Thursday, April 09
After a good night's sleep, check out in the morning was as simple as dropping the key off at the front desk. I drove towards where I'd cut my walk short yesterday; Google maps will direct you all the way to the light house, but it turns out the road is closed to vehicles about 2/3 of the way. So I popped out for a short walk to see the very southern tip of Corsica.
Adieu, Bonifacio
It's a bit of a trek to the lighthouse; you can simply follow the paved road but I think there were shortcut "trails" blazed through the scrub too.
I don't think I've mentioned it yet just how blue the water around the island is. The water temp is still on the chilly side but I'll have to see about getting my feet wet at some point.
Les levres de Bonifacio & les iles lavezzi (plus Sardinia). They offer boat rides out to the Lavezzi isles but I wonder how much there is to actually do there; I suppose one could just relax in the water on their shores.
Afterwards, I made the drive up to another popular destination: Porto Vecchio / Porti Vechju. The old town is built within a citadel overlooking the port in the protected Bay of Vecchio. A quaint little town, from the inside, you wouldn't necessarily know many of the places were built into the bastion walls of yore. I had a tasty lunch on a terrace looking out to onto the port and salt marshes.
The bell was ringing in the hour as I stepped into the main square.
Apparently this building is jungle on this side and old fortification on the other.
The old gate for accessing the harbor from the fortress.
With the sun, breeze, and a Cap Corse to sip on, this restaurant's terrace was an excellent way to enjoy the panorama.
Stewed lamb with polenta, so good 😋
After lunch, I payed the €2 to see the exhibit inside the Bastion de la France and gain access to its panoramic view. From the exhibit, I learned that Port Vecchio had a decent amount of industry in addition to its trade as a port city. The plentiful cork trees of Corsica had their bark processed at a factory in Porto Vecchio and the salt marshes of Porto Vecchio were productive for only a short period thanks to colonial practices by the Genoese.
Ye olde bastion de France, not actually that old but was renamed "de France" after the French conquered it.
I suppose it makes sense that simply signing an island over to new owners doesn't mean everyone is suddenly happy to be French....
The port of Porto Veccio; nestled into a nice protected bay, I can see why it made for a good trade harbor.
The view from the Bastion de France, turns out the bay here is fairly big
Salt marshes off to the side, they didn't quite turn into a profitable part of the local economy.
My last thing in Porto Vecchio was to stop by a store featuring Corsican products - those products being meats, cheeses, liquors, and sweets. I was treated to a private tasting of Corsican cheeses, though the guy's attention was split between me and a woman who was asking about different jars of honey. But I did learn that Corsica doesn't have dairy cows, so all its cheeses are from goats and sheep. On the other hand, AOP Corsican meats like coppa and lonzo (it's like coppa but not mixed/spiraled meat & fat, separate layers of meat and fat) are made only with salt and black pepper. I took ~125 grams of goat cheese with me and grabbed a baguette from a nearby bakery as an afternoon snack.
An impressive display of meats and cheeses in the back of the store.
The guy managed to cajole the woman into tasting a bit of goat cheese; she confessed after the first bite to hating goat cheese since an incident in her childhood but wanted to be polite 😂
I really lucked out with the weather; just about the perfect temp for walking around without having to worry about sweating.
Make pizza, not war
This massive grove of figs had several pieces of fruit on the ground with trains of ants hard at work. I rinsed a ripe-ish looking one off but was disappointed to find it wasn't ripe at all. I guess its still too early in the season.
I said "à la prochaine" to the sea and made my way up to the mountains for the afternoon. My destination was Zonza, where I had booked a hotel for the evening. On the way, I enjoyed a nice drive up the winding mountain roads with the windows down. It was weird, it was all scrub/brush and then one swerve later the landscape had changed to pine forest. I took my time with the drive and pulled over several times to admire lakes, rock formations, and mountains. But I made it to Zonza a little after 4PM, which worked out great cause I could check in to the hotel right away!
Oh, hey, I think I see Porto Vecchio 😂
The lady at the office of tourism in Porto Vecchio had recommended I drive to Zonza via the town of Ospedale rather than drive along the shore and loop back through the mountains. The town of Ospedale itself wasn't much, a quiet little town nestled into the slope but that carries its own type of charm.
Just beyond the town of Ospedale lays a reservoir. While admiring the water, a bunch of bikers also pulled up to rest a few minutes.
I pulled over to snap this pic of some craggly peaks, as I was getting back in the car, another vehicle pulled up with a woman asking me if I new where the waterfall is. Sorry, madam, your guess is as good as mine 😅 There's a cascade near here?
Unfortunately, the hotel wifi is down but the place and facilities seem fine. I'd intended to enjoy my bread and goat cheese as a break during a hike later in the afternoon but I'd noticed the smell of the cheese getting stronger in the car. So I relaxed for a bit on my balcony eating and enjoying the view.
I should have thought this cheese business through more; it had gotten quite pungent by the time I unwrapped and at the half brick. Still, it went really well with my baguette and hit the spot for an afternoon snack
The woman managing the hotel and her young daughter showed me the room; the daughter was so proud to open the bathroom door for me with a "tatin!" 😂
Relaxing on the balcony; the view isn't quite of the Aiguilles de Bavella but it's still nice.
I can't remember the last time I've had a key shaped like one in a movie.
My snack complete, I made my way to the last activity for the day: a hike at les Aiguilles de Bavella. These needle-shaped mountains are made from granite (mostly pinkish as far as I could tell). I have two hikes planned in this area and I opted for the shorter one today: le Trou de la bombe. The trail was pretty well marked and had some interesting terrain with occasional breaks in the trees to scenic vistas. On the return leg, I noticed a spur leading to a summit on the AllTrails app that didn't appear to be marked on the physical trail. I explored it a little but ended up returning the way I came: there were clear signs of people having been in the area (remains of a camp fire, pole marks, etc) but I don't think there's a real trail there so much as a few off-trail explorers.
Approaching the hike, suddenly a bunch of clouds showed up
The needles; my hike today is actually in the opposite direction but still a good chance to sneak a pek at these irregular peaks.
Plenty of flowers I hadn't seen before on this trail through the woods. Per Google Lens: Cyclamen
Hmm, hellebore is a helluva name
First stop on the trail was by this little church; surprisingly, it took a bit of work on the chain to get the bell to actually ring.
Spotted the trou (hole) across the way. It's pretty big to be able to see it from this distance. I'm guessing if this park had been named in English, this probably would have been called "the eye of the needles"
After taking a step back from what I thought was a snake just laying in the trail, I looked a little closer. A choo choo train of caterpillars!
For context, they make fairly long lines.
A different angle on the Aiguilles
A nice Danish couple had just beaten me to the hole and were nice enough to trade photos posing with the hole.
Just to the side of the hole, a nice steep shelf between vertical shelves of rock.
The best view from the off-trail venture; I kept following the pole marks in the ground before eventually realizing that I wasn't following the foot steps of someone who knew what they were doing 😅
Maybe this is what those catepillers are are headed for?
The walk amongst the rocks and tall pines was interesting; all the granite ridges left behind make for a bizarre landscape.
Looking out towards where Zonza is, I think.
I rounded a corner on the trail and accidentally scared some sheep off the path. Once a safe distance away, they didn't mind staring me down.
Well, I know where I'm headed tomorrow
I made it back to the hotel just as the sun was setting behind the mountains. After a quick shower, I was able to catch the last of the light on the hotel restaurant's terrace for dinner. Dinner really hit the spot; to top it off, they comped my digistif (some sort of liqueur flavored with the myrtle plant).
As the waiter said, il faut profiter des couleurs
Les Tripolettes (tripe)
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