Our Toussaint holiday destination this year is the amazing Island of Corsica in the Mediterranean. The island has been on our destination list for years, especially while living in Nice, and we should not have waited so long! The island has impressed us all with its breathtaking views of mountain and sea, river beds in the wilderness, white sandy beaches and villages perched in the mountains. The locals have turned out to be very friendly and caring for children. Today is the third day of discovering the island, and we are ready to stay for good..
We are based at a little village Solenzara, little over one hour drive down from Bastia. Our villa is clean, basic f3 with a view to the sea and a (non-heated!) swimming pool. The lady welcomed us warmly, despite they have a long season behind and we are their last guests. During these first days we have been blessed with sun shine and an ideal of 23-25 degrees temperature. The close by beach is small, but offers all our family needs: clean, sandy beach, crystal clear water and only a handful of other people. We spend there the whole first morning. There is a little river Cannelle coming down with fresh water and the kids love floating boats and searching fish along the spring. Our 18 month old baby girl also prefers the river bed to the sea - there are no salty waves washing over!
The second day we head up to the mountainside and stop on an impressive natural river bed. The kids are amazed and despite the chilliness of the water, they adventure across the spring and back helping each other out. What an adventure! After a quick nap of the two little ones, we visit the village of Porto Vecchia, which is little over one hour drive from Solenzara. We can feel the end of season in the air, boutiques and smaller places closing. There is an idyllic little market in the centre of the village with a carousel, which our little boy obviously wants to try out. While walking down to the harbour, we grab few very acid mandarins from a tree. Kids thought it was so exotic! The harbour of Porto Vecchia is small with wonderful atmosphere. We sit down on Sucre de Canne to enjoy ice creams, this is holiday😀
The third day started early, as we had an ambitious plan to catch already the 9:30 am boat from Bonifacio to visit the islands of Lavezzi. It turned out to be such a fantastic day! The boat left an hour later, we had time to take a stroll at the harbour. Our eyes could not leave the majestic ship “Lady M” , which dominated elegantly the harbour. It made us dream. Girls thought it was slightly too big even for our big family😀 With my husband, we thought it was quite perfect. We later read it belongs to a Russian oligarch and costs only 55 M dollars..
The Islands of Lavezzi is something spectacular. They are deserted islands with peculiar rock formations. After 30 min. Boat trip from Bonifacio, we arrive to this intriguing bits of land. With my husbands nose for “ perfect spots”, we discover little corner of sandy beach only for us. The water is shallow and crystal clear. The kids get to swim to the other “island” of rocks and back. Their big concern are the little Medusa’s, which we all see plenty at the beach. I stand behind our baby girl the whole time patrolling that she won’t catch one. I manage to do parasita padottasana while doing so. Suddenly time is up and we leave hastily to catch the return boat - I feel slight anxiety with the idea of staying at this completely deserted island. The return boat trip is impressive. We learn many celebrities come to spend their holidays there, including Carline of Monaco. We stop in a cave to
admire the stalagmites hanging from the walls. But the most breathtaking sight is obviously the village of Bonifacio hanging on the edge of the hills, I wonder if the owners ever have sleepless nights about erosion..
It is time for lunch. We stop at the harbour and taste the local delicacies. I opt for an Aubergine prepared in Corsican style, which was delight. The kids eat their french fries and strawberry mousses.
We ponder if we should walk up to the citadelle on top of the hills, but the little tourist train wins.
The village has extraordinary placement on the hill. It has maintained its old time allure with little narrow streets, artisan boutiques and tiny restaurants. On downside, there are no pedestrian streets in Bonifacio! I had a feeling I should have an extra pair of arms..with tired 1, 4, 6 and 9 year olds!Fortunately the happy crowd settled down in the car and we returned to Solenzara around 18h00, just as the sun set down..
