Exploring France's island gem ..... July 2010

Cafe stop up in the hills at L'Ospadale

13 July 2010

We moved around into the inner harbour of Porto Vecchio, it was a fairly long dinghy ride ashore, murky looking water as a muddy bottom but a sheltered safe spot with a great looking walled town set on top of the hill. We wanted to hire a car and explore inland and this was a good spot to organise it all. We spent our first evening ashore people watching on the promenade by the marina, there were the most beautiful trees providing a shaded canopy for all the outdoor cafes. as a long dinghy ride ashore , murky looking water as a muddy bottom but a sheltered safe spot with a great looking walled town set on top of the hill . We wanted to hire a car and explore inland and this was a good spot to organise it all . We spent our first evening ashore people watching on the promenade by the sea. There were the most beautiful trees providing a shaded canopy for all the outdoor cafes .

After a much needed refreshment we did a somewhat steep hill session up to the old citadel, as always perched high with the best view of the surrounding countryside and waterways. It was a lovely old town, lots of alleyways, a large town square with an imposing church, outdoor drinking and dining everywhere and a really pleasant feel to it. As with Sardinia we were finding very few foreign speaking tourists. In Sardinia nearly everyone was Italian, and here it was just the French, it seems they are keeping these island paradises of theirs a very well kept secret! eep hill climb up to the old citadel , perched high as always with the best view of the surrounding countryside and waterways . It was a lovely old town , lots of alleyways and a large town square with an imposing church , outdoor drinking and dining everywhere and a really pleasant feel to it . As with Sardinia we were noticing very few foreign speaking tourists . Nearly everyone in Sardinia was Italian, and here they were just French. It seems they are keeping these island paradises of theirs a very well kept secret !

Picnicing with the locals

We picked up our Fiat Panda at 9am the next day, we hoped this was the peak of what we might pay for a small car, €102 for a day, that's really getting up there but it was worth every centime. We drove northwest climbing into the hills. Morning coffee is a very important part of our day, and finding somewhere scenic to relax and order our first french cafe au lait was our first priority.

We pulled into the tiny village of L'Ospedale, we were definately in French territory, the tiny stone houses, crumbling barns, climbing vines bursting with colour and a cafe with a huge bourganvillea covered terrace with a view right back down to Porto Vecchio. The big bonus was the the cafe au lait tasted great and was hot (we were used to drinking somewhat lukewarm coffees in Italy). Our excursion was off to a great start. L'Ospedale had been frequented in previous times by the wealthy of Porto Vecchio to escape the summer heat and mosquitos, it was a spectacular setting for an ancient health spa.

Mark thinking long and hard about jumping

We kept climbing up into the mountains to our next stop at Zonza. A very picturesque large village, again with stone buildings, potted geraniums, overhanging vines, just a absolute feast for the eyes. It was to supply a feast for lunch as well, we decided to join many others in the local deli and bought picnic supplies - baguettes, pates, cheeses, and of course a bottle of local wine, and Rose is the local drop so Rose it was. After an enjoyable wander around the village it was back in the car, climbing even higher into the mountains towards Col de Bavella at 1218m.

All this area is National Parkland and a paradise for the hundreds of hikers, mountainbikers and picnicers we shared it with. It was very busy but a huge space, plenty of room for everyone, even the cows and wild boar! It was cooller up there, a great climate to relax in the shade under a sweet scented pine tree, nibble on pate and baguette, sip a rose and lie back and appreciate how lucky we are to be able to have these experiences.

The stunning Corsican Mountains

Finally we moved on and started our downhill journey, our first stop was caused by a wild boar roadblock, with everyone - including us, out taking photos of them lying in puddles of mud, forgaging in the undergrowth and sitting in the middle of the road. Eventually we started following a river down, and along the way there were many sandy banked beaches at the bends in the river, all busy with picnic makers - umbrellas up, deck chairs out, bucket and spades, blow up beach toys, well basically the lot!!! Not to miss out we found somewhere to park, changed into swimsuits and joined them. The pools we had found had a high cliff above them with all the young boys climbing the rockface and jumping in, having loads of fun. Although our two "boys" weren't quite as young as the rest they wanted their turn too, so first Liam then Mark made the climb up, both landed with a very big splash!! The water, considering it was coming from high up in the mountains, was actually not too cold, even I got in, and that is saying something about the temperature!!

Now clean and cool it was back into the Panda and down to sea level out to the small coastal town of Solenzara where we got to see the sea again, well it had been a few hours. We followed the main road south, past Porto Vecchio and down to the southern point where the clifftop fortified town of Bonifacio keeps watch over the Bonifacio Straits.

All about Bonifacio in the next instalment!