travels with janne

There is a certain feel to the Mediterranean area. The clear, blue skies, the clear, turquoise water, the colourful bougainvillea tumbling from windowsills, the tiny cafés and restaurants, the narrow streets, the wonderful food made from fresh, home grown produce, the picturesque fishing boats, and the sand between your toes. For me, these usually combine with a holiday sense of joie de vivre, adventure, relaxation and curiosity to make every vacation great. Corsica is superb.

A stay in the smallish Cote d’Azur-like town of Calvi makes for good opportunities to explore the coast as well as the interior by train or by car (especially enjoyable if you are up to exciting and sometimes hair-raising mountain driving). A clackety-clack train trip to the smaller and pretty town of Ile Rousse with its pink rocks, Genoese tower (one of about 80 dotting the coast) and lively, covered food market is a fun way to spend a day.

Snorkelling in the coastal waters has opened up a whole new world for me. This underwater sightseeing is so much fun for a water loving person like me. I can’t imagine why I never really did it before. Although fish are not nearly as exciting to me as mammals, it is fascinating to be a part of the aquatic environment instead of just a passive bystander looking into an aquarium or through the glass bottom of a boat. I think an underwater camera and a ticket to the Red Sea or some other great snorkelling place will be on my next wish list!

Being an island, Corsica has a life all its own. According to WWF there are about 300 endemic plant species, the food is characteristically Corsican, and the political history – and present day situation – differ from the rest of France.

Throughout the centuries, foreign forces have invaded Corsica. First came five centuries of Roman rule, then Moors, Arabs and Berbers raided Corsica from around 774, looking for slaves. Right up to the 18th century, the Corsicans risked unfriendly visits from North Africa.

In the meantime, Pisa, then Genoa took over affairs in Corsica, to the chagrin of the native Corsicans. Christopher Columbus was born in Genoa during this period, so Corsicans tend to call him one of their own. Italian food and language also made deep inroads into Corsican culture, as can be felt to this day. In 1769 a battle won by France signalled the end of Genoese rule and the start of French rule, which has continued to the present.

When things got dicey, the Corsicans fled to the mountains in the central part of the island. And this is where you can still feel the strong sense of pride and independence that Corsicans are known for. The French wording on signs is covered by black spray paint and independence slogans are more frequent here than on the coast, where the maritime villages through the ages have looked more outwards to fishing and trade than inwards to staunch patriotism.

The tiny mountain villages are steep and sleepy. The air is fresh and the views are stunning. The main city in the mountains, Corte, is a vibrant university town perched in a beautiful and historic setting. The drive to the forested mountain villages of Vizzavona and Asco and the city of Corte are thrilling and scenic.

Mmmmm! Never have I enjoyed the culinary aspect of a holiday as much as when I travel to Corsica. It is just about impossible to eat a meal that doesn’t taste good in Corsica. Dishes with fancy names and far-fetched combinations of ingredients are not to be found here. Instead, you are treated to refreshingly homey and incredibly tasty Corsican charcuterie and cheeses and freshly caught seafood delicacies.

Every day is a yummy adventure. Wild pig lovingly stewed in red wine and myrtle, creamy brocciu (an Appellation d’origine contrôlée cheese made from fresh ewe’s milk) mated with mint in a scrumptious omelette, plump, fresh mussels in cream and Noilly Prat, intensely delicious golden-red fish soup, mouth-watering sausages and cured pork tasting of a life spent eating wild chestnuts and acorns, the most delicious white fish (called St. Pierre? or St. Jacques?) I have come across in a long time, and AOC honey that smacks of the fragrances from the lovely and wild maquis.

A lunch overlooking the beach in Girolata, a lively food market in Ile Rousse, a minty omelette in a tiny mountain village and creamy mussels enough to feed an army in a restaurant by the sea in Calvi…who said diet? Just eat and enjoy!

I am not a geologist and rocks do not rock me. However, I cannot help being fascinated by the shapes and forms of Corsica’s stony landscape. The whole island is one big rock and exploring it must be a geologist’s dream come true. In fact, it is a dream for anyone who enjoys nature. I view the rocks from an aesthetic angle and see faces, gnomes, men, creatures, smiles, skulls, sand dunes, bones, giant’s footsteps and fingers. Such a wonder this world is!

I have no idea how the island was created, but I admire the enormous forces that have pushed and pleated and shifted and cracked the rocks to create this beautiful gem set in a turquoise sea.

A hike in the Calvi area and a refreshing boat trip to the Scandola Reserve, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, provide lots of good rocky adventures.

Impossible to photograph but easy to store in our primal memory bank of smells is the fragrant aspect of Corsica. The minute I step into the maquis and smell the countless wild herbs, I am brought back to when I last visited Corsica over 20 years ago. Wild rosemary, mint, myrtle, thyme, lavender and a whole lot of other strongly fragrant flowers make hiking in the maquis a thoroughly enjoyable sensory experience.

Flowers being what they are, they don’t only smell good, they also look good. The delicate little blooms are a lovely contrast to the hard and stony settings in which they are found. June is the perfect time of year to enjoy the colours, forms and fragrances before the flowers wither away in the drier and hotter summer months.

Butterflies abound, flitting from flower to flower to feed or performing sexual air acrobatics in partnership with their mates. Bees are also busy, gathering pollen and returning home to the hive to produce Corsica’s characteristically intensely flavoured honey.