Our plan for the next day was to have a morning tea stop at a bay we could have a swim and then head into Porto-Vecchio marina, for which we had made our résérvation! By 11:30, just a further 2 NMs further east, we dropped anchor in Golfe de Porto Novo, where we found the water to be absolutely crystal clear. Maybe the pilot had swapped descriptions of the two bays and that ‘exquisite’ was more applicable to Porto Novo. It was completely unspoilt, no buildings or structures and only a long walking trail into the beach, so very few visitors as well. We swam ashore, walked the beach, swam around to the point and then across the bay to Trilogy. It was a lovely swim as the water was very clear, there were a few schools of fish and there were no crazy drivers to be avoided.
As we were keen to get into the marina before siesta time, we motored a further 9 NMs around into the Golfe de Porto Vecchio and headed for a series of marker buoys. Like all our Corsica anchorages, there are hidden hazards beneath and in this Golfe it is Banc de Benedetto, with shoal water and a reef that partially obstructs the north of the Golfe. The marina sat at the head of the Golfe and we had to take particular care crossing a narrow, shallow section just before the marina, with depths less than 3 metres. Once requested to enter the marina, we had a tight turn to spin Trilogy around and then squeeze into a tight berth, that was barely long enough. As Trilogy has the tender mounted on davets beyond the stern, she needs a good length of marina mooring line to allow Trilogy to come forward that bit extra. While everything from Trilogy’s point of view was going well for this exercise, we had a couple of episodes that scared the sox off us! In the process of turning Trilogy around, another yacht was coming directly towards our beam at a fair old clip. There was a red shirted marina guy in a tender escorting this yacht but he had obscured vision and if it wasn’t for some yelling (and expletives) from Trilogy, they would have hit us mid ships! No sooner had we recovered from that then we had a less than helpful red shirted marina girl, supposedly there on the dock to assist us with the lines. One would think she had no idea what she was there for, as it became clear that we had to prompt her, and that she did not like! She took 4 goes to throw a stern line, let alone be asked to pick up and pass the mooring line for us to quickly tie off at the bow. While the skipper had been clear in the requests, she was blatantly rude and yelled a parting comment ‘next time be polite’ .....more French attitude!
We enjoyed a late lunch and then some free time for everyone to do as they pleased. Sue and Peter walked up to the old town, which sits atop a small but yet steep hill above the marina. The marina itself was mainly for smaller craft but on the outer wall, there were several large super yachts. The township behind the marina, consisting mainly of restaurants with taller sixties type three storey apartments behind, was not nearly as attractive as Bonifacio. In the evening, Peter had chosen a nice restaurant for our evening meal, Casa Corsa. it was a balmy night and we sat out on a deck with lovely polished timber tables, smartly set with black table mats and white serviettes. The wild boar was popular with the men, a specialty dish in Corsica. Sue chose a delicious rolled veal fillet with olives and tomatoes and I went for a St Pierre fish meal, served with mashed pumpkin and a coriander cream. Peter had befriended the maître Benjamin and as we lefties and thanked him he said enchanté, which we later translated ‘nice to have met you’! Some French can be so charming!
Porto Vecchio’s old walled town has been the site of human settlement for thousands of years. The Toreens, the invaders who took over from the megalithic culture around 1500 BC, are thought to have based themselves at Porto-Vecchio, before spreading westward across the island. The Romans used Porto-Vecchio as one of their east coast ports and when the Genoese arrived, they too exploited the natural shelter of the Golfe. The Genoese built the old walled town on the easily defended bluff. They also built numerous towers around the adjacent coast to defend and warn the town against enemy attacks....those were the days! Up until more recent times the town itself was rundown and had become unattractive, with only the hinterland offering its wonderful natural beauty. Today, tourism has brought an improved appearance and vibrancy to the town itself.
Next day, Thursday, we had arranged for a rental car to do a road trip up into the mountain region. Our route took us north-west to the picturesque town of L’Ospedale and above the town there was a panoramic view back down to the coast. By now we were 900 metres in altitude and were driving through pine forests on twisting roads. The granite boulders of which Corsica seems to be mainly composed, were starting to make their beauty apparent. The road continued past the ‘Barrage de l’Ospedale’ (dam) and we climbed even higher to a walkers mecca known as Cascade de Piscia di Ghjaddu. We had morning tea (a small truly delicious lemon meringue pie was divided up!) and then we set off on the trail. We knew it took 45 minutes walk to see the waterfall, but we did not expect that the terrain was rough and quite rocky. It was hot, so the sweat poured out of us but it was so good to be experiencing the natural landscape. However, I have revisited my desire to come back one day to walk in Corsica! It was hard underfoot and every step had to be well placed. We were amazed at the number of young children who were managing the walk well with their parents, without complaint.....except for Max, who kept sitting down, much to his father’s exasperation! Perhaps the early introduction to difficult terrain makes it the norm, if you live in Corsica. There certainly wasn’t any ice cream shop when they got to the waterfall! What was there was a beautiful gorge with the most fantastic granite cliffs, with forest trees coming up from the valley floor and the roar of mountain water, which was piped from the Barrage de l’Ospedal. The view of the falls was from the side at the upper level - it was a further descent to the depths of the valley for a front on aspect and that and we didn’t have the time to do!
Our car journey continued on along the ridge line and then a descent into the next valley, to reach the pretty village of Zonza. This is a centre for mountain cyclists, many of whom we passed winding their way up the road. There were several restaurants to chose from but they were all full and we settled for a panini for lunch. The grey clouds that had hovered above decided to deliver a storm with lightening, thunder and steady rain, which sent people scurrying. Once the rain had eased, we walked to the nearby Musée de la Resistance, a museum dedicated to recounting the history of the resistance in the region, Italian and German occupation, and the liberation of Corsica in September/October 1943. Although Corsica had been in Italian hands until it was purchased by France in 1768, the Corsicans fiercely protested to Italy that their loyalty lay with France in the 1930s, under the Mussolini Fascist regime. The Musée functions as a memorial to the Corsica resistance and a reminder of how for Corsica WW2 became a battle to resist Italy as much as Germany, and to redefine Corsica’s relationship with mainland France.
It was still raining when we emerged from the Musée, so we needed to revise our plan for the remainder of the day. We had hoped to visit Le Plateau du Cuscionu in the National Regional Park of Corsica, at 1500 metres, but the young girl at the Tourist Office was adamant that as it was bad weather in Zonza, it was going to be far worse higher up. The road was badly potholed but in good weather it promised to be a spectacular area to visit. It has a hilly terrain, lush green valleys and wild boar, horses and cattle that graze freely around the numerous springs and pozzines, a short soft grass meadow, found in the mountain regions of Corsica.
The revised plan was to descend to the pretty little town of Ste Lucie de Tallano, where there was un moulin à huile d’olive.This mill dates from the 18C and we were able to see the various means of pressing the olives were carried out. A huge stone mill wheel was turned by a water stream to press and grind, while another method was cast iron presses, with a hand woven sack containing the fruit. We struggled with our lack of French to understand the explanation given by the old man who looked after the mill and he seemed to delight in making jokes to the French speakers about us! I guess when you get into the back blocks of any country, you can’t expect much consideration, especially with language.
We had no time to visit an important archeological site called Cucuruzzu, which is one of about twenty casteddu or hill forts discovered mostly in southern Corsica. Occupying a rocky granite spur overlooking the northern slopes of a plateau, the ensemble dates from the Bronze Age (2nd-1st millennium BC). The village, arising from a number of natural terraces and stone huts is enclosed by a protective wall. These stronghold headquarters served both as protective havens and communal granaries.
From Ste Lucie de Tallano it was time to head back to Trilogy, following a well made mountain road all the way down into the valley. Along the way we stopped at a lookout to take in another spectacular view all the way down to Porto-Vecchio. Nearby was a memorial to the Resistance fighters we had learnt about at the Musée and there was no doubt that it had been a tough stand by the local men to withstand the threat of invasion. It was also recognised that the women had played a vital role in the Resistance...bravo! A road tunnel that we had just passed through must have been an important position for defence; it all seemed so much more real when you looked at the memorial to the bravery of the men and women, the lives lost and the tunnel they had defended!