Tag: Cap-Corse

Conchiglio to L’Île-Rousse

Navigating on Corsica is much easier than navigating in mainland France. Basically we just follow the coast. Today we drove south along the west coast. We left the Cap-Corse department and are now in Haute-Corse department on Corsica. As we drove south the surrounding became less rural. The roads were a bit wider and the scenery continued to be spectacular.

Corsican Coastal road
Another Corsican Coastal Road

Tonight we are in the Best Western Santa Maria Hotel in L’Île-Rouse. We are right on the ocean. The water is unbelievably blue and clear.

The view from our room

The hotel has both a beach and a pool. We tried them both out.

Duke swimming in the Mediterranean
Swimming in the hotel pool.

Around 7 we went for a walk to enjoy the sunset and check out restaurants.

L’Île-Rousse

We decided to eat at L’Épicure.

We started with mussels.

Then shared Pasta Del Mare and Fritto Misto di Mare. It was all fabulous, fresh and very filling.

Pasta del mare
Frito Misto di Mare

Toulouse, Aquitaine to Conchiglio, Corsica

This morning we set the alarm for 3:30 and ordered a 4:00 taxi because we had a 6:15 flight from Toulouse to Bastia, Corsica.

Arriving in Corsica at dawn

In Corsica we rented a car and drove into the town of Bastia. We parked, walked around a bit and had some breakfast at an outside table overlooking the square.

Breakfast in Bastia

If you look at a map of Corsica you will see a peninsula sticking out of the north end of the island. It’s about 25 miles long and it’s called Cap Corse. We drove almost all the way around Cap Corse on Sunday. It was a beautiful sunny day and we had glorious views of the Mediterranean. The scenery reminded me of California’s highway one. The road was narrow and there often wasn’t much of a guardrail.

The coast of Cap Corse
The road along the coast of Cap Corse

We are staying at a wonderful gite in a small town overlooking the coast. The owner of Maison Batista is friendly and welcoming. She recommended a place down the road for dinner and suggested we hike down to the beach. We didn’t go all the way to the beach but we did hike about half way down.

Maison Batista where we stayed
The grape vines (with grapes) outside our window
Hiking down towards the beach

We enjoyed the sunset from the clock square outside the restaurant where we planned to eat and then went inside and had a wonderful dinner.

Sunset in Canari
Dinner at Bon Clocher