I had been reading various reviews of holiday destinations on the net and seen several references to Corsica being France's hidden gem. However, the chances of getting there by air looked quite slim as there seemed to be only one flight a week from the UK to Corsica and that only during August so it appeared that if we wanted to go to Corsica we would have to go by road and ferry.
In March we put an order in for a Berlingo with Barclays of Warrington, very odd as we live in Essex but that is another story.
Further searching on the net led us to find that ferries to Corsica started from
several locations on the French and Italian coasts. We decided on the route from
Toulon to Ajaccio (a-
We required a secure car park at the hotel in Bastia as together with our brand new Berlingo we would be carrying two electric mobility scooters. Hotels in Corsica are, in general, older buildings that do not have car parks so our choice was limited. We chose the Best Western Bastia Centre and the secure car parking was a boon, not that crime in Corsica appears to be anything to worry about but built up areas in Corsica are solid with traffic and parking spaces are very, very much at a premium.
Whilst travelling from Calais to Toulon we used the autoroutes for convenience and
speed. In fact we have a transponder supplied by Sanef (one of the French autoroute
companies) which lets us through the péages without stopping or queuing -
One of the reasons for choosing to sail to Ajaccio and staying in Bastia was that
we would arrive in Ajaccio about 7am but couldn't register at the hotel until mid-
Boarding a ferry to or from Corsica is a very laid back affair compared to the more
regimented approach at Dover and Calais. When the time came to board the vessel,
Corsica Ferries Mega Express (Mega Express and Mega Express ll are sister ships),
out came two men armed with hand held computers, a barcode reader (for those with
tickets rather than ourselves who had an email printout) and a belt mounted label
printer. They stood at the front of the queue and two lines of traffic passed very
quickly straight onto the ferry, each checking operation taking literally a few seconds
-
Our initial impressions of Corsica were based on Ajaccio and the local area as we
drove towards Bastia. A lot more traffic than we had expected, in fact Ajaccio is
probably the most congested town we have been to, and I mean VERY congested -
As we started up the mountains the traffic thinned out and there were more and more
Berlingos and Partners, mostly Mk2s and quite a few of their distant relatives such
as Renault Kangoos. We had intended to stop for lunch in Corte but gave up that idea
as it was once again wall to wall traffic and double parking. Instead a baguette
and pack of ham from the local Casino supermarket and off to stop in a lay-
As we got further up the mountain it became obvious that the top two gears, fourth
and fifth, were likely to have a holiday due to gradient and distance between blind
corners. Mind you this didn't seem to slow down the locals! We 'met' more than one
Berlingo/Partner being driven in a four wheel slide around blind bends! They really
are (or a considerable percentage of them are) budding WRC drivers -
Tracey did all the driving whilst on Corsica and found the driving quite physical
(even though we of course have power steering) and mentally very tiring. It is NOT
a good place for people who are nervous drivers or passengers or who are put off
by vertical drops at the side of a normally Armco-
As mentioned above, the standard of driving in Corsica is 'different'. On the main
N roads it is quite acceptable; there are the ultra cautious that cause traffic chaos/queues
everywhere; the brave 40-
So far I haven't mentioned the scenery. It is amazing -
We think its absolutely essential to have some means of transport when on Corsica as the public transport appears to be well hidden from those 'not in the know'. Fuel is just a little dearer than in metropolitan France and there are a lot of fuel stations in the major towns, so many that on the southern outskirts of Bastia there is an Esso and Vito station side by side and a Total station immediately opposite! Don't expect to find rural service stations too often though.
In town parking is the alternative word for Hell! We were lucky in several respects.
We had guaranteed parking at the hotel and also I am a Blue Badge holder which gave
a reasonable chance of pole position parking. YES, the local constabulary DOES issue
tickets to those not displaying the badge -
France is renowned for its acceptance of bikers but go to Corsica and you find a
real bikers paradise. During our stay, I guess we averaged four touring bikers at
the hotel each night. One enterprising French couple really had it sussed -
As far as eating and drinking is concerned we can only speak of Bastia. There must be literally dozens of restaurants in the town centre leave alone those on the outskirts and in the more residential areas. In fact I have just checked with TripAdvisor and they list 94 restaurants but don't list the ones we ate at! Menus tend to be international but with some seemingly good fish dishes and plenty of different Italian fare. Prices tend to be similar to metropolitan France. A good 3 course set meal would start at about 13.90 euros.
International beers are available in Corsica but not at all outlets. What does always
seem to be available everywhere are the three local beers: Pietra, Colomba and Serena
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Corsican wine is not normally available in our supermarkets, nor in French hypermarkets. However, given the chance to try a glass or bottle, this is a very under stated wine growing area. We found even their cheaper wines (house wines) were very good.
Coffee was as you expect it -
As one would expect in a French departement there is an abundance of super/hyper
markets. All the usual names, Carrefour, E Leclerc, Casino and Géant Casino are well
represented as are Spar shops both large and small, which makes shopping for a midday
picnic easy -
Paying car parks seemed to be of the ‘pay before exit’ type (a la multi storey in England) but with machines that took notes and coins AND gave change. Needed to hunt for the machines on occasion though.
Pedestrian crossings. Unusually for a European road system, seemingly in Corsica
the pedestrian has the supreme right of way on a crossing. Quite different to mainland
Europe. Be aware though that many of them tend to amble across as though they have
all the time in the world. Also, drivers of all persuasions gave way to other drivers
crossing in front of them or attempting to join the stream of traffic. It could become
quite confusing at roundabouts as to who had the right of way although normal ronde-
During our time in Corsica we did not see any loutish behaviour -
We must make comment about the road surfaces in Corsica. The surface is very smooth
and grippy -
Before we went to Corsica we considered that in this ‘out of the way’ departement the standard of living together with the age of their cars would be different from mainland France. In fact the island seems to have a very good standard of living and cars and vans more than about six years old were the rarity rather than the norm.
Historically Corsica has several links with our own (British) history. Britain supported
the Corsicans in their bid to rid themselves of France prior to the French revolution.
In fact Lord Nelson himself was involved in the siege of Bastia which ousted the
French. Prior to this, Corsica's most famous freedom fighter and first President,
Pascal Paoli, sought refuge in England before the French Revolution and later in
life spent his remaining years in England. For some years, at the end of the 18th
century, Corsica was regarded as a sub-
Before we arrived in Corsica we were genned up on Corsicans by a frenchman during our overnight stay in Dijon and his description was quite accurate. They are essentially a rebellious lot who are not over enamoured with France and have more of a liking for Italy. However, they do like the French way of life and are willing to put up with France for these benefits.
Before we went we were a little apprehensive about the language difficulties. We
shouldn't have worried -
Well what did we think of the towns etc. that we visited. Just a very short list.
Ajaccio -
Bastia -
Corte -
Erbalunga -
Marine de Farinole -
Mariana Plage -
Pino -
Saint-
Santa Severa -
Would we go back? You bet we would. In fact we are already making plans for next
year (finances permitting) as it is definitely not your cheap package holiday. Next
year we are thinking of basing ourselves in the south of the island. When we return
to Corsica we will try and be a week earlier as the Corsicans seemed to be getting
ready for winter -