Corsica

boxed text

Self Service:
While on Corsica I went into a Bakery to get some bread, but a strawberry tart also caught my eye. The elderly owner wasn't that good on her feet so she waved me around the counter to get the items myself!

Now, before you start, yes Corsica is a country! They have a proud history, their own dialect and a flag - and that's enough in my book. A Corsican is a Corsican first, and French second!

I 'collected' Corsica in true Countrybagging style, while on a trip to Sardinia I put the hire car on a ferry and travelled the 14km!

Most of my time in Corsica was spent in and around Bonifacio, a small place at the southern end of the island. Bonifacio is a walled city perched high up on cliffs surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean, which also forms a perfect natural harbour.

The views of the city from the sea are spectacular, and you'd be forgiven for thinking that the whole place is just a chipboard set for a Hollywood movie - but it's a living breathing city with tiny cobbled roads, churches, shops and fortifications.

There are some interesting sights in Bonifacio, and two of them involve steps!

Sartene Street Sign

Firstly there's the Escalier du Roi d'Aragon (Stairway of the King of Aragon ) which is a series of 189 steps cut into the limestone cliff face that leads all the way down to sea level - the 'staircase' cuts down at a 45° which doesn't seem that bad, until you attempt to walk down the steps!

The other step based sight is the Gouvernail de la Corse, which means "Rudder of Corsica" - it's a rock that sticks out at the end of the peninsular on which Bonifacio sits, and it does look a bit like a rudder!

The only way down to it is via a tunnel that was hand cut during World War II. There are a lot of steps, but thankfully there are all regular (unlike Escalier du Roi d'Aragon), and it's deliciously cool in the tunnel. You emerge at the other end into bright sunlight just above the Gouvernail, and you can see why all the effort was taken during the war - it's the perfect place to position a gun to control access into the natural harbour of Bonifacio.