Not much to report, really, but here are some words and pictures.
Tuesday, 13 June
Tuesday was a full on zero day of doing nada except splashing in the pool, doing laundry, and going to the Spar market at Lozari Beach to get some surprisingly good Mexican chicken skewers that we grilled up in the evening. Strangely it doesn't cool down at night here--it doesn't really get below 22C/72F, and it's also a touch humid. No sea breezes either.
Wednesday, 14 June
OK, should do something, so let's drive past Calvi to Piana and see what Philippe calls "the fjords".
Yeah, it was super-scenic, a twisty little road through the steep granite mountains that dropped into the sea.
We visited Porto, ack, too touristy, too many tour busses, too much tackiness, then went one beach (or canyon really) north and found a wonderful restaurant on the cobble beach for lunch, then we swam a bit.
The water was warm, 26C/79F (I held my watch off my wrist to figure that figure out) and the rocks on the beach were sizzling hot.
Fun, but also tedious; I think it took 2 1/2 hours to drive those 50km. This whole island isn't a place to be if you like getting around in a hurry.
Thursday, 15 June
Another lazy day. Yeah, didn't do much. I could see an old Genovese tower a few hundred meters below the villa, and a few more hundred meters on is the sea, so in the afternoon we walked down there and swam.
The sea was warm water, but again, I've realized this trip I'm not much a fan of water, probably because I'm fearful of losing a contact lens. I didn't get them until I was 18 or so, and before then there was lots of swimming practice where I couldn't see a thing and because I'd sink because was so skinny back then (as in 125 pounds, I'm 50 pounds heavier now and the same height). I remember being told that the sparkling new high school pool was Olympic sized, and I Should Appreciate It, with the standard line of all my instructors being "You'll enjoy it once you figure it out, and aren't you enjoying swimming now? It's great! No, you're not enjoying it? What's wrong with you? Oh, you need more lessons so you can keep up with the other kids in your grade, they're all ahead of you. Here, you should probably take some remedial swimming lessons". Gee thank you no, I'll do something less frenetic and less drowny.
Friday, 16 June
Friday was good, Philippe and David and I did the long drive to Bonifacio at the southern tip of the island. It's where Philippe's parents met, and he was last there when he was 10 years old so he felt a little personal connection to the place--a tight little harbour sheltered by 50m tall white limestone cliffs, with houses built on top (and actually on cliff overhangs, they'll come down one day.
We all had a wonderful lunch of mussels (1 kilo each), then walked all the way down to the quay for a boat tour. Again, the water theme--but I really enjoyed this, especially the sea cave.
The boat squeezed in an entrance that must've been just 10 meters wide, with a few meters on either side to spare, into an large grotto with a roof light. Pretty spectacular. After the grotto we motored west to see a beach where the granite and limestone meet. Corsica's mostly granite--like those spires and needles we saw along the GR20--but the southernmost tip is limestone. From the boat, we could easily see the coastline of Sardinia a few miles/kilometers away, supposedly the limestone continues that way.
A bit more motoring along the cliffs, past a crazy staircase dug into the cliffs centuries ago... some sunbathers along a rocky beach... and we were done.
I really enjoyed that trip, and from there we just walked through the cemetery to the car for the long drive back to the villa.
That evening, our last evening as a five-some, we walked down to the beach and had pizza. It was a wonderfully warm night, and we filled our bellies then walked back.
Saturday, 17 June
Well, Saturday is when I resume hiking the GR20. That's the next blog entry :-)