all feeling quite horrible. We headed back to the bar area for tea in the restaurant - which was delicious - then we staggered back to our cabin and were in bed by 9pm, it had been a long, long day!
Friday - we decided to stay at the campsite - so had a nice lie in, leisurely breakfast (pain au raisin for Matt and Cheese and Ham Croissants for me and Tom). Tom and I then went to the camp shop to get a baguette for lunch and then we chilled by learning SkyJo a new card game introduced to us by Chananaja and Raimo.
In the afternoon we headed to the beach - the campsite is directly on the beach. The Med was lovely and warm and shallow so we bobbed around for a while, played some beach tennis and watched lots of very bronzed teenagers playing volleyball.
Saturday we decided to head out for the day, we had found a scenic drive recommended in our guide book - taking us to Ghsoni and onwards to Corte/Corti - everything has two names here and Corte/Corti is the nationalistic centre of Corsica, where they have a Corsican language university so we are thinking it is pronounced Corti. The road up to Ghsoni was magnificent - twisty, narrow with sheer drop on one side and unforgiving rock face on the other side.
Proper hair raising roads, but Matt did a good job and we got to Ghsoni in one piece. We had a drink at a cafe and an amble around - so beautiful - very old houses clinging to the rocks - you wonder how on earth they managed to build them - but lovely to look at.
Once refreshed we headed on our way up to the top of the mountain pass - and then down through some more lovely villages clinging to the valleys and past a herd of goats who were not for moving off the road, before joining a main road and heading into Corti. We managed to get ourselves a space in a very narrow car park and then found a pizzeria for lunch (every other restaurant here is a pizzeria).
We then had a quick look around the citadel (which is attached to a rock in the centre of the city), found ourselves a glace in a square where there were still musket balls in the buildings - dating back to when Corsica lost its independence to France, got nicely lost trying to find our way back to the main street through back cobbled streets - buildings all higgledy piggledy - everyone different, no gardens, every available space used up.
Found the main street and the car and headed home. This time on the main road which was wide and flat - easier to drive, but not as interesting.
Sunday - another easy day - table tennis and pool in the morning, home to the cabin for lunch and a rest before heading back to the beach in the late afternoon.
Monday we drove the easy road to Corte and parked up at the station. We had planned a day trip to the coastal resort of Calvi.
Corsica has this cute little mountain railway that links the towns of Calvi, Bastia, Corte and Ajaccio via a narrow gauge railway that twists and turns through impossible looking scenery. How on earth they built it is beyond us, but it was magnificent and very picturesque, taking us pass little mountain villages perched on hills.
The train had huge observation windows - with good reason and was pretty full. Heard our first native English on the train, although they were Aussies not English.
Everything ran on time and we arrived in Calvi at lunchtime. First stop then was lunch - we found a cafe with reasonable prices and a terrace overlooking the sea and in the shade. Great. A crepe for Tom and Matt and a sandwich Corse for me (local cheese, cured meats and fig jam). Then we went for a walk through the old town - cobbled streets, narrow walk ways, plenty of interesting shops, and at the end a citadel - with beautiful views of the marina (there is plenty of money here going with the size of yachts in the marina).
We ambled around up and down passageways, did a bit of shopping and then headed back to the main town in search of ice cream. Found a good place which was a little pricey but the size and quality of the ice cream made up for it and they had sitting space in the shade - yay - win win. We slowly made our way back to the station and onto the train. We were able to get a table on the scenic side so we enjoyed watching the sea and then the mountains pass us by as we wound our way back to Corte.
Tuesday we had another rest day - so we were in camp. We didn't have any breakfast in so I went early to the shop for pastries: croissant, pain au chocolat, pain au raisin and an apple pastry. All very naughty but very nice. Then as it was sort of half way through the holiday I took all our stinking washing up to the laundry for a wash. Only took 30 mins, by the time I had got back to the cabin, it was only 20 minutes before I had to set out again to retrieve it! We hung it off various hooks and nails on the veranda of the cabin and it was all dry in no time.
We then decided to head to the big Spar just a couple of mins drive away to stock up with essentials. It was big, but very very empty! Got the feeling they built it and then forgot to stock it, so we only got bread, crisps etc, but not much else. Anyway it was a lovely brown seeded baguette which we had for lunch so well worth it. Then an easy afternoon before heading to the beach in the afternoon for a swim and snorkel. As we were in the cabin after tea we were playing cards (SkyJo is the game of the holiday) we heard some strange noise from the roof – drip drop, drip drop, it was rain. Not just a little but A LOT, in fact it was torrential, and it was accompanied by thunder and lightening - was quite a show. We had to run out and place things like trainers etc undercover, but it was fun, always like a storm.
Wednesday we headed out back to Corte to get the train southbound this time to Vizzavona up in the mountains. First stop was the boulongerie in Corte to get a picnic - we noted that they had sandwiches on Monday - got a huge one filled with herby chicken and mayonnaise. We enjoyed another spectacular mountain ride to the village- how they built it is beyond me! At Vizzavona we found the footpath to Les Cascades d'Anglais which we had read about in my book. Was a gentle hike uphill - big wide open path in the forest - so out of the sun which was wonderful. We really enjoyed being in the countryside. It took about an hour when we came across a cafe and the cascades. Not doing too much at the moment as it is so dry, but there were plenty of pools to discover and claim. The water was refreshing cool. We ate our baguettes and then I got into my cossie and got in. It was so good to feel cold after being so hot for so long.
Matt and Tom initially weren't going to get in, but I think they saw me enjoying it and were inspired to try themselves, they were happy they did and it was so lovely to just mess around in the water for a while. However, black clouds rolled in and we could hear thunder in the distance, so we decided we should get back on the track down to the train station before we got wet in the inevitable rain. We walked back down the path super quick, and although it rained, it didn't rain that much. It meant we could have a drink sat outside at a cafe whilst we waited for the train to take us back to Corte. A good, fun day.
Thursday - another rest day. We had a lazy morning and then headed into Ghsonanicca for lunch. Thought we should give our local town a better look around. We parked at the E.Leclerc and walked the main street looking for a likely place for lunch. We decided on one place that did pasta and pizza (nearly every restaurant here is a pizza restaurant - haven't seen much pasta, even less traditional French food!). Put our order in - Tom of course went for pizza - there wasn't any pizza so we all had pasta. It was very good - the pasta looked and tasted homemade which was good - but we were all stuffed afterwards, so we had a little look around the town and then into E.Leclerc to buy provisions for the rest of the holiday. The first time we had visited when we weren't super tired, which meant we were able to look around at leisure which was good. We found ourselves some good food and then headed back to camp to unload, restock the fridge and then hide from the sun until the late afternoon when it was a bit less fierce when we went to the beach for some more snorkelling. As we had eaten so much at lunch we decided to have a sandwich for tea, we made them up and then went for a stroll along the beach, sat down had our tea and then found a lovely restaurant on the shore where we reserved a table for Sunday evening - our last tea and early anniversary present.
Friday - we asked Tom if he would like a town day or a hiking day today and he had requested more hiking. The island is criss crossed in hikes, but trying to find info about them is quite hard work. We went all over the place trying to find a suitable one to do - ie not too long and in a forest so we are out of the sun. Eventually we found one close to Corte, from which there was a shuttle bus to get you to the start. We had to download an app to order tickets for the bus - a right faff, it wasn't user friendly, you had to buy each ticket individually and you could only order tickets to and fro the same place and it had to be a return not one way - but it was taking you on hiking routes which were linear and ended back in Corte?! Anyway, we drove to Corte, this time remembering to stop at a very lovely bridge for some photos. On arrival, we got our picnic from our favourite bakery, ordered the tickets, found the bus stop and got on.
We got the bus to Tuani and hiked from there to Bridge of Chjarasgiolu. It was only a 2.4km walk, but it took us 2 hours - it went up, then down, then up then down etc etc on stoney ground. However, it was the most beautiful walk - up in the mountains surrounded by trees and huge boulders and a river below. Every turn was breath taking.
It was hot, but we knew that we would meet the river, so we took our time. There was a photo opportunity at pretty much every step! We had half our picnic up in the mountains and then when we eventually got to the river we dipped our feet in the water and had the other half of our picnic. The pools here were bigger than at Les Cascades d'Anglais. Unfortunately the info we had on the walk hadn't mentioned the opportunity for swimming, so we hadn't brought our cossies, however we were able to immerse our legs and Tom didn't care and fully immersed himself fully clothed!
The plan was for us to then walk back to Corte on another path, we started it, it wound up and up and up. It was very hot, we didn't have much water, I was feeling it a lot and in the end said that I didn't think I was up for it. I felt awful to start with, spoiling the walk for the other two, but I think they were quite pleased in the end and also we managed to get back to Bridge of Chjarasgiolu in time for the bus I had booked - so in the end it all worked out. In half an hour we were back in Corte - we went to the supermarket and bought a huge bottle of water which we downed and then to a pub for a ice cold soft drink before heading back to the car and camp. When we got back to camp we had showers, collapsed, had tea, a game of SkyJo and stumbled into bed - we were exhausted -great walk though (the first one anyway!)
Saturday we got up at 6.25 as the plan (Tom's idea) was to get up in time to see the sunrise. We headed over to the beach - there were a few others who had had the same idea. It was a pleasant way to spend the morning sat watching the sun come up, in the coolness of morning. We came back, had breakfast, then Tom and I went to play table tennis for an hour (Matt was suffering from sore feet today - from the hike yesterday so stayed in the cabin), we came home and then headed out at 10am to the camp aqua park with all the slides - we were the first ones there, we spent an hour on the slides which was fun and refreshing. I kept going for an hour but then ran out of puff, so we dried off, headed back to the cabin, had a bit of down time and then lunch before some more downtime and then to the beach.
Sunday we had a bit of a lie in and then headed in the car to Aleria - which has lots of Roman rubble and a rebuilt fort and museum to look around. It was searingly hot, so we took it slow. The site was just to the south of the town in a little hill top settlement which was achingly beautiful - so totally French and Mediterranean. We would have been happy just wandering around the village. However, there were some Roman things to find out about so we did.
The museum was air conditioned so we stayed there a while, trying to read some of the information - the French was too technical though for our collective school gained French! We had a drink in a cafe - a funny moment from the holiday...I asked for a Coca Cola sans sucre (zero and light don't seem to exist here!). You would think that anyone would understand Coca Cola (even with a British accent!). I got a startled look from the owner. So I tried 'Coke', 'Coca Cola', 'Coke Light', 'Coke Zero' nothing - just complete incomprehension. So Matt steps in 'Coca Cola' he says in his usual English accent - ah ha says the owner 'Coca Cola!' Oui, oui!!!!! Tom and Matt dissolved into laughter - it is always me that doesn't get understood and I try so hard. Problem is I can't change my very hard British accent, but surely Coca Cola is the most well known brand in the world?????!!!!!! It was an incident that got mentioned many times afterwards!!!! After our drink break, we went for a look around the Roman site - usual bits of walls, columns etc. There is an ampitheatre there - but they are still digging around it so it was off limits. We returned to the car, headed into Ghisonanicca for lunch - nowhere was open, so we grabbed some sandwiches from the Spar and had them back at the cabin. Then a bit of downtime and then the task of packing everything back into our suitcase - we had bought 3 x masks (2 of them big ones) for messing about in the sea as well as other bits and pieces. I got it all in though and was very happy. Tom and I then went down to the beach for the last time - we managed to see a starfish and a big fish as well as the little ones so we were happy. Then, back to the cabin, a shower and then we walked along the beach to the restaurant we booked for tea. I was a little disappointed as the menu board had mentioned moules and fish, but when we opened the menu they weren't there. So I ordered a brochette de gambas and received very over cooked prawns which weren't even hot - not at all happy and not your typical French cuisine. Tom went for a calzone which was magnificent. Although we are in France, the cuisine is Italian - the pizzas Tom has had (he's had quite a few) have all been really good - I decided I would have a pizza tomorrow for lunch before heading to the airport. I did, however, have a taste au citron for pud, it was what we would call a lemon meringue pie and it was very nice, plus we got a free digestiv of limoncello so all was not lost. We then walked back to the campsite the easy way on the road.
Monday - we got up, had breakfast, finished packing and then cleaned the cabin. We had to clean everything and wash the floor and have everything ready and dry ready for them to inspect at 9.45. They didn't turn up to inspect it so we dropped off the key and headed out. The plan for the day was to head to Porto de Vecchio for a look around and lunch. However, the traffic was awful - we got stuck in a traffic jam for ages and ages, then Matt needed the loo, so we stopped at a supermarket (no toilet) and then another huge one which had one, but parking and finding the loo took ages! We finally got to Porto de Vecchio an hour later than intended which was a shame as then it was a mad rush to find and eat lunch before heading to the airport. As I said, we decided to go for pizza today. Every restaurant where we have been has been a pizza restaurant, we get to Porto de Vecchio and suddenly every restaurant is a French restaurant! Took us ages to find a pizzeria, but we did and we were happy with our choices (although I saw someone have a bucket of moules in the same restaurant and was a bit jealous - must have been my first time to France and not eaten any moules!). We then had a quick look around the old town which was lovely, before heading back to the car as we were worried we would get stuck in the same traffic as this morning and get delayed. The traffic had completely disappeared, so we were in good time. On the way to the airport we saw a souvineer shop so stopped for those last minute bits and pieces, Tom, having to date barely bought anything, ended up buying a wild boar soft toy! (Of course!) Thunder clouds moved in as we were there - plenty of lightening and thunder echoed around...and then rain, torrential rainforest type rain, but with hail - huge hailstones rained down. We were worried our hire car was going to get dented! It lasted ages - there were literally rivers of water forming all over the place and the carpark we were in was below the main road, so the water was rushing down to us. We waited until it looked like it was easing and then ran to the car and headed towards the airport. The temperature had reduced from 30 something to 17!!!!! Within 5 minutes of being on the road, we were on dry roads and the temperature had raised to 24! Got to the airport, dropped off the car (no problems), fight was on time, bought some French sandwiches to eat in our Gatwick hotel and had an uneventful flight back.
Corisca:
Beautiful, beautiful - villages on hills, huge sharp edged granite mountains lined with trees - looks like British Colombia
Rivers are gorgeous - low at this time of year - but still with some water in them - great for cooling down in the heat.
Huge birds of prey everywhere - kites & eagles are flying everywhere
We were the only Brits there. In the 11 days we were there we met two Aussies, and overheard 3 families speaking British English. It was lovely. Main other nationality was German, followed by Italians and Austrians and Dutch.
People expect you to speak French - so we had plenty of practise. Tom ordered everything from train tickets, to food in restaurants, to stamps to ice-creams and got understood every time (unlike me!). However, he couldn't cope with spontaneous conversation - not surprising though as he hasn't had immersion in French like me. However, he was able to correct us - I was trying to tell someone that we had walked to the Cascades d'Anglais yesterday but used 'demain' which is tomorrow, he was quick to correct me with 'hier' so he was on it and helped!
Roads - if you want to go into the mountains the roads are very very narrow and very very twisty. Main road to Corte from Aleria was wide and easy and empty. Roads down south seemed busy. Roads by Ghisonnaica were empty.
Eating - pretty much all restaurants were pizzerias and if you tried to order something else it wasn't great, so stick to the pizzas!
Hiking - hikes in Corsica are really hard. 2.4 mile route took us 2 hours and was very difficult even though it was classed as easy. Need to have very good footwear and be very fit and carry more water than you think necessary.
Next time: go in May, explore Adaccio, Bonifacio and Cap Corse. Get some fitness up beforehand so we can hike around with more ease.
Beach holiday - need 3 x masks for bobbing about to see things. Also need beach tennis to help dry off. Big piece of textile for 'beach mat' and big thin sheet for communal beach towel. Flip flops for Tom.
Today we were having a long day - taking in (hopefully) whales and bears. We had found out that there was a wild black bear viewing platform near Tadoussac (on the north shore of the fjord) and then we found that Tadoussac is also a great place from where to see whales. So, we got ourselves booked on both. 
It was 130km from Saguenay to Tadoussac, we left our hotel early so we could take it easy, take in viewpoints, etc etc. Matt got us out of the city and then I drove the rest of the way (cities confuse me - I don't understand the whole traffic light thing - what is the difference between a square red light and a round red light and the whole filter thing on a red light - too scary for me!) Anyway, I drove without incident - of course we came across lots of roadworks, but no rue barrée which was a nice change! (There was no other route!) We saw a sign for a covered bridge along the way - so we stopped, it was very pretty but more exciting we saw a small creature playing on the rocks by the river, initially we thought it was otter (Castor in French) but on asking a man out fishing we discovered it was a Marmot - he was a cute little thing.
We walked back into town to the ticket place to pick up tickets for the bears (computers worked this time) and then went in search of some food - we found a cheap pizza place overlooking the rivers and munched happily into them whilst watching waves of rain coming across the river. After looking in a number of souvenir shops (disappointed as no patches here!) we drove to the black bear place. With the rain came bugs so we went total British and tucked our trousers into our socks, and wore our coats with velcro tightly strapped round our wrists and doused ourselves in insect repellant in an attempt to keep them out (the bugs are much bigger here than we are used to and they seem to love poor Tom who currently has 13 bites on his legs and hands!). 
We got there and everyone was compliant and sat in silence hoping they would come...we waited half an hour, no bears, but we saw a beaver which was a bonus. Tom suddenly moved and whispered that he had seen one, true to form he was right and a skinny bear turned up (apparently 3 years old) - he had a light coloured nose and a light marking on his chest that looked like a bowtie! He came, ate some food, left, came back, ate some more, left, came back ate some more and so on...
A second slightly bigger bear then arrived and the smaller one ran away...then the smaller one came back, got braver and braver to the point that both of them were munching away. Not 100% sure what they were eating, but when they took the lid off the feeding station nearest to us - it really did pong! I think we probably watched them for about an hour. It was a joy, we were very happy. However, they left, and it was getting dark and the guide asked if we were happy to leave and everyone said yes. We had quite a journey ahead of us - we had to get a ferry across the river and then 90km to our next hotel. 
We were very lucky in that when we arrived at the ferry they were just boarding, so we scooted on. This is a free car ferry - only took about 10 minutes to get across. Apparently the river is too deep at this point to build a regular bridge across and they reckon a suspension bridge would be $billions so they have a 20 minute free 24 hour car ferry instead. We got to the other side where Matt drove. It was a difficult drive, in that the car behind us decided to have his full beam on and completely blinded us. It was pitch black so finding somewhere to pull over was difficult, took a while but he managed it in the end. We found the hotel with no problem, but then couldn't find the car park and then had a bit of a comedy situation where I checked in, but then couldn't find the boys who had parked in the wrong car park. They had unpacked the car and got the suitcases to our hotel room, but I was still walking around in the dark trying to find them in the car park. I was calling them - they weren't picking up, they were calling me, I wasn't getting their calls. I then couldn't find a way into the hotel from the car park and had to walk all the way round - things are so much more difficult in the dark. Anyway, we eventually found each other, I then had to drive the car to the right car park. It was midnight before we got to bed. A long day but it was worth it for the bears and whales (and marmot)
