For the first couple of nights we stayed in L'Ospedale while we saw the south west corner of the island. The B&B we stayed in was nice and had a lovely garden to breakfast in with a stunning view of the coast. We spent these first few days unwinding on the beaches of Palombaggia, Santa Giulia, and Rondinara. The water is turquoise and so clear that it's no exaggeration to compare it to gin as the guide books do! And with fine, white sand to boot! We hit the famed towns of Porto Vecchio and Bonifacio while we were here as well.
Palombaggia
Santa Giulia
The view from our B&B, U Spitaghju
Breakfast in the garden!
Plage de Rondinara
Walking across the chalk cliffs into Bonifacio
We headed north and further inland to the still-authentic village of Sartene for the next few nights. We weren't far from the beach though so we sunned ourselves, read our books, played scrabble, and hung out in the paillottes (beachside resto) at Tizzano for the day. The next day we picked up the pace and went for a walk to the waterfalls of Piscia di Gallo and rewarded our exercise by soaking in the natural springs at the Bains de Caldane. Campomoro beach the following day was one of my favourites - the village has retained all its charm and feels very peaceful.
Tizzano
Sartene
The pool at our accomm
Barrage de L'Ospedale (lake)
Piscia di Gallo
Passing scenery
Campomoro beach
The beach action and scenery didn't take all our attention though. One evening in Sartene we had great meal at Santa Barbara - a lovely restaurant in an even lovelier setting. I had a crab salad, pigeon in myrtle with mushrooms and polenta and a trilogy of little desserts shared with Laura all while sitting on the timber decking overlooking a manicured green lawn. We were entertained another night in a charming little cave called A Cantinetta and it's hostess. We tried different wines (vin de noix, vin d'orange, vin de myrtle, a bottle of red 'Saparale') as well as the local chacuterie, cheese with fig jam and chestnut cake.
A Cantinetta
The Alta Rocca region has some pretty spectacular scenery and our drive north into the mountains to Calacuccia via the towns of Zonza and Quenza was especially dramatic in the early morning mist. As we headed west down the Vallee du Niolo the landscape was just as rocky and mountainous but with a mix of pine and beech trees - plus some local fauna - donkeys, goats, cows, wild boar and pigs. We had another waterfall walk in this area - a circuit high up around the rocks and across the forest floor of the valley to see Cascade di Radule.
Peach stop in St Lucie de Tallano
Aiguilles de Bavella (needles)
Zonza
Wild pigs
Goat crossing!
Walking through the valley to Cascade de Radule
Fantastic drive by scenery
From here we headed down off the mountain range to Calvi on the north coast via Porto with its enormous pink granite (I think!) cliffs that head straight out into the sea. We stayed outside Calvi at 'A Flatta' a good B&B with a great view out over the coastline that we enjoyed over dinner and breakfast the next morning. Laura and I were treated to the honeymoon suite!
Porto
Coastal drive
Calvi
Dusk at A Flatta
For our last full day of the holiday we squeezed in as much as we could. From Calenzana we explored the hill towns of La Balagna region and stopped in Montemaggiore, Lunghignano, Aregno and the nicest of them all - Pigna - before lunching on mussels by the water in Ile Rousse. This was where we had our last dip in the gorgeous med sea before hightailing it to Bastia to return the hire car. All too soon it was our last night. We wandered around Bastia, ate gelati (Raugi is fantastic) and dinner. We packed up early the next morning, bussed it to the airport and came back to London.
Lunghingnano
The northern coastline
Aregno
Pigna
Ile Rousse
Bastia
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