Adventures on Tiny, Curvy Roads

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes, but in having new eyes."...Marcel Proust 

After an all nighter on the huge ferry ship, Mega Express Three, from Toulon, we arrived at the beautiful town of Ajaccio. Here, there is a daily farmers market, which in Corsica means charcuterie, brebis cheese and crunchy bread. So we loaded up for our picnic and headed north, along the coast. Along the way we saw amazing scenery; tall mountains coming right down to the sea, beautiful bays with white sandy beaches and small, charming villages. We stopped in one, Cargese, for a coffee in a nice place overlooking the sea. 

We checked into our hotel in Piana and then did a nice 5 mile hike through the Calanques, an amazing red rock formation caused by lava flows 250 million years ago.  The landscape is unreal, especially in the late afternoon light.  The hike was great, going through beautiful rock formations, one of which looked like a dog's head. But the road through this area is very narrow, barely two small cars can go by each other. Believe it or not, big tour buses go on this road; you can hear them honking their horns at every corner. Luckily, we never encountered one. 

The next day we headed up into the high mountains of central Corsica, driving on more tiny, curvy roads that barely two cars can pass on. But it's not crowded here in May, so the driving was great. We went through beautiful forests, quaint villages and over mountain passes. We had a picnic of local ham, salami, cheese, fresh peppers and olives, sitting on a granite outcrop and looking down a long valley to the sea. The granite cliffs towered high above us and the air was crisp and clean. Soon after, we rounded a curve and came upon a group of local pigs, scrounging around in the dirt next to the road. This would soon be a common sight. 

We then arrived at our next destination, the town of Venaco. Our hotel, U Frascone, is an old mansion converted into a hotel, with great views of town and the valley beyond. From here we hiked up the mountain behind town, passing an old aqueduct, ancient chestnut trees and with a great view of Venaco. In town, we ate in the only restaurant for miles, Bar de la Place. The good news was the food was outstanding; a delicious torte (more like a quiche, made with the local cheese, called Bricchiu), a stew of wild pig, and a delicious mousse a chocolate. We had a great local Red to wash it all down with. The bad news was the rude, surly waiter who was a bit of a jerk. I can't wait to write my TripAdvisor review on that place!

Our third day in Corsica was spent mostly on a great 7 mile hike through the Gorge of Tavignano, a wild valley with a river rushing down it, towering granite mountains on both sides, ancient olive trees that were harvested years ago and ancient terraced walls in long abandoned farms. All this surrounded by the maquis, the local vegetation that is everywhere in Corsica. The maquis is the low, bushy flora that this time of year is covered in flowers and has a beautiful scent. We passed some ancient abandoned huts, one of which was constructed under a giant boulder. All this area was once farmed, but beginning after World War I, the locals started leaving fr a better life on the mainland. So the path that we were on was an ancient path used by locals, now used by trekking tourists. 

We then had lunch in a great restaurant in Corte, the main town here, called U Museo. We had an amazing creamy soup of chestnuts and pancetta, a vegetable torte, a stew of sanglier and a chestnut cake. Chestnuts are a big deal here!

We then went to a local wine shop, just a cave, really, to buy a bottle of local wine. Four old guys were sitting at a table playing the French card game of belote. So we had to interrupt their game to get some hell buying a bottle. One of the guys was very helpful with the wine selection, but he couldn't figure out how to work the credit card machine. So another guy, probably the owner, had to get up from the game so we could pay. I'm sure they were happy when we left so they could get back to the important activity of the day.