3rd stop: Corsica!

13 octobre 2013

The reason that took us to Corsica was not the first step of the "Tour de France" but to look after Erik Norén, a swedish man living in Sweden around 1830-1900 and that might have died in Corsica. And why this Erik is important to us? Well, he was maried with the mother of Simone Homsy which was the mother of Papiri, my grand-father. We know very little about him and not much more after the trip around Corsica.. we stayed a couple of hours in the archives of Ajaccio but could not find any Erik Norén in there.. there is many shelves left to look at but we can tell you that if he died in Corsicia it was not in Ajaccio or in the district around, but it could be anywhere else in Corsica..

Corsica is a very beautiful island and if we did not find tracks of Erik we found some fantastic landscapes: forest, sea, mountain, old cities (and many steps there again) and a lot of .. tourists!

We rent a car in Bonifacio and had it all the way to Bastia. Unfortunatly the cheap car we booked was not available anymore and we had to take an Audi A3 instead.. too bad! Get your sunglasses on and lets rock the Corsican roads!! Youhou!!

We stayed 2 nights in the crowed Bonifacio, got some tourist round trip to the islands Lavezzi, ate moules frites, got uphill to the old city and down hill by the stairs of the king of Aragon.

Then we took the way to the forest L'Ospedale and had a nice and fresh walk to the waterfall.

We kept driving toward "les aiguilles de Bavella". We parked the car and, while eating a super good corsican lemon, we dreamt about trecking along the GR20 some day...

We drove then till Corte and stayed 2 nights there. We really appreciate the calm of the mountain, less tourists.. and the fresh air (brrr very fresh cold during the night...).

Quite tired of the old cities and all the stairs we went to the cinema and watch "Monster academy" in 3D! Ahah it was nice to relax the legs an evening and take it easy! .. but not for long.. the 2nd day we went trecking in the mountain on a really beautiful path leading to le lac du Melu! We hade a super good picnic with local bread, cheese, ham and fruits.. and some rain on the head on the way down.

From Corte we went to Calvi with a drop by Ajaccio's archives. One night at Calvi, back to the crowed. It was old and nice harbour but we liked more Ile-Rousse where we stayed 2 nights. The camping was nicer and just by the sea. We took the Audi an afternoon in the mountains around and visited several old villages perched on the tops. Sant Antonio is the most famous of them.

We left Île Rousse and head to Bastia to fly to Paris. We were happy of our trip and ready to go home!

Sicily was best for the sea spots!

Sardegna was best for the food and the kindness of the people.

Corsica was best for its beauty and the variety of the landscapes, but we were a bit disapointed by the quality of the restaurants.. we ate good food at Corte, when we picnic and with the moules frites, the rest was not that good.

Et maintenant on récapitule, le tout en image!

Ca commence à Bonifacio:

Les fameuses falaises de Bonifacio, ça en jète quand on arrive en bateau!

Vue du port depuis la citadelle

Camping à Bonifacio

Un Patrikouz dans la vieille-ville

Les moules frites!

L'escalier du Roi d'Aragon:

Rando dans la fôret l'Ospedale jusqu'à la cascade:

C'est beau, faut bien l'avouer!

La cascade:

Baignade bien fraîche sur le retour, cap ou pas cap de mettre la tête sous l'eau?

Cap!

Le col de Bavella avec les grondements de l'orage tout proche:

Les Aiguilles de Bavella, une étape du GR20:

Le citron corse! Cap ou pas cap?

Cap!

Corte! Village étudiant perché dans la montagne:

L'apéro:

Corte en soiréé (vue du camping) !

à la créperie bretonne! allez savoir.. on en avait un peu marre des assiettes de charcuteries...

et la rando trop belle jusqu'au lac du Melu:

Le photographe photographié!

De la neve, on s'approche du sommet..

Et voilà, le lac!

La pose de la randonneuse (juste avant la pluie)

Des super vieilles statues en pierre genre du temps préhistoirique sur le site de Filitosa. Attention, ca rigole pas:

"Patrikouz, c'est quoi ces chaussettes qui traînent??"

La tournée des vieux villages perchés dans la montagne:

Saint Antonio, un des villages de ouf perchés sur les rochers:

Des enfants qui s'font une ptite partie de pétanque

Moi j'aime bien comment ils se servent de la pierre pour tout, l'écoulement des eaux de pluie:

.. marquer l'entrée d'une chapelle:

Obs! on se laisse pas aller sur la qualité du service: draps assortis, matelas top confort, oreillers de camping! 3 semaines en tente sans duvet, juste draps c'était pilpoil sauf la nuit à Corte où on s'est caillés!