Corsica Impressions

 Corsica was full of lovely surprises

  • our terrace
    • absolute quiet only interrupted by the song of many birds in the surrounding woods and the distant surf
    • scents especially jasmine from the Elaeagnus flowering shrubs next to the patio filled with bees from sunup to sundown
    • watching the sunrises and sunsets unfold, literally, minute by minute
    • sunsets at 7pm that filled the enormous sky with the sun dropping below the horizon in just 5 minutes
    • sunrises at 7am that also filled the sky with the birds suddenly waking up and singing, the bees arriving in the shrubs, - the few clouds slowly lit up in shades of pink and gold - finally, the sky clears to blue and the sun starts to light up the tops of the hills in pale green 
    • moon to the south in the cloudless blue sky
    • green hills completely filled up with low shrubs and bushy trees, like looking at cauliflower in shades of green
    • the Mediterranean stretching along the east side with the occasional white cruise ship and small boats

  • the terrain and countryside
    • the south of the island has many steep rounded green hills crowded together with steep valleys, interspersed by the occasional abandoned yellow stone house.
    • roads in the hills consist of short hairpin turns winding along the edges of the hills - often single lane and sometimes unpaved - the rare straight stretch is such a relief, especially if you tend towards carsickness
    • many beaches everywhere along our coast - some very long and mostly deserted - the sand is interesting - on all but one beach near us it is soft and deep with course sand like ground up stones - steep sudden drop off  - pounding surf - not really safe for swimming or good for building sand castles.  We have 2 local beaches, one to the north that is long, wide, and deep sand, and one to the south that is in the little town of Porto Pollo.  This beach has fine sand such as we would find in North American beaches that is packed hard at the water - great for walking.  It starts at the small marina and extends past vacation houses and a few little restaurants.  Swimming is perfect with almost no dropoff- buoys mark the long stretch of swimming areas.
    • We heard that the north of the island has enormous high mountains l - like the Alps.  The one train goes from a town in the north to a town in the southeast - about 3 hours from the main
    •  Horses!  We passed several horse farms  - some quite extensive - with paddocks, riding rings, jumps, etc.  English-style riding.  Beach rides.

  • The city of Ajaccio
    • We flew into the city of Ajaccio - and spent a day there - a large harbor with several ferries and a giant "Virgin" cruise ship the "Scarlet Lady."  Never seen anything like it!  
    • Historic waterfront area with centuries-old houses including the house where Napoleon was born.
    • Streets were lined with hundreds of small restaurants and shops
    • Parking is almost nonexistent and we thought we were lucky to find a spot right in the harbor (only later to find it was illegal.)  
    • The road back to our place is 1 1/2 hours of mostly intensely winding inferior roads -one day is more than enough.

  • Our tiny village of Serra di Ferro - Une Village Perche
    • A short nice walk away huddled on the side of the high hill - scenic views and ancient homes - several restaurants, a school and daycare, a tiny church, a community hall, and a post office.


Various views from the village of Serra di Ferro

  • The town of Porto Pollo
    • This small seaside quintessential Corsican town is about a 7-minute drive down from our place to a large flat agricultural valley on the water. Where we got groceries.
    • Lovely small marina and a fabulous beach with a nice hard, sandy beach perfect for swimming.
    • Very quiet at this time of year but must be bustling in the summer - lots of campgrounds
    • Favorite boulangerie for bread, croissants, macarons, cappuccinos and cafe au lait - lovely proprietess
    • Small supermarket, several shops, a pharmacy, a gas station, and quite a few restaurants/bars/ice cream venues.

  • Culture
    • a proud culture, actively promoted by the tourism offices around the island
    • road signs include Corsica's names
    • Italian heritage
      • note the surnames on the war memorials and the French Christian names. 
 
    • Polyphonies singing

  • Food & Drinks
    • Italian influence again - lots of pizzarias, Italian restaurants

  • History & Current Political Situation
The Corsican Flag
"The Bandera Corsa
The Moor's head represents Corsica's fight for freedom and independence. Originally, the bandana was placed over the eyes, symbolising servitude, but it was raised to the forehead to signify liberation and rediscovered dignity. The white background symbolises peace and purity." (Wikipedia)

Corsicans have a proud heritage and many consider themselves to be a 'minority nation' within France. Since the 1970s it has developed a nationalist movement seeking autonomy - and some even supporting independence - from the French state.  

Munroe's fascination with Corsica began when he used the nationalist movement as a case in his comparison of the strategies of such movements as they were impacted by the orientation of the host state for his Honours thesis at Acadia in 1979.   In Corsica's case, the highly centralized French state refused to acknowledge the claims of nationalists, and continued the long history of subordinating local cultures to Parisian dominance.  The result for Corsica meant that the nationalists - and particular the separatists - adopted violent means to further their goal.  Since the 1970s there have been 4,500 instances of violence, aimed principally at institutions representing the French state.  The beating death of an imprisoned separatist leader convicted of murdering the French prefect for the island in 1998 (after evading capture for 1,500 days by hiding out in the Corsican scrubland) unleased violenct across Corsica in 2022. Rioting was widespread across the island and the courthouse in Ajaccio was burned. Only after this, and in the context of French Presidential elections held on April 11th and 25th of 2022, would President Macron even mention the word "autonomy" for Corsica.  It doesn't appear as though anything has come of this, but there is a risk in raising expectations and not following through.  The future of Corsican politics remains, therefore, uncertain.   

The Wild Boar

When we were staying in Eze, our landlord asked us to keep the gate to our property closed because the area had a problem with wild boar.  In Corsica, the wild boar provides the distinctive cuisine for the island.  We had expected fish to do this but were (unpleasantly) surprised to find fresh fish VERY expensive - several times the price per kilo of ordinary pork.  We didn't notice any wild boar on sale in the markets we visited.  

While we were hiking up to the tower from Cupabia Beach, we noticed at several points along the trail there were signs of something having rooted around on the side of the trail, and cloven hoof prints in the trail itself.  On the morning of our last full day in Corsica, Sunday the 13th, we heard 3 gunshots from somewhere nearby.  During our walk around the village, we came upon two trucks transporting dogs, and a bunch of guys wearing orange hunting clothes.  Apparently, the boar season began on the first of October.  Two of the dogs came racing past us down the road, obviously full of energy and adrenalin and ready for hunting.  The guys were openly carrying rifles  So we concluded that they were the origin of the morning shots and that they were out looking for wild boar.  We didn't see any signs that they had been successful in their efforts to date!  They were on their cell phones, I guess to round up other hunters to join them, but who knows?  Sadly, we didn't have a chance to sample the 'black boar' that is Corsica's signature dish (or, at least, one of them).  But it does sound like it could be similar to the "black pork" roast that we heard about - but again didn't sample - in Portugal.