Calvi town
28 May 2010
Calvi itself is a sweet town but extremely touristy and expensive. Not much else seems to happen here. Of course it has an exciting history of military scraps - this is where Nelson lost his eye - and it is the HQ of a crack para regiment in the Foreign Legion. But today it is extremely peaceful.
It does have good provisioning at the supermarkets along with numerous shops selling Corsican specialities (also in the SuperU and cheaper there) and an expensive covered market selling allegedly local produce.
A highlight of our stay was to hear a band called Alba play in the cathedral in the citadel. They are part of a tradition of polyphonic singing in Corsica, which we had known nothing about. Groups, usually but not always all male, will sing in a variety of forms, unaccompanied or with violins, zithers, guitars. Alba also have a clarinet, a sax and very clever table-top organ, as well as a (female) percussionist.
Haunting, soaring music, sung in the dusky cathedral light, after which we walked out into the night air, astonished at the strength and muscle of the singing and the enduring Corsican pride.
The other find in Calvi was the Bibliotheque pout Tous, (in the picture) which is in a little sidestreet behind the eglise in the lower town. This little library also has a shelf-full of English books for sale at 2EU a time - a boon to any cruisers. The main staff member is a lovely woman who, with her husband, completed a seven year circumnavigation on their 16m yacht. We had a jolly time comparing notes on book swaps from Vanuatu, the Caribbean, the UK and the US.