First a sunray of the rising sun on our way to the train/bus. Check out the clouds!
At the train station, this old man was the first passenger to board the bus – he had a big umbrella in his suitcase and was very cute!
Some weird vegetation on a variant of palm tree
Our first mountain sighting after we left Ajaccio and began to head north
The first village we came to is Bocognano or Bucugnanu in Corsican (notice all the O’s became U’s!! U BORGU!!)
Bocognano – set on a plateau amidst a chestnut forest, the village gives a perfect panorama of Monte d’Oro’s pale-grey needles, and is well placed for walks to the Cascaded du Voile de la Mariée, where the River Gravona crashes from a height of 150m in a series of cascades.
Bocognano is indissolubly associated with Antoine and Jacques Bellacoscia born here in 1817 and 1832, fathered by a man who earned the family surname – meaning ‘beautiful thighs’ – by also fathering eighteen daughters by three sisters with whom he lived simultaneously. Antoine, the elder son, took the the maquis in 1848, having killed the mayor of the village after an argument over some land. With his brother he went on to commit several more murders in full view of the hapless gendarmes, yet remained at liberty thanks to the support of the local population. In 1871 Antoine and Jacques managed to gain a safe pass into Ajaccio to organize an expedition to fight for the French in the war with Prussia. They returned from the war with their reputations restored, and took up residence in the family home, from where they continued to flaunt the law. In 1888 the police finally succeeded in ousting them from their house, which was converted into a prison. Antoine eventually surrendered when he was 75, at Vizzavona station on June 25, 1892, whereupon he was aquitted and exiled to Marseille in true Corsican tradition. The fate of Jacques is unknown.
More stunning mountains after leaving Bocognano and heading towards Vizzavona
Some ruins as we enter the forest of Vizzavona (on top of the hill of trees behind the wire)
Another little ruin at the side of the road
We didn’t capture any photos of Vizzavona as the town is well disguised from the main road and you’ve seen Vizzavona before as I went there for a hike back in November or something like that.
Next we came to Vivario which is as cute as Bocognano was and has as interesting a story – this region just happens to be packed with cute villages and weird interesting stories!
Here’s the funny old man who was getting on the bus
The town fountain
Where little furry visitors come to drink (everytime I’ve come through Vivario on the bus I’ve seen this dog taken a drink!)
Also: spot the man in camouflage! You might not be able to see him that well but he’s there… as are many men in Corsica – decked out totally in camouflage!)
The local pub – who feels like some figatelli au feu de bois mmmmmm!
Vivario – Gustave Eiffel (of Eiffel tower fame) built the dizzying Pont de Vecchiu rail way bridge at the foot of Monte Rotondo, 5km south of Venaco (and now not in use as you may notice we are on a bus…). Alongside it, the even more impressive new road bridge , opened in 2999, span the 222-metre-wide gorge at a height of 137.5 m (I guess we took that one instead!) A series of tortuous switchacks beyond here heralds your arrival at Vivario, located at the junction of the highway and surround by fire-scarred forest and maquis, the village makes a less appealing place to spend the might then most hereabouts, but if you’re following the Mare a Mare Nord you’ll find its excellent little shop, near the fountain in the centre, a convenient place to stock up on supplies before heading into the pristine country to t he west.
The grandiose Mangeanello Valley, tracked by the Mare a Mare as far as the refuge de l’Onda, once supported its own wild man, dubbed by folk chroniclers as un Mowgli Corse. In 1889 a 10-year-old boy went missing here after an argument with his parents and stayed missing for twenty years until a group of hungers ensnared him by the Vecchiu. The unfortunate soul was crated off to be reunited with his parents but, unable to adapt to his new life, perished after a few months. The only traversable spot across the Gorge du Vecchiu, a three-hour walk west of Vivario, is a three-metre jump still known as the Saut du Sauvage, or “wild man’s leap”. Vivarios other claim to fame is as the birthplace of the infamous Bartolomeo brothers, who were abducted by pirates here in the sixteenth century and went on to lead highly eventful lives. Shipwrecked off the coast of Italy, they escaped the clutches of their Saracen captors and swam to safety at Talamona on the Tuscan shore, where they subsequently settled. The elder of the tow later known as Bartolomeo de Talamona, rose to become an admiral in the local navy, and used his position to exact revenge on the pirates who had kidnapped him in his youth, ruthlessly pillaging the Mytilena region of Algeria, home of the dey of Algiers – the Read Beard, or Barbarossa, of pirate legends. It is said that the sultan was so incensed at Bartolomeo’s behaviour that he attacked Talamona in 1544, only to find his adversary dead and buried, whereupon he exhumed the Corsican’s corpse and burned and scattered what was left by way of retribution. The other brother, Baroloemo of Vivario, eventually returned home from Talamona and worked for the Genoese for a while, before defecting to Sampiero Corso’s side in the wars of Independence, in the course of which he was mortally wounded.
And thus… here is the bridge built by Gustave Eiffel (or a part of it as we haven’t quite mastered the art of taking photos from a speeding bus yet)
And then we saw lots of little bridges which the train used to pass over before they built a new one that was too big for the tunnel de Vizzavona… good work guys.
A ruin before we entered Venaco
And now we’ve reached Venaco
Venaco – … the road sweeps through Venaco, an elegant village emerging from the verdant lower slopes of Monte Padro. You might want to halt here to admire the views – from the terrace of the Baroque church there’s a spectacular panorama of the lower Vallée du Tavignano to the east – or enjoy a meal oat the Restaurant de la place on the main square, which offers a good value menu featuring spinach pie, and red mullet, river trout and sardines stuffed with brocciu rounded off by homemade walnut flan.
Apparently nothing interesting happened in Venaco, it just happens to be charming. But we didn’t get a chance to have any sardines stuffed with brocciu or look at the panorama as we were on the bus! Oh well – next visit = rent a car!!
And so we continued on to Corte the very centre of the island, the city where Corsica’s university is located and the seat of many important things I’m sure.
Here is the citadel from far away – the building at the summit of the village behind the wire
Stacked up the side of a wedge-shaped crag, against a spectacular backdrop of brooding granite mountains, Corte epitomizes the spirit of dogged defiance and patriotism is never far form the surface. This has been the home of Corsican nationalism since the first national Constitution was drawn up here in 1731, and was also where Pascal Paoli “U Babbu de a patria” (Father of the Nation) formed the island’s first democratic government later in the eighteenth century. Self-consciously insular and grimly proud, it can seem an inhospitable place at times, although the presence of the islands only university lightens the atmosphere noticeably during term time, when the bars and café’s lining its long main street fill with students. For the outsider, Corte’s charm is concentrated in the tranquil haute ville, where the forbidding citadel – home to the islands premier museum, the Museu de a Corsica – presides over a warren of narrow, cobbled streets.
There is Corte for you. I’ve never been in the Citadel and was only in Corte once for the stage in October, and have only passed through since on my way to Ile Rousse and back and now Bastia and back!
Here we switched to the Micheline train (made in 1954) and were off on our way further North, where the scenery got less interesting and the towns much uglier (ergo not many more scenery photos to share)
However we did see lots of sheep and cows on our way and one very beautiful and destroyed bridge. So sheep, paysage, cows and bridge respectively.
Oh yes before we get to the bridge – here is one of the stops we passed, Fercando. There wasn’t even someone working in the station! But the station was attractive
Now the bridge:
Just before we got to this bridge we also passed a charming village up on the side of the mountain, a field full of gallivanting, cavorting goats and then a cow who was walking next to the tracks. This was the best part of the train trip. Then we entered suburban sprawl land.
In fact, the area between Bastia and Ponte Leccia is a complete gray area in my trusty guidebook. Not one town is mentioned, nothing about the area at all, and especially no mention of the PENITENTIARY in BORGO (aka U BORGU!!!) why has no one ever told me this!! And the best part of this stop was that three women who got off and so we concluded that they must have rebel husbands in the penitentiary or that perhaps they were arriving to do their time. Two of them returned with us that evening on the train but one didn’t. She was the classiest of all three, decked out in all black. I think she was going in for life.
Here is one of the places in the gray area: CASAMOZZA – where all the micheline trains are stored. It was probably here that those brainiacs built the train that is too big for the tunnel! But they did have some interesting old trains and junk that was Triple M Demolition-esque! And one of the trains even had an old steam engine in it!! Cool. Here are some photos:
From here on out the scenery was the pits, until we pulled out of the ‘metro de Bastia’ and into the Bastia train station! We headed straight for not so pleasant Place St. Nicholas to eat our lunch where I spotted the CAP CORSE HEADQUARTERS!!
And we also spotted some homeless people across the way.
And here are some palm trees.
After our lunch of cheese and bagette we headed off to Terra Nova or Terra Vecchia I’m not sure which but I’m sure we arrived in one of them. (these are the old parts of town).
Off we go
Here’s an interesting old building.
A little church
And stains on a building…
Some interesting grills over the windows
Here the old building series begins
Church
Across the market square, some interesting chimney pots
Old buildings and laundry – my favourite thing to photograph
A holy statue in a crumbling wall
Somebody decided to interpret Bastia circa 1905 in this door:
Then we emerged into the old port
And then we ended up in old building heaven!
Traffic jam!!!
Tiny door
Two lighthouses meeting in the sea
And the suburban sprawl
Nice street with lamps reaching out into suburban sprawl
This is in the Citadel, it was a really pretty view past the l’eglise de Saint Marie with the sea at the end but then this funny lady walked in to the frame!
The church has fabulous drain spouts – I bet it’s hilarious when it’s raining!
Inside Eglise Saint Marie
Then we walked down to the sea (or almost to the sea) and here is the view of where we had been above (when I took the suburban sprawl photo)
Citadel city from below
The sea
Here is the port from above
some beautiful trees
Then exhausted we went to café WHA! Which was pretty good
The harbour outside the café
and then at 3.20pm we headed out of Bastia on the train again. we had another winner train ride… ending with a very dramatic situation on the bus – the bus driver refused to leave the station because there were too many passengers and told three to get off, who didn’t have seats and wait in Corte for the next bus that was at 7pm at night (it was then 5pm) they refused he got angry we tried to make room for them to sit down and eventually they called a taxi cab for everyone who was going to Venaco!
The bus driver also told one lady (one of the three who had gone to the penitentiary that morning that if the cops pulled us over she was to blame for all of it!
Anyway mountain scene from the train
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