Corsica Feb 25-27, 2019
TIPS for CORSICA
1. Ferries to Corsica. The cheapest is from mainland France or Savona Italy. I took the ferry from Livorno, Italy to Bastia for €121, 4¼ hours one-way on Corsica Ferries. Corsica Ferries has a monopoly on Corsica ferries, and thus have high prices. Also, check Moby Ferries, but I could not navigate the website.
2. Gas is expensive – in Feb 2019, €1.56 (€1.43 on the mainland), so fill up before leaving. I basically drove around the island and saw a few cheaper.
3. Ferries between Corsica and Sardinia. There is only one per week (on Mondays) from Ajacca and Porto Torre Sardinia. Plan accordingly.
4. Drive the D84 between Francardo (N193) and Piana, one of the highlight road trips in the world.
5. Speeding and radar. Even though I thought I was the slowest driver on the road, I eventually had two speeding tickets in Corsica. I was very surprised but these get expensive.
On February 25, I took the ferry from Livorno, Italy to Bastia, Corsica, France (4.25 hours, €121) on Corsica Ferries. It left at 2 pm and we arrived just at darkness in Bastia, the main city on the NE corner of the island.
BASTIA (pop
Musée de Bastia. In the fort above the harbour, is the usual city history from Stone Age to the present. €5
Musée de Miniature (Corse Miniature Animé). Through action sets, it tells the history of Bastia again. €6.50
The plan was to see the north and west coast stopping at the main cities of Ajaccio (midway on the west coast), Bonifacio (at the southern tip) and then take the ferry from Porto Vecchio (on the SE corner) to Porto Torres on the NW corner of Sardinia.
After arriving, I drove about 20 km up the northeast cape to where there were no more houses. It is a long finger of a peninsula with a significant chain of forested mountains down its middle. The small island of Giraglia with its lighthouse is off the tip, 54 road kilometres (and 1½ hours) from Bastia. I could have driven around but I’ve frankly had enough of very narrow winding roads – the same goes for cutting across the peninsula. The Italian drivers cut corners making this sort of road dangerous. I slept at a nice pull-off with the sound of crashing surf.
Lucciana Cathedral, Lucciana:. This medieval church is not really in Lucciana but just south of the Bastia Airport. Made of white limestone, the small square holes for the scaffolding are still on the front façade. The carvings above the door are unusual. It appears to not be used.
Next to it is an archaeological dig with some stone walls and 4 original columns, with really nothing to see.
St. Michel Church, Murato. Don’t miss this amazing little church despite the long drive. Perched on a hill with great views down to the ocean, it is made of white limestone and green serpentine. It has a square bell tower supported by two columns on the front. The highlight is the limestone and serpentine stone carvings on the front, over the windows and encircling the church just under the eves with many grotesques. I would have liked to see the inside but it appears to never be open.
I filled my water at the ancient fountain across the road.
On my way to the Gulf of Porto, Google Maps directed me back the way I came, but I continued west past Murato. The road becomes one lane and goes over a high pass (only one ranch free-range cattle passed) with nice craggy mountains on the way. Thankfully there was no other traffic. There are two choices to take down (I took the most easterly one) that switchbacks through 3 tiny villages clinging to the mountainside. I met a van and a herd of goats that was a tight squeeze to get by. Highly recommended.
I had wanted to go to the Musee Pascal-Paoli in Morosaglia, but I had had enough of narrow roads and it was a significant detour south of the highway.
D84. This highway departs the N193 past Ponte Leccia and ends at Porto on the ocean. One of the most scenic drives in the world, it is not to be missed (I had no idea). On the way up to the high pass with snow, first, pass through a rugged canyon, pass a few nice snow-covered mountains and two reservoirs on the stream and then drive through a wonderful forest of large pine trees. There was an amazing number of free-range pigs that looked domesticated but feral, as well as goats and cattle. At the top, just past the Castel de Vergin resort and ski hill (now this is a losing business), is an unusually large sandstone carving (of Jesus?). The way down is just as good with many switchbacks driving beside a deep, rugged canyon with reddish rock. The road exists only because of all the stone walls it is built on. Finally arrive at Porto with its nice beach and tiny harbour on the Gulf of Porto. This is a long 3-hour drive on twisting narrow roads.
GULF of PORTO WORLD HERITAGE SITE. It consists of the Scandola Nature Reserve, a mountainous peninsula on the north side of the Gulf of Girolata. Pass Porto and the Gulf of Porto, then climb up to the Calenques de Piana, a stunning eroded cliff with some balancing rocks.
AJACCIO (pop
Maison Bonaparte. On a small side street near the harbour, this is the birthplace of Napoleon Bonaparte. The first floor has apartments and the second a museum. The house was added on six times. The museum discusses his parents, siblings and descendants. €7, no reduction.
Palais Fesch – Musée des Beaux-Arts.
This is where I discovered that there is one ferry sailing per week to Sardinia (at 07:15 on Mondays, Corsica Ferries). So I decided to return to Bastia and take a ferry back to the mainland. I was quite disappointed that I would not get to Sardinia.
BONIFACIO
On the very south tip of Corsica, this small town is unique. The low town is one row of buildings surrounding the harbour and marina that is pedestrian-only. Climb up to the main part of the village, the fortified high town bordered by high white cliffs on the south and high walls facing the harbour. On the south end are WWII bunkers with 5 gun placements and panoramic views of the cliffs and across the Bouches de Bonifacio to Sardinia.
Bouches de Bonifacio. A tentative WHS, these are the straits separating Corsica and Sardinia.
Monument de la Legion Etrangere. Halfway up to the high town, this monument is to the Bonifacio soldiers who died in WWI – an interesting granite column on the base: “Bonifacio Ses Morts 1914-1918”.
Pinarello Beach. 45 km north of Bonifacio is this 1km long sweeping curve of a beach with powdery fine sand. The shore is covered in huge piles of dried seagrass that have accumulated over the winter.
It was then 135 km to Bastia on a flat, straight road but limited by speed limits and small towns. Much of it follows the shore. Italian and Corsican drivers are all crazy. Besides being impatient they cut corners and follow too close. They also have violent tempers. On the drive, I changed lanes to pass a slow vehicle behind another car. A guy in a white truck came up extremely fast behind me tailgating about 5 feet at 120 km/hour. I braked and waved him back – he went ballistic, passed, and swerved to drive me off the road. I wished I could have gotten his license plate number to report him to the police.
1½ hours before the 2 pm sailing, I received a phone call from Corsica Ferries. The port of Bastia had gone on strike and I had to drive to Ile Rousse, 89kms across to the west side of the island to catch the ferry there at 3:30!! And so I returned on the same ferry I came over on, but Ile Rousse/Livorno for the same €121 on February 28. They didn’t give us a free dinner for our trouble. I had scammed a shower in a sports complex the night before but there were no sinks there, so I shaved on the ferry.