The Corsican Adventure-Trois

We rarely take beach vacations. I don't know why, maybe it's because we were both born in Cuba, I grew up in Miami, Frank in New Jersey; all places where going to the beach is a way of life. I guess we're beached out. Corsica though is an island, hence surrounded by water which equals beach. So when we discovered the beautiful beach at L'ile-Rousse we decided we would have a beach day.

And we finally went swimming in the beautiful blue Mediterranean which was just as delicious as it looked. After a while it was time for lunch so we walked down the promenade and picked one of the adorable seaside restaurants, Tamaris

where we had Salade de Poulpes (Octopus Salad) and an OK pizza which didn't matter since we were seaside on the beautiful Mediterranean.

For dinner we decided to drive to Calvi. Calvi is the second largest city in Corsica, after the capital Bastia, on the North West coast. It also has an airport which would have worked out better for us since it was only a half hour drive on the not so heart stopping D13 rather than the one and a half hour drive on the terrifying D71 to Bastia. I can't recall why we chose not to fly into Calvi, I think it had something to do with the car rental; either way, live and learn. I was a bit taken aback when we started to approach the city; suddenly there was a highway with traffic circles and...traffic! It somehow reminded me of Key Biscayne in the 70's, palm trees and smallish hotels, one after another I don't mind telling you, I was a tad disappointed, this was Corsica after all and the last thing I wanted to see was the Miami of my childhood. We drove up the main street a bit and up on the right there was The Citadel, the fortress the Genoese had built to guard the city from invaders (without much success, obviously since the Genoese no longer own it), I felt much better. The views from The Citadel are breathtaking

The town itself is charming and bustling. Cobblestone streets with shops and restaurants and a beautiful marina and harbor to stare at as the sun sets over the granite mountains.

Dinner at L'isula:

The cutest escargots ever!